Immediately after Our Lord’s crucifixion, the apostles were frightened. They gathered together in the upper room and shut the doors firmly “for fear of the Jews.” After the Ascension, while awaiting the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, we read that they “persevered with one mind in prayer” and were in the company of the women, other disciples, and our Blessed Lady. The fear had given way to anticipation after they had seen Our Lord risen from the dead and watched Him ascend to heaven. Now they were praying earnestly.

The days between the feast of the Ascension and the feast of Pentecost are also for us a time of intense prayer for the renewal of the gifts of the Holy Spirit that we received at the sacrament of Confirmation which was our personal Pentecost.

The gifts of the Holy Spirit are: wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord. They are linked to the twelve fruits of the Holy Spirit: charity, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, long-suffering, gentleness, faithfulness, modesty, continence and chastity.

All of these gifts and fruits are certainly endowments to long for, as they enrich our spiritual lives. We want to have these gifts and show their fruits in our daily lives by being kindly, patient, self-controlled and charitable to others. We want to speak and act wisely, bravely, devoutly and respectfully. And it is right that we should want these things.

However, they are also gifts for the whole Church. First, the Church benefits from the holiness of each individual member, because that holiness builds up and strengthens the people of God, the mystical body of Christ.

The gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit are also means by which the Church reaches out to all people. They bring to others the light and truth of the gospel of Christ which was preached to the world beginning on that day of the first Pentecost.

So we should take this opportunity of the original Novena from Ascension to Pentecost, to renew first of all our devotion to, and love for the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Blessed Trinity. Let us remember with awe that He is adored and glorified together with the Father and the Son, as we affirm in the creed.

And mindful of the sacrament of Confirmation, let us bring back to our minds the list of those gifts and fruits so that we understand better how the Holy Spirit desires to act in our hearts, both to enrich us personally in our spiritual lives, and to help us in our Christian mission to bring Christ to the world.