At Work the Week Before Pentecost - Part 2
We continue our week at work in anticipation of Pentecost. We'll focus again on the Act of Consecration to the Holy Spirit,
a part of the Novena to the Holy Spirit prayed each of the nine days leading to Pentecost.
Ideally, we'll see how its inspiring words can help us at work.
Picking up where we left off last time, we'll now consider the second part of Act of Consecration to the Holy Spirit:
I desire never to grieve You by unfaithfulness to grace and I pray with all my heart to be kept from the smallest sin against You. Mercifully guard my every thought and grant that I may always watch for Your light, and listen to Your voice, and follow Your gracious inspirations. I cling to You and give myself to You and ask You, by Your compassion to watch over me in my weakness. Holding the pierced Feet of Jesus and looking at His Five Wounds, and trusting in His Precious Blood and adoring His opened Side and stricken Heart, I implore You, Adorable Spirit, Helper of my infirmity, to keep me in Your grace that I may never sin against You. Give me grace, O Holy Spirit, Spirit of the Father and the Son to say to You always and everywhere, "Speak Lord for Your servant heareth." Amen.
If we begin each day with prayer, if we raise our hearts and minds to God, we can recollect ourselves and prepare for the work day. With a secure foundation in our Holy Catholic Faith, we open our souls to God's grace. Despite our weak and sinful fallen human nature, His grace will intercede to strengthen us. His Love and Mercy await only our desire for them.
I don't know about you, but even with proper preparation and a recollected spirit, my work days don't always flow smoothly. Today I may find unexpected bumps in the road. And when things turn sour as they do from time to time, it's important that I don't focus on how it all makes me feel. Rather, ideally, I immediately turn to God and pray in the spirit of the Act of Consecration to the Holy Spirit, "grant that I may always watch for Your light, and listen to Your voice, and follow Your gracious inspirations." Will I find the solution to every problem in that instant? Probably not, but that's not the point. My trust in God recognizes His Loving Presence. From there, I can take a deep breath and get to work with the confidence that all will turn out according to His Holy Will. And isn't that what we all really want?
Of course, being fallen creatures, we can be distracted by our desire for what the world, the flesh, and the devil offers. Instead of working for His greater glory this day, we might instead seek recognition, riches, career advancement without regard for what God wants for us. In such moments it's critical that we recall the words of our prayer, "I cling to You and give myself to You and ask You, by Your compassion to watch over me in my weakness....keep me in Your grace that I may never sin against You."
What about when we're simply so absorbed in our work that the day flies by with hardly a thought about God or His Holy Will? It happens. For me it happens often - too often. That's why we endeavor to at least make time at the beginning of the day for prayer, reading, study, meditation. Those few minutes of precious recollected time, will carry us forward into our work day bathed in His Holy Light. As such, maybe we'll even find that precious moment or two to say a quick aspiration like "All for Thee Lord," or "I love you Jesus," or any other words that suit you - even in the midst of our busiest days.
If our day is especially blessed, perhaps we'll recall those final words of the Act of Consecration to the Holy Spirit provide us "Give me grace, O Holy Spirit, Spirit of the Father and the Son to say to You always and everywhere, 'Speak Lord for Your servant heareth.'" To be thus recollected and thereby open to His Holy Word would be the greatest blessing I can think of for this and every work day.
I hope you found these brief, simple thoughts inspired by the Act of Consecration to the Holy Spirit particularly helpful during this week before Pentecost. Let's conclude with that ancient prayer to the Holy Spirit we all learned during our Catholic upbringing:
Picking up where we left off last time, we'll now consider the second part of Act of Consecration to the Holy Spirit:
I desire never to grieve You by unfaithfulness to grace and I pray with all my heart to be kept from the smallest sin against You. Mercifully guard my every thought and grant that I may always watch for Your light, and listen to Your voice, and follow Your gracious inspirations. I cling to You and give myself to You and ask You, by Your compassion to watch over me in my weakness. Holding the pierced Feet of Jesus and looking at His Five Wounds, and trusting in His Precious Blood and adoring His opened Side and stricken Heart, I implore You, Adorable Spirit, Helper of my infirmity, to keep me in Your grace that I may never sin against You. Give me grace, O Holy Spirit, Spirit of the Father and the Son to say to You always and everywhere, "Speak Lord for Your servant heareth." Amen.
If we begin each day with prayer, if we raise our hearts and minds to God, we can recollect ourselves and prepare for the work day. With a secure foundation in our Holy Catholic Faith, we open our souls to God's grace. Despite our weak and sinful fallen human nature, His grace will intercede to strengthen us. His Love and Mercy await only our desire for them.
I don't know about you, but even with proper preparation and a recollected spirit, my work days don't always flow smoothly. Today I may find unexpected bumps in the road. And when things turn sour as they do from time to time, it's important that I don't focus on how it all makes me feel. Rather, ideally, I immediately turn to God and pray in the spirit of the Act of Consecration to the Holy Spirit, "grant that I may always watch for Your light, and listen to Your voice, and follow Your gracious inspirations." Will I find the solution to every problem in that instant? Probably not, but that's not the point. My trust in God recognizes His Loving Presence. From there, I can take a deep breath and get to work with the confidence that all will turn out according to His Holy Will. And isn't that what we all really want?
Of course, being fallen creatures, we can be distracted by our desire for what the world, the flesh, and the devil offers. Instead of working for His greater glory this day, we might instead seek recognition, riches, career advancement without regard for what God wants for us. In such moments it's critical that we recall the words of our prayer, "I cling to You and give myself to You and ask You, by Your compassion to watch over me in my weakness....keep me in Your grace that I may never sin against You."
What about when we're simply so absorbed in our work that the day flies by with hardly a thought about God or His Holy Will? It happens. For me it happens often - too often. That's why we endeavor to at least make time at the beginning of the day for prayer, reading, study, meditation. Those few minutes of precious recollected time, will carry us forward into our work day bathed in His Holy Light. As such, maybe we'll even find that precious moment or two to say a quick aspiration like "All for Thee Lord," or "I love you Jesus," or any other words that suit you - even in the midst of our busiest days.
If our day is especially blessed, perhaps we'll recall those final words of the Act of Consecration to the Holy Spirit provide us "Give me grace, O Holy Spirit, Spirit of the Father and the Son to say to You always and everywhere, 'Speak Lord for Your servant heareth.'" To be thus recollected and thereby open to His Holy Word would be the greatest blessing I can think of for this and every work day.
I hope you found these brief, simple thoughts inspired by the Act of Consecration to the Holy Spirit particularly helpful during this week before Pentecost. Let's conclude with that ancient prayer to the Holy Spirit we all learned during our Catholic upbringing:
Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Thy faithful,
And enkindle in them the fire of Thy Love.
Send forth Thy Spirit and they shall be created,
And Thou shalt renew the face of the earth.
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