PRAYER: Novena To The Holy Spirit—Day Two, Joy, by Philip Bochanski

From: Novena to the Holy Spirit

Hymn: Come, Holy Ghost, Creator Blest

Come, Holy Ghost, Creator blest,
And in our souls take up your rest;
Come with your grace and Heavenly aid
To fill the hearts which you have made.

O Comforter, to you we cry,
O Heavenly gift of God Most High,
O fount of life and fire of love,
And sweet anointing from above.

You in your sevenfold gifts are known;
You, finger of God’s hand we own;
You, promise of the Father, you
Who do the tongue with power imbue.

Kindle our senses from above,
And make our hearts overflow with love;
With patience firm and virtue high
The weakness of our flesh supply.

Far from us drive the foe we dread,
And grant us your peace instead;
So shall we not, with you for guide,
Turn from the path of life aside.

Oh, may your grace on us bestow
The Father and the Son to know;
And you, through endless times confessed,
Of both the eternal Spirit blest.

Now to the Father and the Son,
Who rose from death, be glory given,
With you, O holy Comforter,
Henceforth by all in Earth and Heaven.

Amen.

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Antiphon

Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful, and kindle in them the fire of your love.  Send forth your Spirit, and they will be created.

And you will renew the face of the Earth.

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Prayer

Father, the presence of your Holy Spirit gives joy to your people.  Open our hearts to receive your Spirit, that like Saint Philip we may rejoice in his presence every day of our lives.  We ask this through Christ our Lord.

Amen.

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Reading

Although you have never seen Christ you love him; even though you do not see him now you believe in him, you rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy, as you attain the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls. (1 Peter 1:8-9)

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Responsory

The love of God has been poured into our hearts.  Alleluia.

By his Spirit living in us, alleluia.

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Meditation

“The necessary result of the love of charity is joy: because every lover rejoices at being united to the beloved.”  So teaches Saint Thomas, and this fruit of the Spirit was so evident in the life of Saint Philip that it has become almost synonymous with his name, “Light of Holy Joy.”  This was what Cardinal Newman called him.  Cardinal Newman was a contemporary author who wrote a philosophical treatise on the subject titled simply, Philip: Or Christian Joy.  Many eyewitness accounts give testimony to the great spiritual joy that seemed to overflow from Saint Philip’s heart, and was evident to everyone who met him.

Often times this joy would have physical manifestations: some witnesses report seeing Saint Philip levitate at the altar while saying Mass, and the servers who assisted at his Mass later in his life tell us that, when he came to the elevation of the Host before Communion, he would sometimes be lost in contemplation for hours at a time.  People who came to his room early in the morning for confession often found him lost in prayer, perhaps standing in the middle of the room with his shirt half-buttoned, so distracted by love and joy that he had forgotten what he was doing.

We have seen already, though, that Saint Philip did not put much stock in these ecstatic gifts and manifestations in his own life, and he positively discouraged them in others.  “He who desires ecstasies and visions does not know what he is desiring,” he would say, and he meant it.  The raptures that used to come upon him while he was preaching or celebrating Mass were a source of great embarrassment and distress for him, and he would do anything he could think of to distract himself so that his emotions did not overpower him.  With others he was equally cautious.  “Philip did not make much account of this warmth and acuteness of feeling, for he said that emotion was not devotion, that tears were no sign that a man was in the grace of God; neither must we suppose a man holy merely because he weeps when he speaks of religion.”

Still, the holy joy that filled Saint Philip’s heart was difficult to hide, and in many cases was positively contagious.  “What Saint Paul says of himself seemed to be fulfilled in Philip,” Newman tells us, quoting the second letter to the Corinthians: “I am filled with consolation – I over-abound with joy.”  His penitents often felt joyful simply being in his room, even if he were not there, and some who were in distress only needed to stand at the door of his room, without going in, to feel better.  Though some people are naturally outgoing and expressive, it seems that this was not the case with Saint Philip, and he was always ready to attribute the joy he felt and shared with others to its real source.  “The Holy Spirit is the master of prayer and causes us to abide in continual peace and cheerfulness, which is a foretaste of Paradise.  We ought to pray God fervently to increase in us every day the light and heat of his goodness.”

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Litany of Saint Philip

Lord, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.

Christ, hear us.
Christ, graciously hear us.

God the Father of Heaven, have mercy on us.
God the Son, Redeemer of the world, have mercy on us.
God the Holy Ghost, have mercy on us.
Holy Trinity, one God, have mercy on us.

Holy Mary, pray for us.
Holy Mother of God, pray for us.
Holy Virgin of Virgins, pray for us.
Saint Philip, pray for us.
Vessel of the Holy Ghost, pray for us.
Child of Mary, pray for us.
Apostle of Rome, pray for us.
Counsellor of Popes, pray for us.
Voice of prophecy, pray for us.
Man of primitive times, pray for us.
Winning saint, pray for us.
Hidden hero, pray for us.
Sweetest of Fathers, pray for us.
Flower of purity, pray for us.
Martyr of charity, pray for us.
Heart of fire, pray for us.
Discerner of spirits, pray for us.
Choicest of priests, pray for us.
Mirror of the divine life, pray for us.
Pattern of humility, pray for us.
Example of simplicity, pray for us.
Light of holy joy, pray for us.
Image of childhood, pray for us.
Picture of old age, pray for us.
Director of souls, pray for us.
Gentle guide of youth, pray for us.
Patron of thy own, pray for us.
Who didst observe chastity in thy youth, pray for us.
Who didst seek Rome by divine guidance, pray for us.
Who didst hide so long in the Catacombs, pray for us.
Who didst receive the Holy Ghost into thy heart, pray for us.
Who didst experience such wonderful ecstasies, pray for us.
Who didst so lovingly serve the little ones, pray for us.
Who didst wash the feet of pilgrims, pray for us.
Who didst ardently thirst after martyrdom, pray for us.
Who didst distribute the daily word of God, pray for us.
Who didst turn so many hearts to God, pray for us.
Who didst converse so sweetly with Mary, pray for us.
Who didst raise the dead, pray for us.
Who didst set up thy houses in all lands, pray for us.

Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, spare us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, graciously hear us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, have mercy on us.

Christ, hear us.
Christ, graciously hear us.

Remember thy Congregation.
Which thou hast possessed from the beginning.

O God, who hast exalted blessed Philip, your Confessor, in the glory of your saints, grant that, as we rejoice in his commemoration, so we may profit by the example of his virtues, through Christ our Lord.

Amen.

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The Lord’s Prayer

Our Father who art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done
on Earth as it is in Heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us,
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom,
and the power, and the glory,
for ever and ever.

Amen.

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Doxology

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son,
and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,
world without end.

Amen.

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Concluding Prayer

Heavenly Father, hear the prayers that we make in the name of your son, and give us the Paraclete whom he promised you would send.  May your love for us give us strength to respond to you, and to bear fruit in our love for you and for our neighbor.  We ask this through Christ our Lord.

Amen.