Come Holy Spirit, Come Through Mary!
Come Holy Spirit, come through Mary!
Veni Sancte Spiritus, veni per Mariam!
Come Holy Spirit! I have read many times in my studying and preparing for Confirmation lessons that these three words make up one of the most powerful prayers we can offer. In my own prayer life, I would agree that those three words are powerful! I grew up hearing my parents and their friends pray this simple prayer whenever they were together and all these years later, it is my favorite and most repeated prayer.
Those two short lines came to my mind often in college, while I went through some challenging seasons. When I first started repeating this prayer, often it was less about the words and more about the comfort it brought as I thought of my own mother and home. It helped me feel connected when I was filled with anxiety and loneliness. Repeating these words over and over in my head helped me to know and feel my mom’s love.
As my faith matured, I recognized that the words that connected me to my own mother, helped me to grow in relationship with our mother Mary, Mother of God, who in turn has led me to loving her son more. Now these words help me to ask the Holy Spirit to come into my life and direct me the same way it did for Mary. These words also remind me of my desire to say “yes” to all the circumstances of my life just as Mary said yes to the prompting of the Holy Spirit.
As 33 of our young people receive the Sacrament of Confirmation and the fullness of the gifts of the Holy Spirit this weekend, my prayer for them is that the power and love of the Holy Spirit will continue to reveal itself and to guide and open their hearts both today and into the future. That the Holy Spirit will lead our students into a deeper relationship with Jesus Christ, His Mother, and the Church. That these young people, who are so aware of their parents’ and grandparents’ influence on their lives, will learn from the love of their families, like I did, the love of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Please join me in praying for these young people not just this weekend, but in the coming weeks and months, that this Sacrament will be a new beginning for them! And finally, we pray that their witness may touch our lives and renew in us the beauty of our faith through the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
From St. Augustine of Hippo:
Breathe in me, O Holy Spirit, that my thoughts may all be holy.
Act in me, O Holy Spirit, that my work, too, may be holy.
Draw my heart, O Holy Spirit, that I love but what is holy.
Strengthen me, O Holy Spirit, to defend all that is holy.