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Pentecost Sunday is May 28, 2023. To participate in a Novena to the Holy Spirit and Receive daily text message reminders beginning May 19, text PENTECOSTNOVENA to 84576.
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Pentecost Novena - English
Pentecost Novena - Spanish
Pentecost Novena - Vietnamese
In 1975, Pope Paul VI published the seminal document onEvangelization in the Modern World. In it, he emphasized in the strongest terms that the Holy Spirit is the principle agent of Evangelization, and without whom it simply will not happen. He writes:
75. Evangelization will never be possible without the action of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit descends on Jesus of Nazareth at the moment of His baptism when the voice of the Father- "This is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased"[107]- manifests in an external way the election of Jesus and His mission. Jesus is "led by the Spirit" to experience in the desert the decisive combat and the supreme test before beginning this mission.[108] It is "in the power of the Spirit"[109] that He returns to Galilee and begins His preaching at Nazareth, applying to Himself the passage of Isaiah: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me." And He proclaims: "Today this Scripture has been fulfilled." To the disciples whom He was about to send forth He says, breathing on them, "Receive the Holy Spirit."
In fact, it is only after the coming of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost that the apostles depart to all the ends of the earth in order to begin the great work of the Church's evangelization. Peter explains this event as the fulfillment of the prophecy of Joel: "I will pour out my spirit." Peter is filled with the Holy Spirit so that he can speak to the people about Jesus, the Son of God. Paul too is filled with the Holy Spirit before dedicating himself to his apostolic ministry, as is Stephen when he is chosen for the ministry of service and later on for the witness of blood. The Spirit, who causes Peter, Paul and the Twelve to speak, and who inspires the words that they are to utter, also comes down "on those who heard the word."
It is in the "consolation of the Holy Spirit" that the Church increases.
The Holy Spirit is the soul of the Church. It is He who explains to the faithful the deep meaning of the teaching of Jesus and of His mystery. It is the Holy Spirit who, today just as at the beginning of the Church, acts in every evangelizer who allows himself to be possessed and led by Him. The Holy Spirit places on his lips the words which he could not find by himself, and at the same time the Holy Spirit predisposes the soul of the hearer to be open and receptive to the Good News and to the kingdom being proclaimed.Techniques of evangelization are good, but even the most advanced ones could not replace the gentle action of the Spirit. The most perfect preparation of the evangelizer has no effect without the Holy Spirit. Without the Holy Spirit the most convincing dialectic has no power over the heart of man. Without Him the most highly developed schemas resting on a sociological or psychological basis are quickly seen to be quite valueless.
We live in the Church at a privileged moment of the Spirit. Everywhere people are trying to know Him better, as the Scripture reveals Him. They are happy to place themselves under His inspiration. They are gathering about Him; they want to let themselves be led by Him. Now if the Spirit of God has a preeminent place in the whole life of the Church, it is in her evangelizing mission that He is most active. It is not by chance that the great inauguration of evangelization took place on the morning of Pentecost, under the inspiration of the Spirit.
It must be said that the Holy Spirit is the principal agent of evangelization: it is He who impels each individual to proclaim the Gospel, and it is He who in the depths of consciences causes the word of salvation to be accepted and understood. But it can equally be said that He is the goal of evangelization: He alone stirs up the new creation, the new humanity of which evangelization is to be the result, with that unity in variety which evangelization wishes to achieve within the Christian community. Through the Holy Spirit the Gospel penetrates to the heart of the world, for it is He who causes people to discern the signs of the times- signs willed by God- which evangelization reveals and puts to use within history.
The Bishops' Synod of 1974, which insisted strongly on the place of the Holy Spirit in evangelization, also expressed the desire that pastors and theologians- and we would also say the faithful marked by the seal of the Spirit by Baptism- should study more thoroughly the nature and manner of the Holy Spirit's action in evangelization today. This is our desire too, and we exhort all evangelizers, whoever they may be, topray without ceasing to the Holy Spirit with faith and fervor and to let themselves prudently be guided by Him as the decisive inspirer of their plans, their initiatives and their evangelizing activity.
Let us then, in the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City, take care to cultivate devotion to the Holy Spirit, so that he may work within our Church with ever greater freedom.
Parishes are encouraged to pray the annual Novena to the Holy Spirit (see below). Prayer groups devoted to a more fullsome experience of the Holy Spirit are encouraged. Individuals are also encouraged to pray daily for a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit in their own lives, and in the lives of their fellow Catholics.
The Holy Spirit is the primary agent of evangelization. Therefore, as the Church enters this season of the New Evangelization, it makes sense to ask for his help!
And there is no better time to ask for help than the season of Pentecost. In 1897, Pope Leo XIII established the annual novena to the Holy Spirit in every parish in the nine days leading up to Pentecost. Parishes of the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City are encouraged to pray this novena for an outpouring of grace for the New Evangelization. We invite the Holy Spirit to renew us personally and communally for the needs of the Church.
In 2023, Pentecost falls on May 28. The prayers begin on Friday, May 19.
To help with this, the Office of Evangelization and Missionary Discipleship has produced a booklet in English, Spanish, and Vietnamese.