Bishop Gruss: As the feast of Pentecost approaches, I invite all of you to pray with me a Novena to the Holy Spirit.
Let us be united in praying for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit on one another and on our entire Diocese of Saginaw!
Click here to download and/or print the prayers.
The prayers linked here can be prayed alone or with others.
Each day, you'll pray the prayers on the first page of the PDF (headings are highlighted in red).
You'll find the daily "scripture reading" and "thought for each day" in the "Readings and Reflections" section.
Bishop Gruss: You have been given the same Spirit that was given to the apostles at Pentecost (highlights from Bishop Gruss' Homily on April 12)
"Is the Spirit personal to us? Or just some kind of nice concept or theological construct? Is the Spirit alive in them (Christians)? Do we really trust in the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives?
"If we did, we could go out and do the things that Peter and John did. Right? We could heal people. If you believed the power of the Holy Spirit was in you.
"When we look at the life of the early Church, it wasn’t the Apostles in and of themselves who healed peoples, but it was the Holy Spirit working through them. They have in them the Spirit’s power and then they acted in faith and then God did the rest.
You have been given the same Spirit
“...For those who have been confirmed, you have been given the same Spirit that was given to the apostles at Pentecost- at that Pentecost event! It’s not diminished in any fashion, shape or form.
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"Think about that. Think about that. The Spirit you have been given is the same Spirit given to Peter and to John and all the other apostles and Mary. Think about that. You have the same Holy Spirit, the fullness of it that Mary has. Wow!
"I don’t think we think about that much because the Spirit is a theological construct for many people.
Why isn’t it [the Spirit] alive in us in the same way?
"So, if that's the case, then why isn’t it [the Spirit] alive in us in the same way it was alive in the disciples?
"What are we doing to restrict the power of the Spirit in our own lives? It’s a faith issue I think. Right? If it’s not a faith issue, what is it?
Bishop Gruss continued, “...this is a faith issue. It means living life with an expectant faith. Do you have any expectant faith, expecting the Lord to use you as He desires?
As Bishop Gruss concluded, he said, “so, friends like the disciples of the early Church and beyond to this present day, you and I, we should pray daily for the boldness to step out in faith. We should pray with a deep expectant faith asking the Lord to use us and our prayers as he desires.”
Listen to Bishop Gruss' full homily
A New Outpouring of the Holy Spirit
Since his arrival as Bishop of Saginaw, Bishop Gruss has been encouraging all of us to pray daily for a new outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon ourselves, our families, our parish communities and our entire diocese.
The Spirit wants to awaken our hearts to a new springtime!
As the feast of Pentecost approaches, Bishop Gruss invites the whole diocese to pray with him this nine-day prayer, the Novena to the Holy Spirit for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit across the diocese.
The Church emphasizes very urgently the honor and also the duty to pray and invoke the Holy Spirit in every phase of our life.
“Lay people dedicated to Christ and anointed by his Holy Spirit (in baptism and confirmation) are marvelously called and equipped to produce in themselves ever more abundant fruits of the Spirit.”
Fruits of the Holy Spirit
The new Catechism of the Catholic Church lists the 12 fruits of the Holy Spirit as charity, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, generosity, gentleness, faithfulness, modesty, self control and chastity.
Imagine a world where people strive to achieve such worthy goals. We can help to create that world, because by changing ourselves, we can change the world.
We are assured by the Church that all of our work, prayers, apostolic endeavors, our mental and physical relaxation, if carried out in the Spirit, and even the hardships of life, if patiently borne - all of these become spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
The Congregation of the Holy Spirit (Spiritans) is happy to offer you this novena so that you may pray to and invoke the Holy Spirit daily for the seven gifts: Wisdom, Understanding, Right Judgment, Courage, Knowledge, Reverence, and Wonder and Awe.