Reflection & Scripture
Devotional Prayer
While the liturgy is “the summit toward which
the activity of the Church is directed” and “the
font from which all her power flows” (SC, no.10),
it is not possible for us to fill up all of our day with
participation in the liturgy. The Council pointed
out that the spiritual life “is not limited solely to
the participation in the liturgy. ...According to the
teaching of the apostle, (the Christian) must pray
without ceasing” (SC, no. 12). Popular devotional
practices play a crucial role in helping to foster
this ceaseless prayer. The faithful have always used
a variety of practices as a means of permeating
everyday life with prayer to God. Examples include
pilgrimages, novenas, processions and celebrations
in honor of Mary and the other saints, the rosary, the
Angelus, the Stations of the Cross, the veneration of
relics, and the use of sacramentals. Properly used,
popular devotional practices do not replace the
liturgical life of the Church; rather, they extend it into
daily life.
The Origin of Novenas
Novenas are prayers of devotion that are offered
for nine days (or some other period of time with
a factor of nine). They had their origin in ancient
Rome as times of prayer for the dead over a nine-day
period and were, essentially, prayers of mourning
and commendation of the soul to the mercy of God.
In the early Middle Ages, novenas became ways
of preparing for great liturgical events, especially
Christmas. One novena became linked to the
antiphons of Vespers, which begins with the vocative
“o” nine days before the celebration of Christ’s birth.
We recognize this custom from the Advent hymn
“O Come, O Come, Emmanuel,” which is the last
antiphon for the last day of this novena.
“Ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find,
knock and it shall be opened unto you”
(Lk 11:9)
Novenas are forms of insistent prayer. Christ tells
us to pray incessantly and assures us that God will
give his Holy Spirit to those who ask him. He also
tells us that He will provide what we really need, not
merely what we simply want.
St. Maximilian Kolbe
Raymond Kolbe was born in Poland on January
8, 1894, to Marianna Dabrowska and Julius Kolbe.
While Raymond was still very young, Marianna
instilled within him a deep love of the Blessed Virgin
Mary and devotion to her by teaching him to pray the
rosary and the Angelus.
One day, when Raymond was acting less than
saintly, Marianna scolded him, wondering aloud
what would ever become of him. A dejected young
Raymond went to kneel before a statue of the
Blessed Virgin Mary to ask her opinion on the
matter. In response, Mary appeared before him
holding a red crown and a white crown. Looking
down at Raymond, she asked him which he preferred.
He chose both. The apparition symbolized the life he
was to lead: chastity, symbolized by the white
crown, and martyrdom, symbolized by the red one.
On November 1, 1914, Raymond took solemn
vows as a Franciscan, taking the name Maximilian.
The next few years of his life were spent studying in
Rome, where he earned doctorates in philosophy and
theology despite suffering from tuberculosis. On
October 16, 1917, Maximilian and six other friars
formed the Militia of the Immaculata (MI)—a group
he envisioned would use every modern technique
available to spread the Gospel message and encourage
total consecration to Mary. He was ordained a priest
on April 28, 1918.
In 1941, the Nazis imprisoned Father Maximilian
in the Auschwitz death camp. There he offered his
life for another prisoner and was condemned to slow
death in a starvation bunker. On August 14, 1941, his
impatient captors ended his life with a fatal injection.
The following day, the Feast of Mary’s Assumption, he
was cremated in one of the camp’s furnaces.
Pope John Paul II canonized Maximilian as
a “martyr of charity” on October 10, 1982. St.
Maximilian Kolbe is considered the patron of
journalists, prisoners, families, the pro-life movement,
and – because of his manner of death – those with
eating disorders and chemical addictions.
Novena to the Holy Spirit
Inspired by St. Maximilian Kolbe
Begin the novena each day with this prayer.
Prayer of St. Maximilian Kolbe
O my God, my only happiness—how can I come
to know you more perfectly? I see your creatures
and I am enchanted; I give thanks and I love
you, but these do not suffice for me, as you
know so well; but I do not see or hear you.
I desire to become like you according to your will,
but how? You are most pure Spirit, and I am flesh.
Make known to me how I, a person of flesh, must
perfect myself and become like you, most Holy
Spirit, to be raised to the divine life.
First Day: May 2
Under the Direction of Faith
[Prayer of St. Maximilian Kolbe]
Scripture:
“For, after just a brief moment,
he who is to come shall come;
he shall not delay.
But my just one shall live by faith,
and if he draws back I take no pleasure in him.”
We are not among those who draw back and perish,
but among those who have faith and will possess life.
