A Pentecost Prayer

Pentecost 2016

Holy Spirit, guide me, for I’m not sure what to write today.

Holy Spirit, guide me, for I don’t know where to go next in this life.

Holy Spirit, guide me, for I don’t know how to let go of this resentment I feel towards someone.

Holy Spirit, guide me, as you have guided me up until now.

Holy Spirit, lead me to the unknown. Last year at this time I had no idea where I would be now. Again I have no idea where I’m going. All I can do is wait, and trust.

Holy Spirit, help me to be patient and trusting, and help me to put all things into your hands.

Holy Spirit, help me to use the gifts I know you have given me, and to be open to discovering gifts you have yet to bestow on me.

Holy Spirit, help me to rejoice when I see others exercising their gifts. Drive far from me all traces of competition and envy.

Holy Spirit, fill me with joy, peace, patience, self-control, kindness, generosity, gentleness and faithfulness.

Holy Spirit, teach me to savor each moment as a gift, even those moments when I don’t feel particularly gifted or those moments which are filled with tribulation and trial.

Holy Spirit, pray within me, and inspire me to pray constantly. Help me pray for everyone who comes into  my mind this day and always.

Holy Spirit, help me to smile more than frown, to praise more than complain, to search out the good rather than find fault, to believe more than to doubt, to sing more than to moan.

Holy Spirit, help me to care for myself so that I can be caring towards others.

Holy Spirit, give me the grace to let harmful thoughts pass through me rather than take root in me.

Holy Spirit, let me know that You have put my sins far from you, “as far as the east is from the west.”

Holy Spirit, aid me to see you in every page of the sacred writings.

Holy Spirit, thank You for all You have done for me over the years, especially for those things I failed to recognize as gifts from You. Amen.

God bless you.

David's contrition and God's faithfulness

We continue with our meditation on Psalm 51:10-12 (“Create in me a clean heart . . . “

Today: “Take not your holy Spirit from me”

David was devastated when he realized the seriousness of the sins he had committed. At such a moment, it would be reasonable to think he was thinking of his predecessor, King Saul, from whom God did take his Spirit. David recognized that his own sin was perhaps even more grevious than the sins of Saul, and so he trembled with fear. One commentator suggests that he also thought of Cain, who was cast totally from the Lord (see Gen. 4:14) and also driven from the land he inhabited, destined to become a wander and a vagabond upon the earth.

Tough stuff. Have you ever felt perhaps that because of your own sin God was going to give up on you? Then you can relate with David’s despondency at this moment of his life, the moment when his eyes were open to see the evil he had committed.

Yesterday we looked at “Cast me not away from your presence” and today completes the couplet “and take not your holy spirit from me.”

Don’t forget that It was the Holy Spirit of God that gave David the power to prophesy, and also to compose the beautiful Psalms which are so much of our spiritual heritage. In fact, even at the moment of his greatest despondency, David was praying the very words which would become the psalm we are considering.

Peter also understood that without the Holy Spirit, purity and holiness of heart could not be restored to him and that his prayer “Create in me a clean heart” would not be heard.

Of course the Good news is that the Lord did hear his prayer, and that the Lord did not give up on him. And neither does He give up on us. At another point in the psalms, the Lord says of the descendants of David:

If his sons forsake my law and refuse to walk as I decree . . .

. . . Then I will punish their offenses with the rod . . .

. . . But I will never take back my love:

my truth will never fail.   (Psalm 89:31-34)

We do well to pray Psalm 51 frequently during these days of Lent, realizing that by praying the Psalm we are entering into a spiritual journey. First, serious contrition followed by eloquent prayer for forgiveness which then turns to hope and joy and praise.

God bless you