Through prayer, prepare for the coming of the Paraclete

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Donna Masek

What a delightful time of year is spring. With the fragrance from the blossoms colorfully decorating flower beds, and the chirping tunes of returning feathered friends, our senses are awakened to the new life among us. The lengthening days amplify possibilities to enjoy God’s marvelous creation. What could be more enjoyable than to watch the sunrise from an outdoor patio, or view its colorful setting from a mountain top or lakeside? Amidst this reawakening of nature, we celebrate the new spiritual life that has been given to us through the death and resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ in the celebration of Easter. He has risen! Indeed, he has done so.

Holy Mother Church rejoices in the magnanimous liturgical season of the Eastertide for 50 days. It is so magnificent a celebration that many expand Easter Sunday to the follow day. Thus, Easter Monday is considered by many as a “little Easter.”

The prayer known as the Easter sequence continues throughout the Octave of Easter – for eight days, from Easter Sunday until the following second Sunday of Easter. During this time in Scripture, we walk with the disciples traversing on the road to Emmaus, (Lk 24) and witness Thomas place his finger into the risen Lord’s side as proof that he was indeed alive (Jn 20). We stand with the disciples as Jesus ascends into heaven, and pray with them for nine days in preparation for the coming of the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, on Pentecost Sunday (Acts 2).

“They joined together in continuous prayer with the women, Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brethren” (Acts 1). In her relationship with the Trinity, Our Lady is known as daughter of the Father, mother of the Son, and spouse of the Holy Spirit. During her apparitions at Lourdes, France, she gave herself the name, “I am the Immaculate Conception.” She did not say, “I was immaculately conceived.” She took the name of her spouse, the eternal Immaculate Conception.

St. Maximilian says that Our Lady and the Holy Spirit are so intimately united that the Holy Spirit acts only through her, his bride (Kolbe Writings 634). Our Lady is also a woman of great faith and deep prayer. Pope Paul VI encourages us to develop her attitude of prayer in his apostolic exhortation Marialis Cultus.

Prayer was the cornerstone to all of St. Maximilian Kolbe’s activities. “Prayer revives the world,” he wrote. “Prayer is the indispensable condition for the regeneration and the life of every soul. ...” (KW 903).

As we journey through this Easter season and relish in creation’s new life, let us also prepare our souls for the coming of the Paraclete on Pentecost Sunday at its conclusion. Imitating the Immaculata and the disciples, may our souls also be regenerated through constant prayer, re-echoing the sentiments in the Upper Room: “Come, Holy Spirit!”

Donna Masek is a Father Kolbe Volunteer of the Immaculata, and member of the Militia of the Immaculata National Council. She serves both its English and Spanish communities in the Diocese of Salt Lake City. For information, contact her at miutah.stmary@gmail.com.