Following the Ascension of Our Lord, tradition says that the disciples gathered in the upper room together with Our Blessed Mother for the nine days of prayer between the Ascension and Pentecost in anticipation of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit was given to the disciples to empower them to “be my witnesses…even to the ends of the earth.” (Acts1:8)

As disciples of Jesus, we too can unite in prayer for a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit in our parish, our faith communities, our families, and in ourselves. We need the power of the Holy Spirit to be effective witnesses of love of God for our world.

During these few days we invite you personally and as families to open your hearts to the guidance and strengthening of the Holy Spirit.    

PRAY A NOVENA TO THE HOLY SPIRIT asking for an outpouring of His gifts in your life, in your family and in our parish.  The novena prayers will be available in the back of the church.  The novena begins on the Friday after Ascension Thursday, May 10th and ends on May 19 the vigil of Pentecost Sunday.

40 continuous hours of Eucharistic adoration preparing for Pentecost

“Come away by yourself to a deserted place and rest awhile” Mark 6:31

We need you! Please sign up for an hour or two of quiet prayer in our beautiful church.  The forty-hour devotion is reminiscent of the time that the disciples were in the upper room with Mary and praying for the coming of the Holy Spirit.  We need the Holy Spirit today in our own lives and within our parish!

Forty is a significant number in our faith life—Israelites wandered

 forty years in the desert;  

Jesus spent forty days in the desert; forty days of Lent; forty days from Easter to Ascension Thursday.

To celebrate the Feast of Pentecost, St Luke's Parish will be hosting our annual Potluck Dinner in the Parish Center on Saturday, May 19th, immediately following a Bi-lingual Mass con-celebrated by Monsignor Mike and Father Bill Reiser. We invite all families to join us and to bring a traditional dish from your culture.

This is always a great evening and a wonderful opportunity to meet other parishioners. Please let us know if you are coming by filling out the sign-up sheets found in the vestibule of the church.

If you have any questions, or would like to help, please call Nan Ford/Parish Outreach at 366-8509.

Say the following prayers daily for nine days, starting on Friday, May 26.

Loving Father, we pause from the activities of the day to remember that You are the one who has called us to be here, and You are the one who calls us to put our gifts at the service of one another. We come before you with open hands and hearts. We ask you to pour out your Holy Spirit on us. We come as people of faith, standing ready to hear and follow your call wherever you lead us. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Come Holy Spirit, Spirit of Wisdom. Grant that we may recognize and appreciate what is good, what is true, what is beautiful. Help us to discern their presence, even when they may be hidden in our midst.

Come Holy Spirit, Spirit of Understanding. Enlighten our minds concerning the mysteries of salvation, the mysteries of life and love, of person and relationship. Grant that we may understand them more fully and live them more deeply.

Come Holy Spirit, Spirit of Counsel. Incline our hearts to do what is right and just. Help us to be attentive to your call within ourselves, and respectful of your call in others, that each of us might mature in faith, hope and love, until we come to the fullness of life in Christ.

Come Holy Spirit, Spirit of Fortitude. Give us the strength, courage, and perseverance to live each day joyfully and enthusiastically. May we speak the truth with gentleness, act justly, love tenderly, and walk with our God.

Come Holy Spirit, Spirit of Knowledge. Teach us how to live in the here and now, to see things as they really are, to accept ourselves and others with our limitations as well as our giftedness. Help us to live in this reality without losing the vision of how things might be and the hope to attain them.

Come Holy Spirit, Spirit of Reverence. Fill us with the sense of your presence that this awareness may both influence and be reflected in all our thoughts, words, deeds, and relationships.

Come, Spirit of Wonder and Awe. Infuse us with a sense of awe. Let us come to you in wonder of your grace. Lead us to depend solely on you.

This, then, is what I pray, kneeling before the Father, from whom every family, whether spiritual or natural, takes its name: Out of his infinite glory, may God give you the power through his Spirit for your hidden self to grow strong, so that Christ may live in your hearts through faith, and then, planted in love and built on love, you will with all the saints have the strength to grasp the breadth and length, the height and depth, until knowing the love of Christ, which is beyond all knowledge, you are filled with the utter fullness of God.

Glory be to God, whose power working in us can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine. Glory be to God from generation to generation in the Church and in Christ Jesus forever and ever. Amen.

Holy Spirit, confident in your deep and personal love for me, I place into your hands the petitions (pause and state your intentions) I have been carrying in my heart. Teach me, Holy Spirit, to seek and know you. Grant me true repentance and sincere patience with myself and others. Keep me from sin. Increase my faith, my hope, and my love for my brothers and sisters. Nurture within me the virtues I particularly need. Guide me in the way of true discipleship. Strengthen in me an attitude of obedience, a recognition of your words even when they may come from unexpected sources. Give me discerning ears.

Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful.

And kindle in them the fire of your love.

Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created.

And you will renew the face of the earth.

 Lord, 

 by the light of the Holy Spirit

 you have taught the hearts of your faithful.

 In the same Spirit

 help us to relish what is right

 and always rejoice in your consolation.

 We ask this through Christ our Lord.

Amen.

Holy Spirit,
 At the dawn of creation,
 You brought order out of chaos,
 Light out of darkness,
 Life out of nothingness.

Breathe on us once again,
 And change this culture of death
 Into a Culture of Life.

Inspire in your people
 A spirit of generous welcome
 For each and every life,
 No matter how unexpected or dependent
 That life may be.

Holy Spirit,
 You are the Advocate.
 As you fill us with Yourself,
 Make us advocates
 For the unborn and all the vulnerable,

Until we are all united
 In the endless life and joy
 of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
 One God, forever and ever.
 Amen.