Hebrews, 10: 37-39
Reading:
The Holy Spirit says in Sacred Scripture:
“the just man lives by faith.” He does not say that he
lives by reason or intelligence, but by faith, for human
reason and intelligence are limited in concept and in
conceptualization, and consequently, do not fathom
many things in the realm of nature, not to mention in
the realm of the supernatural life and the mysteries
of God. Here, only faith comes to our assistance. As
a divine virtue it enlightens and illuminates – and
illustrates – the truths of God that are not accessible
to reason. A man who is guided only by reason will
frequently err and fall by the wayside (from an article
by St. Maximilian Kolbe, January 17, 1937).
Reflection: Do I seek the Spirit’s enlightenment to
deepen my understanding of the faith?
[Novena Prayer]
Second Day: May 3
Who is the Holy Spirit?
[Prayer of St. Maximilian Kolbe]
Scripture:
Nicodemus said to him, “How can a
person once grown old be born again? Surely he
cannot reenter his mother’s womb and be born again,
can he?” Jesus answered, “Amen, amen, I say to you,
no one can enter the kingdom of God without being
born of water and Spirit. What is born of flesh is flesh
and what is born of Spirit is Spirit. Do not be amazed
that I told you, ‘You must be born from above.’ The
wind blows where it wills, and you can hear the sound
it makes, but you do not know where it comes from
or where it goes; so it is with everyone who is born of
the Spirit.”
John 3:4-8
Reading:
And who is the Holy Spirit? The flowering
of the love of the Father and the Son. If the fruit of
created love is a created conception, then the fruit
of Divine Love, that prototype of all created love, is
necessarily a divine “conception.” The Holy Spirit
is, therefore, the “uncreated eternal conception,” the
prototype of all the conceptions that multiply life
throughout the whole universe (from St. Maximilian’s
last writing, his spiritual testament, February 17, 1941).
Reflection:
Does my love for God blossom into the lives of others?
[Novena Prayer]
Third Day: May 4
The Spirit—The “Conception” of Love
[Prayer of St. Maximilian Kolbe]
Scripture:
So then you are no longer strangers and
sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the holy
ones and members of the household of God, built
upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets,
with Christ Jesus himself as the capstone. Through
him the whole structure is held together and grows
into a temple sacred in the Lord; in him you also are
being built together into a dwelling place of God in
the Spirit.
Ephesians 2:19-22
Reading:
The Father begets; the Son is begotten; the
Spirit is the “conception” that springs from their love;
there we have the intimate life of the three Persons by
which they can be distinguished one from another.
But they are united in the oneness of their nature, of
their divine existence. The Spirit, is then, this thriceholy
“conception,” this infinitely holy “immaculate
conception” (from St. Maximilian’s last writing, his
spiritual testament, February 17, 1941).
Reflection:
Do I pray regularly to deepen my intimacy with God?
[Novena Prayer]
Fourth Day: May 5
The Relationship between the Holy Spirit
and the Blessed Virgin
[Prayer of St. Maximilian Kolbe]
Scripture:
There are different kinds of spiritual gifts
but the same Spirit; there are different forms of service
but the same Lord; there are different workings but
the same God who produces all of them in everyone.
To each individual the manifestation of the Spirit
is given for some benefit. To one is given through
the Spirit the expression of wisdom; to another the
expression of knowledge according to the same
Spirit; to another faith by the same Spirit; to another
gifts of healing by the one Spirit; to another mighty
deeds; to another prophecy; to another discernment
of spirits; to another varieties of tongues; to another
interpretation of tongues. But one and the same Spirit
produces all of these, distributing them individually
to each person as he wishes.
1 Corinthians 12:4-11
Reading:
In the union of the holy Spirit with her,
not only do we have the love of two beings, in one of
the two we have all the love of the Trinity itself; and
in the other we have all of creation’s love. Hence, in
this union heaven and earth meet; all of heaven with
all of earth, the totality of divine eternal love with the
plenitude of created love. It is the true summit of love...
The Holy Spirit dwells in the Immaculata, lives in
her, and does so from the first instant of her existence,
and thenceforth forever (from St. Maximilian’s last
writing, his spiritual testament, February 17, 1941).
Reflection:
Do I renew my total consecration to
Mary daily so as to draw closer to the Spirit?
[Novena Prayer]
Fifth Day: May 6
The Blessed Virgin in Whom We Venerate the Holy Spirit
[Prayer of St. Maximilian Kolbe]
Scripture:
But when the fullness of time had come,
God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the
law, to ransom those under the law, so that we might
receive adoption. As proof that you are children, God
sent the spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying out,
“Abba, Father!” So you are no longer a slave but a
child, and if a child then also an heir, through God.
Galatians 4:4-7
Reading:
Our heavenly Father is the source of all that
is; everything comes from the Blessed Trinity. We
cannot see God, and so Jesus came to this earth, to
make him known to us. The Most Blessed Virgin is
the one in whom we venerate the Holy Spirit, for she
is his spouse...
