Holy Spirit

love for the Eternal Trinity

/ Eric Mathews / Leave a comment

The Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherine of Siena, Giovanni di Paolo, via Wikimedia Commons

 
O Eternal God! O Eternal Trinity!
Through the union of your divine nature you have made so precious
    the blood of your only begotten Son!
O eternal Trinity, you are as deep a mystery as the sea,
    in whom the more I seek, the more I find;
    and the more I find, the more I seek.
For even immersed in the depths of you,
    my soul is never satisfied, always famished and hungering for you,
    eternal Trinity, wishing and desiring to see you, the true light.
 
O eternal Trinity, with the light of understanding
    I have tasted and seen the depths of your mystery
                         and the beauty of your creation.
In seeing myself in you, I have seen that I will become like you.
 
O eternal Father, from your power and your wisdom
    clearly you have given me a share of that wisdom
    which belongs to your only begotten Son.
And truly the Holy Spirit,
    who proceeds from You, Father and Son,
    has given to me the desire to love You.
 
Catherine of Siena, 1347 – 1380, Italian Dominican mystic
 
____________________________
 
 
Hear me as I pray, O Lord.
    Be merciful and answer me!
My heart has heard you say, “Come and talk with me.”
    And my heart responds, “Lord, I am coming.”

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Father, give us all your Holy Spirit

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​Veni Sancte Spiritus, by Lawrence OP, via  Flickr, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

 
Dear Heavenly Father, we ask you now to give us all your Holy Spirit,
    and to give him continually, that he might awaken, enlighten, encourage,
    and enable us to dare to take the small and large steps of moving 
    out of the comfort with which we can comfort each other 
    and into hope in you.
Turn us away towards you!
Do not allow us to hide from you!
Do not let us do anything without you!
Show us how glorious you are and how glorious it is to trust and obey you!
 
We would ask the same for all people,
    that nations and governments may bow to your Word,
      and that they will be willing to work for justice and peace on earth,
    that your Word may be understood and taken to heart
      by all those who are poor, sick, imprisoned, troubled, oppressed, and unbelieving;
    that through word and deed your Holy Spirit may be made known to them;
      and that you may be perceived by them as the answer to their sighs and cries;
    that all Christian churches and confessions may learn to recognize him anew 
      and serve you with renewed faithfulness;
    that your truth may remain bright in all of humanity’s error and confusion,
      until such a time as he shall ultimately enlighten all people and all things.
 
You are glorified, you who make us free in Jesus Christ, your Son,
    by confessing and standing on this: that our hope is in you. 
Amen.
 
Karl Barth, 1886 – 1968, Swiss Reformed theologian
Fifty Prayers, slightly modified
 
______________________________
 
 
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, 
    so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.
 

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Spirit, breathe your story of truth into ours

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image by Geralt via Pixabay
 
Truth-telling, wind-blowing, life-giving spirit –
    we present ourselves now
        for our instruction and guidance;
    breathe your truth among us,
        breathe your truth of deep Friday loss,
            your truth of awesome Sunday joy.
 
Breath your story of death and life
    that our story may be submitted to your will for life.
We pray in the name of Jesus risen to new life –
        and him crucified.
 
Walter Brueggemann, 1933 -2025,  American Protestant Old Testament theologian
Prayers for a Privileged People
 
________________________________
 
 
But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. 
He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, 
    and he will tell you what is yet to come. 
He will glorify me because it is from me
    that he will receive what he will make known to you. 
All that belongs to the Father is mine. 
That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.
 

