Kids love rituals. My grandkids enjoy eating at familiar restaurants and returning to favorite vacation spots. Adults love rituals too.
I’ve participated in many three-day retreats over the years. Presbyterians call it Great Banquet, Methodists refer to it as the Emmaus Walk, and Catholics speak of it as Cursillo. One prayer integral to these various weekends, “the Holy Spirit Prayer,” is recited fifteen times together over the course of a weekend. I became so familiar with the prayer that I could recite it from memory. I wasn’t raised in a liturgical tradition that followed a scripted order of worship, down to specific words and phrases offered in prayer. I admit to being critical of liturgical worship in the past, having observed the tendency for people to recite prayers without thinking. Yet I can also testify to the power of engaging in time-honored prayer practices together.
The focus of today’s prayer has obscure origins. dating back to the ninth century or earlier. This prayer invites the Holy Spirit to come into us, fulfilling what Jesus said to his disciples after his resurrection, “Receive the Holy Spirit” (John 20.22). The prayer enumerates various ways the Spirit enriches our spiritual life. The Spirit fills us–“fill the hearts of your faithful.” The Spirit ignites us–“kindle in them a fire of your love.” The Spirit creates and renews us–“send forth your Spirit and they shall be created, and you shall renew the faith of the earth,” words taken from Psalm 130.4. The Spirit instructs us–“O God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit did instruct the hearts of the faithful.” The Spirit consoles us–“grant that by the same Holy Spirit we may be truly wise and ever enjoy his consolations.” The prayer recited in these weekend retreats is identical to one included in a ninth century liturgy called the Gregorian Sacramentary. We join in praying with believers down through the ages: