This prayer is part of a novena to the Holy Spirit, asking specifically for the gift of Charity. A novena is a nine-day period of prayer, modeled after the nine days the Apostles and Mary spent in prayer between the Ascension and Pentecost. This prayer asks the Paraclete for an increase in supernatural love.
The practice of novenas originates with the nine days the Apostles prayed in the upper room awaiting the Holy Spirit (Acts 1). While private novenas developed over centuries, Pope Leo XIII formalized the novena to the Holy Spirit in his 1897 encyclical Divinum Illud Munus, asking the entire Church to pray it before Pentecost. This specific text is a modern composition based on that ancient tradition of invoking the Spirit for an outpouring of the seven gifts and virtues.
This prayer focuses on Charity, the theological virtue by which we love God above all things for His own sake, and our neighbor as ourselves for the love of God (CCC 1822). The prayer acknowledges that this supernatural love is not a human achievement but a gift from the Holy Spirit, who is the personal Love between the Father and the Son. By asking for Charity, the soul asks to participate in the very life of the Trinity.
This prayer is most fittingly prayed as part of the Novena to the Holy Spirit in the nine days between Ascension Thursday and Pentecost Sunday. It is also an excellent prayer for those preparing for the Sacrament of Confirmation, or for any Christian who feels their love for God and neighbor growing cold. It can be used anytime one seeks to grow in virtue and overcome selfishness.
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