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Prayer for renewal

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image by Bill Kasman, CC BY-SA 2.0

 
Comfortable and well-worn are my daily paths
    whose edges have grown gray
    with constant use.
My daily speech is a collection of old words
    worn down at the heels 
    by repeated use.
My language and deeds, addicted to habit,
    prefer the taste of old wine,
    the feel of weathered skin.
Come and awaken me, Spirit of the new.
Come and refresh me, Creator of green life.
Come and inspire me, Risen Son,
    you who make all things new:
    I am too young to be dead,
    to be stagnant in spirit.
High are the walls that guard the old,
    the tried and secure ways of yesterday
    that protect me from the dreaded plague,
    the feared heresy of change.
For all change is a danger to the trusted order,
    the threadbare traditions that are maintained
    by the narrow ruts of rituals.
Yet how can an everlastingly new covenant
    retain its freshness and vitality
    without injections of the new,
    the daring, and the untried?
Come, O you who are ever-new,
    wrap my heart in new skin,
    ever flexible to be reformed by your Spirit.
Set my feet to fresh paths this day:
    inspire me to speak original and life-giving words
    and to creatively give shape to the new.
Come and teach me how to dance with delight
    whenever you send a new melody my way.
 
Edward Hays, 1931-2016, Catholic Priest in the Archdiocese of Kansas City
 
__________________________
 
 
And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. 
Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins; the wine will run out 
    and the wineskins will be ruined.  
No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins.

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to sweep out the corners

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image by Louis Henri de Fontenay
 
 
God, we come
with hesitant steps
and uncertain motives
to sweep out the corners
where sin has accumulated,
and uncover the ways
we have strayed from Your truth.
 
Expose the empty and barren places
where we don’t allow you to enter.
Reveal our half-hearted struggles
where we have been indifferent
to the suffering of others.
 
Nurture the faint stirrings of new life,
where your spirit has begun to grow.
Let your healing light transform us
into the image of Your Son.
For You alone can bring new life
and make us whole.
 
Christine Sine, Australian physician and contemplative activist
 
_______________________________
 
 
Search me, O God, and know my heart;
    test me and know my anxious thoughts.
Point out anything in me that offends you,
    and lead me along the path of everlasting life.

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Grace to interpret the Scriptures

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We implore you, Father of the only-begotten, 
    Lord of the universe,
        the one who has crafted all creatures,
        the maker of things that have been made.
 
We stretch out clean hands, 
    and we unfold our thoughts to you, Lord.
Have compassion, spare, benefit, improve and multiply us 
    in virtue, faith and knowledge.
 
Visit us, O Lord.
We display our own weaknesses to you.
Have mercy and pity on us all.
Lift up this people, and make us gentle and sober-minded.
Cleanse us and set us apart to worship you rightly.
 
Send your Holy Spirit into our minds
    and give us grace to learn the Scriptures
    and to properly interpret their meaning,
        that others may be encouraged 
  through your only-begotten Jesus Christ in the Holy Spirit,
    through whom and to you be glory and strength
    both now and to all the ages of the ages, Amen.
 
Serapion Scholasticus, 300-360, Egyptian Monk and Bishop
 
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But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 
To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.

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O Lord, in prayer . . .

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Charles Haddon Spurgeon, via Wikimedia Commons
 
O Lord, in prayer I launch far out into the eternal world, 
    and on that broad ocean my soul triumphs 
        over all evils on the shores of mortality. 
Time, with its gay amusements and cruel disappointments 
    never appears so inconsiderate as then.

In prayer I see myself as nothing; 
I find my heart going after You with intensity, 
    and long with vehement thirst to live to You. 
Blessed be the strong gales of the Spirit 
    that speed me on my way to the New Jerusalem.

In prayer all things here below vanish, 
    and nothing seems important 
        but holiness of heart and the salvation of others.

In prayer all my worldly cares, fears, anxieties disappear, 
    and are of as little significance as a puff of wind.

In prayer my soul inwardly exults with lively thoughts 
    at what You are doing for Your church, 
  and I long that You should get Yourself a great name 
    from sinners returning to Zion.

In prayer I am lifted above the frowns and flatteries of life, 
    and taste heavenly joys; 
  entering into the eternal world I can give myself to You with all my heart, 
    to be Yours for ever.

In prayer I can place all my concerns in Your hands, 
    to be entirely at Your disposal, 
        having no will or interest of my own.

In prayer I can intercede for my friends, ministers, sinners, the church, 
    Your kingdom to come, with greatest freedom, ardent hopes, 
        as a son to his father, as a lover to the beloved.

