HOLY GHOST NOVENA - DAY THREE

Day Three

Love Is a Fountain That Satisfies

Love is also called “a living fountain, fire, and charity.” Our blessed Redeemer said to the Samaritan woman: “He that shall drink of the water that I will give him, shall not thirst for ever”. Love is the water which satisfies our thirst; he who loves God really with his whole heart neither seeks nor desires anything else, because in God he finds every good.

Therefore, satisfied with God, he often joyfully exclaims, “My God and my all!” My God, You are my whole good. But the Almighty complains that many souls go about seeking for fleeting and miserable pleasures from creatures and leave him, who is the infinite good and fountain of all joy: “They have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and have dug to themselves cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water”

Therefore God, who loves us and desires to see us happy, cries out and makes known to all...

“If any man thirst, let him come to me, and drink”. He who desires to be happy, let him come to me; and I will give him the Holy Spirit, who will make him blessed both in this life and the next. “He that believes in me” (He goes on to say), “as the scripture says, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water”. 
He, therefore, who believes in Jesus Christ and loves him shall be enriched with so much grace that from his heart (the heart, that is, the will, is the belly of the soul) shall flow many fountains of holy virtues, which shall not only serve to preserve his own life, but also to give life to others.

And this water is the Holy Spirit, the substantial love which Jesus Christ promised to send us from heaven after his ascension: “Now this he said of the Spirit which they should receive, who believed in him: for as yet the Spirit was not given, because Jesus was not yet glorified”. The key which opens the channels of this blessed water is holy prayer, which obtains every good for us in virtue of the promise, “Ask, and you shall receive.” We are blind, poor, and weak; but prayer obtains for us light, strength, and abundance of grace. Theodoret said: “Prayer, though but one, can do all things.” He who prays receives all he wants. God desires to give us his graces; but he will have us pray for them.

Affections and prayers

Lord, “give me this water.” Yes, Lord Jesus, I will say to You like the Samaritan woman: give me this water of divine love that I may turn away from this world and live only for You Who are so lovely. “Water that which is dry.” My soul is like a dry land where nothing but the briars and thorns of sin grow. Ah! Give me, before I pass out of this world, an outpouring of divine grace to make my soul fruitful in works worthy of Your heavenly glory.

O Fountain of living water, O supreme Good, too often have I left You for the corrupt waters of this earth which have deprived me of Your love. Why did not death overtake me before I offended You?

In the future, I will seek nothing but You, O my God. Assist me and grant that I may be faithful to You.

 Prayer for the Seven Gifts of the Holy Ghost

O Lord Jesus Christ Who, before ascending into heaven, didst promise to send the Holy Spirit to finish Thy work in the souls of Thy Apostles and Disciples, deign to grant the same Holy Spirit to me that He may perfect in my soul the work of Thy grace and Thy love. Grant me the Spirit of Wisdom that I may despise the perishable things of this world and aspire only after the things that are eternal; the Spirit of Understanding to enlighten my mind with the light of Thy divine truth; the Spirit of Counsel that I may ever choose the surest way of pleasing God and gaining heaven; the Spirit of Fortitude that I may bear my cross with Thee and that I may overcome with courage all the obstacles that oppose my salvation; the Spirit of Knowledge that I may know God and know myself and grow perfect in the science of the Saints; the Spirit of Piety that I may find the service of God sweet and amiable; the Spirit of Fear that I may be filled with a loving reverence towards God and may dread in any way to displease Him. Mark me, dear Lord, with the sign of Thy true disciples and animate me in all things with Thy Spirit.  Amen.

Our Father

Our Father, Who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy Name. Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth, as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

Hail Mary

Hail Mary, full of Grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the Fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and in the hour of our death. Amen.

Glory Be

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.