As we approach the great Solemnity of Pentecost on Sunday, May 31, you and your family are invited to meditate upon the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit as, together, we call down the Great Paraclete upon our lives, our families and our parishes across the Diocese of Lansing by praying a Pentecost Novena to the Holy Spirit.
A novena is nine days of prayer. The nine fruits of the Holy Spirit as chronicled by St. Paul in his Letter to the Galatians are: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23)
We continue today with a meditation upon the gift of gentleness led by Father Gary Koenigsknecht, Parochial Vicar at St. Thomas Aquinas and St. John Church and Student Center in East Lansing, although soon to be Pastor at St Joseph in Howell. At the conclusion of the meditation, please feel to join Father Koenigsknecht in prayer as he invokes the Holy Spirit:
“Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created. And You shall renew the face of the earth.”
“O, God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit, did instruct the hearts of the faithful, grant that by the same Holy Spirit we may be truly wise and ever enjoy His consolations, Through Christ Our Lord, Amen.”