The third Person of the Blessed Trinity never took
flesh; still, our human word “spouse” is far too weak
to express the reality of the relationship between the
Immaculata and the Holy Spirit. We can affirm that
she is, in a certain sense, the “incarnation” of the Holy
Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit that we love in her; and
through her we love the Son. The Holy Spirit is far
too little known.
Reflection:
Do I invoke the Spirit’s inspiration and
guidance throughout the day?
[Novena Prayer]
Sixth Day: May 7
The Indwelling of the Holy Spirit
[Prayer of St. Maximilian Kolbe]
Scripture:
Jesus answered and said to him, “Whoever
loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love
him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling
with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep
my words; yet the word you hear is not mine but that
of the Father who sent me.
“I have told you this while I am with you. The
Advocate, the holy Spirit that the Father will send in my
name—he will teach you everything and remind you of
all that I told you.”
John 14: 23-26
Reading:
It is said that the Holy Spirit dwells in the
souls of the just. If this is so, then he must dwell
in the most perfect manner possible in the soul of
the Immaculata. Our Most Holy Mother is totally
diffused with the divine. For this reason we call
her the spouse of the Holy Spirit, even though we
know that this name is only a distant shadow of the
reality. For the Holy Spirit fashioned the humanity
of Jesus in her womb, in a miraculous manner. If
Jesus says of the souls of the just: “We will make our
abode in them” (John 14:23), then what an immense
difference there must be between us and our most
Blessed Mother, in regard to this indwelling (from a
conference by St. Maximilian, April 9, 1938)!
Reflection: Do I examine my conscience regularly so
as to make myself a more fitting place for the Spirit’s
indwelling?
[Novena Prayer]
Seventh Day: May 8
The Holy Spirit Makes the Blessed Virgin Fruitful
[Prayer of St. Maximilian Kolbe]
Scripture:
Now this is how the birth of Jesus Christ
came about. When his mother Mary was betrothed
to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was
found with child through the holy Spirit.
Matthew 1:18
Reading:
Among creatures made in God’s image,
the union brought about by married love is the
most intimate of all. In a much more precise, more
interior, more essential manner, the Holy Spirit lives
in the soul of the Immaculate, in the depths of her
very being. He makes her fruitful from the very first
instant of her existence, all during her life, and for
all eternity. This eternal “Immaculate Conception”
(which is the Holy Spirit) produces, in an immaculate
manner, divine life itself in the womb (or depths) of
Mary’s soul, making her the Immaculate Conception,
the human Immaculate Conception. The virginal
womb of Mary’s body is kept sacred for him; there
he conceives in time—because everything that is
material happens in time – the human life of the man-
God (from St. Maximilian’s last writing, his spiritual
testament, February 17, 1941).
Reflection:
How often do I go to confession in order
to make my personal apostolate or ministry fruitful?
[Novena Prayer]
Eighth Day: May 9
How the Holy Spirit Confers Grace
[Prayer of St. Maximilian Kolbe]
Scripture:
It happened in those days that Jesus came
from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized in the
Jordan by John. On coming up out of the water he
saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit, like a
dove, descending upon him. And a voice came from
the heavens, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am
well pleased.”
Mark 1:9-11
Reading:
Every grace comes from the Father in
consideration of the Son whom he begets from all
eternity. And the Holy Spirit who proceeds from the
Father and from the Son uses these graces to shape
souls to resemblance with the Firstborn, the Godman;
he does this in the Immaculate and by her
(from a conference by St. Maximilian, undated).
Reflection:
Do I seek Mary’s maternal mediation to
seek the graces I need to help bring about the kingdom
of God?
[Novena Prayer]
Ninth Day: May 10
The Holy Spirit Sanctifies Us
[Prayer of St. Maximilian Kolbe]
Scripture:
When the time for Pentecost was fulfilled,
they were all in one place together. And suddenly
there came from the sky a noise like a strong driving
wind, and it filled the entire house in which they were.
Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire, which
parted and came to rest on each one of them. And
they were all filled with the holy Spirit and began to
speak in different tongues, as the Spirit enabled them to
proclaim.
Acts 2:1-4
Reading:
The Third Person of the Holy Trinity has a
part in this work: it is he who transforms men’s souls
into temples, souls won by the redemption of Christ,
adopted children of God; he makes us heirs of the
heavenly kingdom, as St. Paul says: “you are washed
and justified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and
in the Spirit of our God.” It pertains to the Holy Spirit
until the end of the world to form the new members of
the Mystical Body of Christ’s predestined (from “The
Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary and
the Mediation of All Graces,” in Miles Immaculatae, a
Latin quarterly for priests by Maximilian Kolbe, 1938).
Reflection:
Do I seek the Spirit’s many gifts to be a
more effective evangelist in order to bring about the
conversion and sanctification of others?
[Novena Prayer]
