9 Days Until the Wind and Flames

Nine days in a row of a repeated prayer. A Novena. The Novena to St. Joseph for example, or the Divine Mercy Novena. It is an ancient Catholic way of prayer.

Nine days. That is the number between the 40th day of Easter, the traditional day of the Ascension of the Lord, and Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit fell upon the disciples in tongues of flame and language. Many say that those days of prayer, when Jesus’ followers prayed for what was to come, was the origin of Novena. May 13th is the 40th day of Easter. And even though we will celebrate the Ascension on Sunday, we have nine days to pray before Pentecost. And I would offer as a good prayer for these days the Veni Sancte Spiritus. This link will take you to a wonderful reflection on this prayer from the Campus Ministry resources at Creighton University. Let’s pray and reflect together, and see what gifts we find in our communities this Pentecost.

-Fr Lou