Get ready for Pentecost!

 

I would like to encourage you to check out this link where you can find a novena (a set of prayers for 9 days) to the Holy Spirit, as we head into Pentecost on May 24, 2026. The Novena has already started but you are not too late!

Pentecost will officially end this beautiful season of Easter.

I have been enjoying this time of focus on joy, which I find both comforting and challenging.

I am including in this post an example of this very short, but beautiful novena, along with the accompanying email you get when you sign up.

Pray for peace and an end to war.

Janet Cassidy
Email me at:  jmctm2@gmail.com

janetcassidy.com
https://www.facebook.com/reflectionsinfaith/
https://www.youtube.com/@janetcassidy 

 

Janet - Peace be with you!

Each day of this novena, we will pray for one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit.

The fruits of the Spirit are, "perfections that the Holy Spirit forms in us as the first fruits of eternal glory." (Catechism of the Catholic Church)

Today's prayers are for Joy.

Joy is one of those signs that shows the world that there is something different about followers of Christ. So, let us pray today for a greater Joy that will shine through to the rest of the world!

You can post your own prayer intentions here. We're praying for you!

Here are the prayers for today:

Day 2 - Novena to the Holy Spirit

(Audio/Video Version)

Joy

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Let us bow down in humility at the power and grandeur of the Holy Spirit. Let us worship the Holy Trinity and give glory today to the Paraclete, our Advocate.

O Holy Spirit, by Your power, Christ was raised from the dead to save us all. By Your grace, miracles are performed in Jesus’ name. By Your love, we are protected from evil. And so, we ask with humility and a beggar’s heart for Your gift of Joy within us.

All of the Saints are marked with an uncompromisable [sic] Joy in times of trial, difficulty and pain. Give us, O Holy Spirit, the Joy that surpasses all understanding that we may live as a witness to Your love and fidelity!

Holy Spirit we ask for the grace of [Mention your intention here].

Amen.

Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and enkindle in them the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created. And You shall renew the face of the earth.

O, God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit, did instruct the hearts of the faithful, grant that by the same Holy Spirit we may be truly wise and ever enjoy His consolations, through Christ Our Lord,

Amen.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Finding hope

 

We were finishing up our rosary when a bird's nest came floating out of the tree near our deck.  We watched as its builder (a robin) came back to the nest and attempted to rebuild it, picking up several small pieces of grass. It looked like a futile project.

"A house not built on a solid foundation," my husband said, spontaneously quoting Matthew 7:24.

As I thought about the determination of this bird, I started thinking about all of the people who lose their homes during floods and year after year go back to rebuild them. Such perseverance!

I thought about how many of us, when faced with what seems like an impossible task, have to take a deep breath and get to it. Sometimes it's the seemingly ordinary things in life that can be so hard.

I was talking to a dear priest friend of mine years ago and I asked him how he keeps going in the face of so many struggles and he responded, "What am I going to do? Give up? Let the bad guy win?"

Indeed, we can never give up. Even in the face of hardship, unbearable trials, or outright evil.

This week I watched as our first home, where we spent the first ten years of our married life, was shown on the news, riddled with over 200 bullets. Probably gang or drug related.

A child died there. In my old house, where we lived with our children in peace. 

Outright evil has taken hold of whoever does things like that, but God is always victorious over evil.

Hope is imagining that a little robin can rebuild its fallen nest. Hope is that the world in which we live will come to praise God's name and follow his ways. 

Cling tight to hope in God's love and mercy.

Pray for peace and an end to war.

Janet Cassidy
Email me at:  jmctm2@gmail.com

janetcassidy.com
https://www.facebook.com/reflectionsinfaith/
https://www.youtube.com/@janetcassidy 

 

 

 

A Slippery Path?

 

We went to a Chinese restaurant and the next day I decided to eat one of the fortune cookies.

As I took out the slip of paper with my fortune on it, it said, "Read the moment. It is speaking to you." 

Then I looked at the other side.

Imagine my surprise when I discovered an advertisement for a show on Prime where people battle for a million dollars!

Whaaat?

The last thing you expect to see on a fortune is an advertisement for a streaming show.

I never take my fortune seriously, but it feels like somebody sold out by selling advertising on it. Of course, everything is a business and maybe times are tough for fortune printers, I don't know.

When I was a kid I used to read my horoscopes in the paper. I never took those seriously either, of course, but it was just something fun to read. It's never a good idea to put your faith in something like a horoscope or a fortune, so I never did.

I know this will make you gasp, but we played with a Ouija board, too. 

Before you call me a heathen, we were kids and it was just a game to us. In fact, we tried to figure out which one of us was actually moving the piece to get the answer they wanted, which tells you something about our level of belief in it.

Oh, and I had a Magic 8 Ball, too. I just thought the floaty thing was kind of cool.

As I'm writing this, you might think my parents were unhinged, but they weren't. I'm sure they just thought of them as toys for kids at the time, especially since they were probably advertised to kids next to regular games. 

We didn't put any stock in their supposed connection to the occult.

But, with today's environment, I would think parents would stay away from this stuff because young people might tend to take it seriously and it could lead them away from faith down a path they should not be following.

Not to mention, we certainly don't want to open any opportunity for kids to entertain bad things. We've got enough of that already. 

I think kids are much too susceptible to spiritualism today. In our culture it would be best to find more wholesome family games in which to engage.

Pray for peace and an end to war.

Janet Cassidy
Email me at:  jmctm2@gmail.com

janetcassidy.com
https://www.facebook.com/reflectionsinfaith/
https://www.youtube.com/@janetcassidy