While going through things after my friend's mother-in-law died, this prayer to the Holy Spirit was found hand-written on well-worn stationery folded in her Bible. He didn't know the source of this prayer, but it was well-used, as though the prayer had been read many times:
Come Holy Spirit; fill my heart with your holy gifts.
Let my weakness be penetrated with Your holy strength this very day, that I may fulfill all the duties of my state conscientiously, that I may do what is right and just. Let my charity be such as to offend no one, and to hurt no one's feelings, so generous as to pardon any wrong done to me.Assist me, Oh Holy Spirit in all my trials of life. Enlighten me in my ignorance; advise me in my doubts; strengthen me in my weakness; help me in all my needs; protect me in temptations; and console me in afflictions.
Graciously hear me, oh Holy Spirit, and put your light into my heart, my soul, and in my mind. Assist me to live a holy life, and to grow in goodness and grace. Amen.
At Pentecost we focus on God's power as manifested through the Spirit. As Jesus is the only begotten Son is the Word of God incarnate, so the Spirit in Greek translated is pneuma, which means wind, breath, to breathe. "Holy" in English is translated from the Greek as "set-apart."This Sunday's Gospel reading from John 20:21-22 is one of my favorite scriptural depictions of the Holy Spirit: the Breath of God.
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