Fat Tuesday: Veni Sancte Spiritus

Posted by admin on May 18, 2010 under 2. Fat Tuesday |

Between Ascension Thursday and Pentecost Sunday are nine days of prayer for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit–the first “novena.” Today we are on day 5, the midpoint of the novena.  I’ve been praying the novena by using prayers posted on the blog of a pastor of a parish in Concord, MA. If you haven’t been praying the novena–or if you are from one of those provinces that celebrated the Ascension on Sunday, you can find days 1-5 of the novena here.  Fr. Austin’s blog is an excellent resource of pastoral materials and insights–I highly recommend it. Plus, he is a fellow Domer!

Pentecost this year falls on commencement weekend here at Yale.  What a great celebration to send forth graduates! Our prayer is that they will continue to develop the gifts of the Spirit and offer them in service to the Common Good as they live out their vocation.

The first reading from the Acts of the Apostles has such vibrant imagery of the descent of the Spirit, which overturns the babble of Babel and allows the disciples to speak the gospel message with one voice. A few weeks ago, I came across the YouTube video “Lux Arumque,” in which voices all over the world are joined together into a “virtual choir” by Eric Whitacre. The video offers us a parable of sorts on the power of the Spirit.

I think Katie anticipated me with her video last week!

Fr. Peter Walsh, CSC is an Assistant Chaplain at Saint Thomas More, the Catholic Chapel and Center at Yale University.