Pentecost Novena
Do you know the first novena ever prayed is the Pentecost Novena (also know as the Novena to the Holy Spirit)? This novena starts Friday after Ascension Thursday until Saturday, the Vigil of Pentecost. It commemorates the nine days between the Ascension of Our Lord and the descent of the Holy Spirit on the first Pentecost. During this time, Our Lady and the apostles prayed in the upper room for the coming of the promised Holy Spirit, the Paraclete:
When they entered the city they went to the upper room where they were staying, Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James son of Alphaeus, Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. All these devoted themselves with one accord to prayer, together with some women, and Mary the mother of Jesus… (Acts 1:13-14)
Mary is with the apostles in the upper room. She provides a model of prayer and encourages the apostles to wait and pray for coming of the Holy Spirit. This novena asks for the Holy Spirit’s seven gifts: wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord. With Mary, Spouse of the Holy Spirit, let us prepare our hearts to receive with ardent love the Holy Spirit. Come, Holy Spirit!
Novena prayers below are adapted from Novena to the Holy Spirit for the Seven Gifts, EWTN.
Daily Novena Prayer
To be prayed daily along with each day’s meditation.
O Lord Jesus Christ, Who, before ascending into heaven, promised to send the Holy Spirit to finish Your work in the souls of Your apostles and disciples, be pleased to grant the same Holy Spirit to me that He may perfect in my soul the work of Your grace and Your love.
Grant me the Spirit of Wisdom, that I may despise the perishable things of this world and aspire only after the things that are eternal;
the Spirit of Understanding, to enlighten my mind with the light of Your divine truth;
the Spirit of Counsel, that I may ever choose the surest way of pleasing God and gaining heaven;
the Spirit of Fortitude, that I may bear my cross with You and that I may overcome with courage all the obstacles that oppose my salvation;
the Spirit of Knowledge, that I may know God and know myself in Him and grow perfect in the science of the Saints;
the Spirit of Piety, that I may find the service of God sweet and amiable;
and the Spirit of Fear of the Lord, that I may be filled with a loving reverence towards God and may dread in any way to offend Him.
Mark me, dear Lord, with the sign of Your true disciples, and animate me in all things with Your Spirit. Amen.
Novena Daily Meditations
Click on the images below to pray the daily meditation for each day.
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Day 6
Day 7
Day 8
Day 9
Novena Daily Meditations
Click on the buttons to be taken to the daily meditation for each day.
Daily Reflections
Novena Day 1
The Holy Spirit. Only one thing is important — eternal salvation. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Love, of Strength, and of Light. With His sevenfold gifts He enlightens the mind, strengthens the will, and inflames the heart with love of God. To ensure our salvation we ought to invoke the Divine Spirit daily, for “the Spirit too comes to the aid of our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit itself intercedes” (Romans 8:26).
Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Your faithful and kindle in them the fire of Your divine love.  Send forth Your Spirit and they shall be created, and You shall renew the face of the earth.  O God, who has taught the hearts of the faithful by the light of the Holy Spirit, grant that by the gift of the same Spirit we may always be truly wise and ever rejoice in His consolation. Through Christ our Lord.
 Amen.