While many Christians are accustomed to praying to the Father and to the Son, they are not as familiar or comfortable with praying to the Holy Spirit. The Spirit can seem very elusive, but he doesn’t need to be. The Holy Spirit is as accessible to us as the Father and the Son and Christians should readily turn to him in prayer and supplication.
There are many ways in which we can call upon the Holy Spirit. When we pray to him, we pray to the Holy Trinity since he is never separated or removed from the Father and the Son. The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches: “The traditional form of petition to the Holy Spirit is to invoke the Father through Christ our Lord to give us the Consoler Spirit.”
The Spirit is always found within the fellowship of the Father and the Son. Christian prayer is always directed to the Father, in the Son, and through the Spirit. As such, even in our prayer, we are reminded and affirm our belief in the Holy Trinity, the Divine Family of the living God.
Even as the Lord Jesus was promising to send the Holy Spirit upon his early Church, he exhorts his followers to pray to the Holy Spirit. The Catechism recalls: “Jesus insists on this petition to be made in his name at the very moment when he promises the gift of the Spirit of Truth.”
In order for us to know the Father and the Son, we need the work of the Holy Spirit within us. The Spirit is always moving and seeking to lead us into a deeper encounter with the Father and the Son.
All of the liturgical and devotional prayers to the Holy Spirit within the tradition of prayer of the Church are grounded on the foundational and simple petition that the Spirit come to us. As the Catechism teaches: “But the simplest and most direct prayer is also traditional, ‘Come, Holy Spirit,’ and every liturgical tradition has developed it in antiphons and hymns.”
After this teaching, the Catechism provides examples of some of the traditional prayers to the Holy Spirit from both the Western and Eastern Church traditions.
From the Western tradition: “Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and enkindle in them the fire of your love.”
From the Eastern Church: “Heavenly King, Consoler Spirit, Spirit of Truth, present everywhere and filling all things, treasure of all good and source of all life, come dwell in us, cleanse and save us, you who are All Good.”
These and the other liturgical prayers and devotional prayers of the Church to the Holy Spirit are all about calling upon the Holy Spirit, welcoming him, and letting him work in us and through us.
By praying to the Holy Spirit, we let him mold and shape us in prayer. He teaches us and instructs us on the interior life and shows us the way of love and holiness. The Spirit is the source and sustenance of prayer and then, through prayer, he is the one who brings reform and renewal to souls, society, and in the Church herself.
The Catechism emphasizes this point: “The Holy Spirit, whose anointing permeates our whole being, is the interior Master of Christian prayer. He is the artisan of the living tradition of prayer.”
It is a great consolation to know the Holy Spirit is the master of our spiritual life. It is an immense encouragement to know that the Holy Spirit does the heavy lifting in our life of prayer. We are summoned to open the doors of our heart, to trust, and to let him do the work that’s needed within us.
By allowing the Holy Spirit to work in us, his grace overflows and moves beyond us. It is our reliance on the Spirit that gives all believers a bond of charity. It is a bond that surpasses the various distinctions of life – gender, race, language – and is even stronger than death. Nothing can break the bond given to us by the Holy Spirit.
The Catechism beautifully teacher this spiritual truth: “To be sure, there are as many paths of prayer as there are persons who pray, but it is the same Spirit acting in all and with all. It is in the communion of the Holy Spirit that Christian prayer is prayer in the Church.”
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