Indeed, if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, how much more, once reconciled, will we be saved by his life. Not only that, but we also boast of God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. Romans 5:10-11

I wonder why people fear the confessional. Is it perhaps because they fear what the Priest will think of them. That's not what they are there for. They are acting in Jesus name. It is not for them to judge another by what they reveal nor should it be.

I've always made it a policy with myself that when a person reveals something to me in confidence, it disappears from my mind. In other words I let it go. I look at the person with the same eyes I saw them with before. It is with this thinking that makes going to confession a joy.

Too often we judge others by what we hear. And when we have an opportunity to speak to them we find out, there is no truth in what we heard. It may not always be that way.

In this reading we are called to reconcile ourselves to God, through his Son. We have fallen away from reconciliation. We have fallen away from the Sacrament of Penance. This is what the Sacrament is for, to reconnect us to a loving God. It is to wash away the grime we have acquired. He does forgive, when we go with honesty in our hearts.

His word tells us to reconcile, his Mother also asks us to do so. Try it.

Since I'm a day late in starting this Novena, it seems appropriate then to end it on Pentecost.


Day 1

Holy Spirit! Lord of Light! From Your clear celestial height, Your pure beaming radiance give!

The Holy Spirit

Only one thing is important -- eternal salvation. Only one thing, therefore, is to be feared--sin· Sin is the result of ignorance, weakness, and indifference The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Light, of Strength, and of Love. With His sevenfold gifts He enlightens the mind, strengthens the will, and inflames the heart with love of God. To ensure our salvation we ought to invoke the Divine Spirit daily, for "The Spirit helpeth our infirmity. We know not what we should pray for as we ought. But the Spirit Himself asketh for us."

Prayer

Almighty and eternal God, Who hast vouchsafed to regenerate us by water and the Holy Spirit, and hast given us forgiveness all sins, vouchsafe to send forth from heaven upon us your sevenfold Spirit, the Spirit of Wisdom and Understanding, the Spirit of Counsel and fortitude, the Spirit of Knowledge and Piety, and fill us with the Spirit of Holy Fear.

Amen.


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. Amen.

Hail Mary,
Full of Grace,
The Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women,
and blessed is the fruit
of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary,
Mother of God,
pray for us sinners now,
and at the hour of death.
Amen.


Say the Glory Be seven times:

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.


ACT OF CONSECRATION TO THE HOLY SPIRIT

On my knees I before the great multitude of heavenly witnesses I offer myself, soul and body to You, Eternal Spirit of God. I adore the brightness of Your purity, the unerring keenness of Your justice, and the might of Your love. You are the Strength and Light of my soul. In You I live and move and am. I desire never to grieve You by unfaithfulness to grace and I pray with all my heart to be kept from the smallest sin against You. Mercifully guard my every thought and grant that I may always watch for Your light, and listen to Your voice, and follow Your gracious inspirations. I cling to You and give myself to You and ask You, by Your compassion to watch over me in my weakness. Holding the pierced Feet of Jesus and looking at His Five Wounds, and trusting in His Precious Blood and adoring His opened Side and stricken Heart, I implore You, Adorable Spirit, Helper of my infirmity, to keep me in Your grace that I may never sin against You. Give me grace O Holy Spirit, Spirit of the Father and the Son to say to You always and everywhere, "Speak Lord for Your servant heareth."

Amen.


PRAYER FOR THE SEVEN GIFTS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

O Lord Jesus Christ Who, before ascending into heaven did promise to send the Holy Spirit 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, the 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, and 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

But I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you. On that day you will not question me about anything. John 16:22-23

We will see him again, on the day we breathe our last when we come to him in our death, or it will be when this world fades away. We do not know either, so until then it would be a wise thing to do to keep ourselves from sin. It is in sin we doubt and question.

Yesterday, I had a wonderful conversation about God with another person after Mass. It lasted more than two hours. In that time I had said something that I still find difficult. When I had a life saving surgery, afterward I recall, I was afraid to die. It was in this relationship that I found difficult and I fought it every day, the wrong I was doing, I wanted out of the relationship. When you know your doing wrong and feel paralyzed to escape from it, anyway after my surgery, there was a big change in me. I found the strength to recover my life from destruction. I was given a chance to atone for my error. To this day I am still afraid to die, yet I love God so deeply I would die for him. Does it makes sense, no, not yet. If I saw hell, it is one place I do not want to go. Then I fear death more than anything. All because I broke one commandment. Does it still make no sense, yes. But it is in this one sin, that separated me from God. Yet I see him in the Eucharist, I experience him in Communion, I know of his love. Is there a purpose to what he is doing in my life, yes. He is saving me from being condemned, when I have finished going through the purification of his love, then I will no longer fear death.

What is the point of this, well if God is going to great lengths to save one soul such as I, don't you think he will do it for you too. That is why reconciliation is very important, to atone for our sins. Don't throw the chance away to reconcile to God, who loves us all very much.

So then the Lord Jesus, after he spoke to them, was taken up into heaven and took his seat at the right hand of God. Mark 16:19


What the apostles have witnessed in Jesus taken up to heaven, how they must have been in awe. And to think they also did not have the technology we have today, to try and explain away what went on. They wrote it down for future generations. Not only that but the Church found it's roots in Jesus, where he told his chosen disciples to go out into the world and preach the gospel. Look where the Church is now, from it's meager beginnings, how it has grown.

How the apostles must have felt that day, to see with their eyes Jesus going up in the clouds to heaven. What a glorious day that was for them. And a sad one too, for the time Jesus was with them on earth came to an end. Which marked also a beginning, when they would be filled with the Holy Spirit in a short time to come.

Do any of us ever wonder how we would react were we to witness what the apostles did. To see for ourselves the truth of the Divine, yet blessed are those who believe without seeing.

it was also for us, to whom it will be credited, who believe in the one who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was handed over for our transgressions and was raised for our justification. Romans 4:24-25

Our salvation was in the hands of Jesus in order for us to know the truth. The truth that he was sent by God, the truth that by God he was raised from the dead. Only a loving God would go to such lengths to bring us back to him, for us to realize that he loves us.

When we think about it, how we go to great lengths ourselves to show someone we love them. We purchase flowers to give an offering of love. We buy gifts to give, to celebrate a special occasion, or just to show our love. Some go to even greater lengths to show someone their love by doing unusual things. We often read of these, like a billboard, or a note written in the sky, or some unique way to capture our loves attention. So if we go to these great lengths, it shouldn't be hard to understand the love God has for us and the lengths he went to show us through his Son.