Today we Celebrate the Feast of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit descended on the apostles and Mary. Pentecost is considered the birthday of the Church because it is when the apostles first proclaimed and gave witness to the Good News of Jesus. During Mass today, we pray the Veni Sancte Spiritus before the Gospel is proclaimed. It is a beautiful prayer to pray anytime, but especially on this Pentecost Sunday.

If you haven’t been to Mass yet today, pray the prayer below as preparation for the Pentecost celebration. If you have already been to Mass, go through the prayer again and invite the Holy Spirit into your heart in a new and profound way.

Veni Sancte Spiritus

Come, Holy Spirit, come!
And from your celestial home
Shed a ray of light divine!

Come, Father of the poor!
Come, source of all our store!
Come, within our bosoms shine.

You, of comforters the best;
You, the soul’s most welcome guest;
Sweet refreshment here below;

In our labor, rest most sweet;
Grateful coolness in the heat;
Solace in the midst of woe.

O most blessed Light divine,
Shine within these hearts of yours,
And our inmost being fill!

Where you are not, we have naught,
Nothing good in deed or thought,
Nothing free from taint of ill.

Heal our wounds, our strength renew;
On our dryness pour your dew;
Wash the stains of guilt away:

Bend the stubborn heart and will;
Melt the frozen, warm the chill;
Guide the steps that go astray.

On the faithful, who adore
And confess you, evermore
In your sevenfold gift descend;

Give them virtue’s sure reward;
Give them your salvation, Lord;
Give them joys that never end.

Amen.
Alleluia.