Prayer Initiative

Prayer Initiative

Victor O'Neill Studios

Rev. Peter McShurley

Prayer for Renewed Outpouring of the Holy Spirit

Heavenly Father, you have given us the great dignity of becoming your children, and have told us through your Son, that if we ask anything in His Name, you will grant it to us.
Through the intercession of the Immaculate Heart of Mary and in the Name of your Son, Jesus Christ, we ask you for a new outpouring of Your Holy Spirit to renew and deepen the faith of this community.
Where we are wounded, give us healing,
Where we are tempted to despair, give us renewed hope,
Where we have fear and anxiety, sow the seeds of courage and trust,
Where there is darkness shine your light.
By the power of The Holy Spirit, We ask you to fill the hearts of our administration, teachers, coaches and staff with a renewed zeal, dedication, and care for every student. We ask you to give our students a renewed hope and desire to come to know you as Truth itself and to love you above all things. We ask you to bestow peace and healing in our families.
By offering this prayer, we, members of Bishop O’Connell, reject Satan and his empty promises. In the Name of your Son Jesus Christ, we offer our lives to you. Renew in our hearts a firm faith, a lively hope, and a burning love for you. Amen.

In November, we began a prayer initiative in which we are asking for a new outpouring of the Holy Spirit on our community. Every morning we begin asking for this, also bringing any special intentions we carry in our hearts before God. One of the things that Jesus says when He speaks about the Holy Spirit is this: “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 14:26) The Holy Spirit works within our souls silently and from the inside like the nutrients inside a plant nourishing the whole plant and keeping it alive. The nourishment the Holy Spirit gives us is love for Jesus and desire to know Him and follow Him always more closely. We are asking for a new outpouring of the Holy Spirit for our whole community, so that our community begins to have a renewed desire to know and love Jesus Christ. Along with this nourishment, the Holy Spirit always brings healing and peace, things that we desire so much for our families and our lives.

We began praying our prayer every morning for this renewed outpouring of the Holy Spirit on November 1, the Solemnity of All Saints. We know that whenever we pray, we are never praying alone. Everyone who has already gained eternal peace in heaven sees us and prays with us. We ended this month of prayer on December 12, the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, patroness of the Americas. Mary our Mother sees our community like she sees her child Jesus, she sees us and knows that the nourishment and love that we need will be from the power of the Holy Spirit. This is why it is so fitting to end this prayer initiative on one of her feast days. She is praying for us, and always bringing us before Our Heavenly Father in prayer. And the person the Heavenly Father sends in response to her prayers, is the Holy Spirit.