Come, Holy Spirit! Ancient Prayer #14
Come, Holy Spirit! Ancient Prayer #14.
THE HOLY SPIRIT: The Spirit of Glory; the Presence of God appearing in Shekinah glory through light, fire, and luminous cloud; God’s divine Presence on earth; the eternal life-giving Third Person of the Holy Trinity; the intimate bond of divine love and truth shared by God the Father and God the Son; the dynamic power of God offered to every human being on earth; the supernatural Presence in the Community of God who is personal without being material; the invisible creative force with divine intelligence who truly knows the mind of God from the inside; the Spirit of God who thus has all knowledge and is present everywhere in the universe; the sacred energy streaming forth from the Father and the Son, pouring love into our hearts (Romans 5:5), producing virtuous qualities in us (Galatians 5:22-23), and gradually transforming each believer into the image of Christ (2 Corinthians 3:18).
“Holy Spirit, my Lord and God,
Let Your saving plan be fulfilled in us all.
You drew God down from heaven and into the Virgin’s womb;
You are the love that moved God to become one with our own flesh.
You built for God’s Son a home in His mother;
Built it on seven pillars, Your seven gifts.
From the root of Jesse a shoot has sprung:
On it You would one day come to rest.
God, we have heard with our very own ears;
Our fathers have told us the work that You did
When you came in flame-tongues from Your throne in the Godhead
To make earth a heaven and all of us gods.
From that moment on, as children adopted, scattered throughout all the earth,
Through You we keep crying, Abba, our Father! to God.
How great are Your mercies, oh Spirit, oh Lord!
They revive me in hope;
Through them I entreat You.
Faith’s seal, of believers the counselor-helper,
Light, Fire and Wellspring of light,
Oh, listen to us who call You, and come!
If You will but guide us
Our Father’s face we will see,
And also the face of His Son,
And know You too, who flow from them both,
Life’s fountain and river of peace.”
(medieval prayer, Rupert of Deutz).