INVOCATION
Come, Creator Spirit, and instill in us the power and breath of Jesus. Without your drive and your grace, we can’t be certain that we believe in him; we won’t dare to follow his footsteps; the Church will not be renewed; our hope will go out. Come and spread in us the living breath of Jesus!
Come, Holy Spirit, and remind us of the good words Jesus spoke. Without your light and your witness about him, we will go about forgetting the good face of God; the Gospel will become a dead letter; the Church won’t be able to announce any good news. Come and teach us to listen only to Jesus!
Come, Spirit of Truth, and make us walk in the truth of Jesus. Without your light and your guidance, we will never be freed of our mistakes and lies; nothing new and true will be born among us; we will be like the blind who try to lead other blind people. Come and change us into disciples and witness of Jesus!
Come, Spirit of the Father, and teach us to shout out to God «Father!» as Jesus did. Without your warmth and your joy, we will live as orphans who have lost their Father; we will call upon God with our lips, but not with our hearts; our prayers will be empty words. Come and teach us to pray with the words and the heart of Jesus!
Come, Good Spirit, and convert us to the project of «God’s Reign» that Jesus inaugurated. Without your renewing power, no one will convert our tired hearts; we won’t have the audacity to construct a more human world according to God’s wishes; in your Church the last will never be the first; and we will stay asleep in our lukewarm religion. Come and make us collaborators of Jesus’ project!
Come, Spirit of Love, and teach us to love one another with the same love that Jesus had. Without your living presence in our midst, the communion of the Church will break apart; the hierarchy and the people will go on drifting further apart; the divisions will grow, dialogue will cease and intolerance will increase. Come and revive in our hearts and our hands the fraternal love that makes us like Jesus!
Come, Liberating Spirit, and remind us that Christ freed us in order to be free, not in order to allow ourselves to be oppressed again by slavery. Without your power and your truth, our joyful following of Jesus will become the drudgery of slaves; we won’t know the love that gives life, but only our own selfishness that kills; the freedom that makes grow the sons and the daughters of God will go out and we will be once and again victims of fear, cowardice and fanaticism. Come, Holy Spirit, and infect us with Jesus’ freedom!
José Antonio Pagola
Translator: Fr. Jay VonHandorf
