INVOCATION TO THE SPIRIT
Come, Holy Spirit. Awaken our weak, small and wavering faith. Teach us to live, trusting in the unfathomable love of God our Father for all God’s sons and daughters, whether they be within or outside of your Church. If this faith goes out in our hearts, it will soon die also in our communities and churches.
Come, Holy Spirit. Make Jesus occupy the center of your Church. May nothing or no one supplant or obscure it. Don’t live among us without attracting us to his Gospel and without converting us to his following. May we not flee from his Word, nor lose our way from his commandment of love. May his memory not be lost in the world.
Come, Holy Spirit. Open our ears to listen to you calls, those that reach us today from the questionings, sufferings, conflicts and contradictions of men and women of our times. Make us live open to your power to generate the new faith that this new society needs. May we live out in your Church that which is born as well as that which is dying, with the heart sustained by hope and not undermined by nostalgia.
Come, Holy Spirit. Purify the heart of your Church. Put truth within us. Teach us to recognize our sins and limitations. Remind us that we are like everyone else: fragile, mediocre, and sinners. Free us of our arrogance and false security. Make us learn to walk among people with more truth and humility.
Come, Holy spirit. Teach us to look in a new way at life, the world, and above all the people. May we learn to gaze as Jesus gazed at those who suffer, those who mourn, those who fall, those who live alone and forgotten. If our gaze changes, the heart and face of your Church will also change. We disciples of Jesus will better radiate his closeness, his comprehension, and solidarity toward those most in need. We will look more like our Master and Lord.
Come, Holy spirit. Make of us a Church of open doors, compassionate heart and contagious hope. May nothing or no one distract us or lead us astray from Jesus’ project: to make a more just and dignified world, a more loving and happy world, opening up paths to God’s reign.
José Antonio Pagola
Translator: Fr. Jay VonHandorf
