Day Eight

Oil Lamp. Image uploaded to Wikimedia Commons by Arne Hückelheim

Let’s learn to know the Holy Spirit better during these nine days before Pentecost. Here is the eighth step.

What does St. Peter, the first Pope, teach us about the Holy Spirit? The Holy Spirit is always trying to bring us the Good News of Salvation through his messengers. But we must listen attentively and not be led astray. Our desire to have our own way can cause us to follow false teachers. The message of Peter, however, is “altogether reliable.” We need to keep our eyes fixed on the word of God which the Holy Spirit moved the apostles to write for our benefit. This word is like “a lamp shining in a dark place” (2 Peter 1:19) which helps us to wait until the day our resurrection dawns.

The eighth day of a novena to the Holy Spirit:

In the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification by the Spirit, for obedience and sprinkling with the blood of Jesus Christ: may grace and peace be yours in abundance. (1 Peter 1:2)

Come, Holy Spirit, and fill my heart with love of your word and attentiveness to your teaching. Amen.