For Wisdom, Courage and Strength
Through the Holy Spirit we are restored to paradise, led back to the Kingdom of heaven, and adopted as children, given confidence to call God “Father” and to share in Christ’s grace, called children of light and given a share in eternal glory.”
– St. Basil, De Spiritu Sancto
Cardinal Mercier’s Prayer To The Holy Spirit
O Holy Spirit
Beloved of my soul
I adore you.
Enlighten Me
Guide Me,
strengthen Me and Console me.
Tell me what I ought to do
and command me to do it.
I promise to submit to everything
that you ask of me
and to accept all
that you allow to happen to me.
Just show me what is your will.
Amen.
St. Augustine Prayer
Breathe into me, Holy Spirit,
that my thoughts may all be holy.
Move in me, Holy Spirit,
that my work, too, may be holy.
Attract my heart, Holy Spirit,
that I may love only what is holy.
Strengthen me, Holy Spirit,
that I may defend all that is holy.
Protect me, Holy Spirit,
that I may always be holy.
Amen.
Evening Prayer to the Holy Spirit
O Holy Spirit, most merciful Comforter: You proceed from the Father in a manner beyond our understanding. Come, I beseech You, and take up your abode in my heart. Purify and cleanse me from all sin, and sanctify my soul. Cleanse it from every impurity, water its dryness, melt its coldness, and save it from its sinful ways. Make me truly humble and resigned, that I may be pleasing to You, and that You might abide with me forever. Most Blessed Light, most Amiable Light, enlighten me. O Rapturous Joy of Paradise, Fount of Purest Delight, My God, give yourself to me and kindle in my innermost soul the fire of Your love. My Lord, instruct, direct, and defend me in all things. Give me strength against all immoderate fears and against despondency. Bestow upon me a true faith, a firm hope, and a sincere and a perfect love. Grant that I always do Thy Most Gracious Will.
Amen.
For the Seven Gifts of the Spir
it
O Lord Jesus Christ, Who,
Before ascending into heaven,
Did promise to send the Holy Ghost
To finish Your work in the souls
Of Your Apostles and Disciples,
Deign to grant the same Holy Spirit to me,
That He may perfect in my soul
They work of Your grace and Your love.
Grant me the Spirit of Wisdom
That I may despise the perishable things of this
World and aspire only after the things that are
Eternal,
The Spirit of Understanding to enlighten my
Mind with the light of Your divine truth,
The Spirit of Counsel that I may ever choose the
Surest way of pleasing God and gaining Heaven,
The Spirit of Fortitude that I may bear my cross
With You, and that I may overcome with
Courage all the obstacles that oppose my
Salvation,
The Spirit of Knowledge
That I may know God and know myself and grow
Perfect in the science of the Saints,
The Spirit of Piety that I may find the service
Of God sweet and amiable,
The Spirit of Fear that I may be filled with a
Loving reverence towards God, and may
Dread in any way to displease Him.
Mark me, dear Lord, with the sign of
Your true disciples and animate me in all things
With your Spirit.
Amen