Help me to be all prayer and never to cease praying..
 
Charles Haddon Spurgeon, 1834-1892, English Baptist Preacher
 
______________________
 
 
 Rejoice always, pray without ceasing

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Stretch forth Your hand to us

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Jesus Walks on Water, c. 1684, Ilyas Basim Khuri Bazzi Rahib, Wikimedia Commons

 
O Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior 
Stretch forth Your hand to us who are tossed about in this world 
    as You did to Peter sinking in the sea, 
    and with Your strength fortify us against the devil 
    who fights against us. 
Feed us with Your indescribable wisdom that governs all creation. 
Kind refuge for the storm-tossed, the one true course, 
    show us the way, and therein will we walk, 
    for we have offered our souls unto You.
Bestow on our foolishness Your spirit of true understanding. 
Bless our every work with the breath of Your greatness, 
    that at all times guided and sustained by Your Holy Spirit 
    we may in all things accomplish Your holy and all-perfect will.
 
Sophrony the Athonite, 1896-1993, Russian-born Orthodox Monk who lived 
 
________________________
 
 
Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. 
When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. 
    “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear.
But Jesus immediately said to them: 
    “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”
    “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”
    “Come,” he said.
Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. 
But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, 
    “Lord, save me!”
Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him.
    “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”

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prayer to the Holy Spirit

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image, Serbian Monastery, BrankaVV, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons

 
 
Good spirit, Holy giver of life . . .  
We are born again in You, created a second time. 
In You is all knowledge, which illuminates our minds 
    so that we might see the Lord, our Savior. 
In Him is life, wisdom, beyond words, 
    knowledge that surpasses the senses, 
    brightness beyond understanding – all life, all power, all glory – 
for He is the God who carries our burdens and forgives us. 
 
Make me entirely Yours. 
Give me life according to Your will. 
Resurrect those parts of me that sin has brought down. 
Enlighten my heart, which is darkened by evil desires, 
   and bring life to my soul, which is dead in its sin. 
Unfurl the threefold mantle of my passions. 
    Have mercy on me in my poverty. 
    Deliver me from every enemy who, from without or within, rises up over me. 
    Deliver me from every evil thing. 
Forgive my reprehensible deeds, and plant your perfect love inside of me.
 
Write your servant’s name in the Book of Life, 
    and give me a good end so that, as I rise victorious over the devil, 
    I might bow confidently before Your kingly throne. 
Make my heart good soil, Lord, and sow it with good seeds. 
Cover me with Your grace like the morning dew, and harvest that which is good: 
    humble prayer, restraint, watchfulness, and tears. 
 
John the Deacon, 15th Century, Orthodox
 
___________________________
 
 
When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, 
    for he will not speak on his own authority, 
    but whatever he hears he will speak, 
    and he will declare to you the things that are to come. 
He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

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to crave the graces of your Holy Spirit

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image, Gloucestershire, UK via Pexels
 
 
Lord God, you know I need to call on you for my daily bread.
But how much more reason have I to crave the graces of your Holy Spirit –
    for supplying my soul with heavenly food,
    especially with saving faith.
When I am tossed about with the storms of doubts and fears,
    show me how to lay hold of your word and promises.
Then all the temptations of the world, the flesh and the devil,
    will never prevail over me, since I know in whom I have believed.
Increase the light of my faith, 
    that it may daily cast forth more clear beams.
Preserve that faith in the darkness of death,
    that it may guide me to eternal life.
And rule and govern me by your Holy Spirit,
    that I may never lose faith by agreeing to do anything
    that is against the light of my conscience.
Confirm the good work you have begun in me,
    strengthen me inwardly, and preserve me blameless 
    until the day of the Lord Jesus Christ,
    that I may inherit eternal life.
Amen.
 
Robert Parker, c. 1564 – 1614, English Puritan minister and scholar
 
___________________________
 
 
That is why I am suffering as I am. 
Yet this is no cause for shame, 
    because I know whom I have believed, 
    and am convinced that he is able to guard 
    what I have entrusted to him until that day.

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