We have just over a week until the birthday of the Church, which means that it’s time to start preparing for Pentecost.
Pentecost falls 50 days after Easter and 10 days after the Ascension of our Lord.
Pentecost is the birthday of Holy Mother Church which makes it one of the most important feast days that we have.
In our home, we try to celebrate each feast day with a special meal and maybe a dessert which I try to plan about a week in advance.
This year, in order to help us prepare for this great feast we are going to follow the guidance of Maria von Trapp.
Yep. I just said Maria von Trapp. You know. The Sound of Music.
Well Maria von Trapp, the real Maria von Trapp, wrote an amazing book that we have been absolutely loving in our home. The title of the book is “Around the Year with the von Trapp Family” and it’s all about living the Liturgical Year.
In the book, she has all the ways they celebrated each and every feast. And they celebrated all of them.
I want to share with you what she says about Pentecost, specifically about preparing for Pentecost.
Preparing for Pentecost by Maria von Trapp
“On Ascension Day begin the nine days of waiting and preparing, together with the Apostles and Mary, for the coming of the Holy Spirit.
“These are the days when families should discuss the gifts of the Holy Spirit and the fruits of the Holy Spirit evening after evening.
“As I look back over the years, I marvel at how different these discussions were every year, always full of surprises, partly because there were different people participating – guests of the family or new friends of the children – who do not ordinarily hear the workings of the gifts of the Holy Spirit discussed around the family table.
“We devote one whole evening to each one of the gifts. First is the gift of knowledge, offered to help us in our dealings with inanimate and animate created nature, things and people. It teaches us to make use of them wisely and to refrain from what is dangerous for us.
“As we consider a typical day, we discover that this gift is needed from the very moment of awakening, when we have to part from the created thing ‘bed.’
“The younger ones discover that the gift of knowledge helps them to remember that they have to make use of such created things as the toothbrush and the shower.
“In fact, there is hardly a moment of the day when we do not have to make a decision about using something or dealing with somebody, and when we do not need the immediate help of the Holy Spirit to carry us safely through the day.
“The second evening is devoted to the gift of understanding, which is extended to us for the understanding, with mind and heart, of revealed truth as we find in the Holy Scripture and the liturgy, and in the breviary.
“This gift we need for hours of prayer and meditation. It fulfills the Lord’s promise: ‘The Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name, He will teach you all things’ (John 14:26).
“The third evening is devoted to the gift of counsel, which helps us to distinguish, in every moment of our lives, what is the will of God. This gift we also need when someone turns to us for advice. It is most necessary to parents and teachers, priests, and all persons in authority.
“But, above all, it should help us to make the right choices in everyday life – even in such minor matters as ‘Should I do my homework now or later? Should I see this movie or not?’
“The gift of fortitude helps us to overcome our own will.
“This may start with such seemingly small matters as jumping out of bed the moment we had intended to do so; with giving up smoking or candies or cookies for certain times; with keeping silence when we might have a sharp answer ready; with doing little things for others at the cost of our own comfort; and it may lead to the ultimate test – aiding us in joining the thousands of contemporary martyrs who are called to lay down their lives for God.
“Again, a gift that is needed throughout the day!
“The gift of piety does not sound particularly attractive, until we realize that it infuses our hearts with a special kind of love, directed toward everything belonging and related to God: all persons consecrated to His service – the Holy Father in Rome, bishops and priests, missionaries, nuns, and lay brothers; and all things set aside for God only, such as church and altar, chalice and monstrance, vestments; and the sacramentals in our home – rosaries, holy water, medals.
“This precious gift also makes us eager to devote time to the service of God. It helps us to overcome morning laziness when it is time for Mass. It makes us want to visit our hidden God once in a while in church.
“In other words, it instills the interest for the supernatural in our souls. How could we do without it?
“When we come to the gift of fear of the Lord, there is always someone to raise the argument: ‘This I don’t understand. That is the spirit of the Old Testament, of the chosen people who were trembling before Jehovah so that they said to Moses, ‘You go up to the mountain and talk with Him – we are afraid.’ But the New Testament teaches us to say ‘Our Father,’ and Our Lord says. ‘I don’t call you servants anymore, I call you friend!’ One isn’t afraid of one’s father or one’s friends! What do I need the gift of fear for?'”
“It is then that something very tender and beautiful comes to light. If a person loves another one very much, you may often hear him say: ‘I’m afraid to wake him up; he needs his sleep’: or, ‘I’m afraid to disturb him.’ In other words, love is afraid to hurt the beloved one. The gift of fear should lead us to a state of mind that makes us afraid to sin because it would hurt Him.
“The gift of wisdom, finally, seems to sum up all the gifts of the Holy Spirit, just as charity sums up all His fruits. If we ask throughout all our days for the other gifts of the Holy Spirit and cooperate with them, if we examine our consciences every night about the use we made of them, wisdom will grow in our hearts.
“This wisdom has nothing to do with ordinary human intelligence, with knowledge learned in schools and from books. One doesn’t even have to be able to read and write in order to become wise.
“Once in a while, one meets an old lay brother or lay sister, an old farmer in the country, or some bedridden person, who may not be so learned in the eyes of the world, but may impress us deeply by a true wisdom expressed in all simplicity.
“At the end of the seventh day, we have all renewed our conviction that we cannot lead a true Christian life without the special aid of the Holy Spirit, that we have to ask for it as we start each day, and be faithful to it as we go through the day. Children, with the generosity of young hearts, are remarkably responsive to this suggestion.
“The eight day of the novena is dedicated to the fruits of the Holy Spirit, as they are enumerated in St. Paul- especially the first three: love, peace, and joy.
“On this day, we always call to mind the admonition of one of our dearest friends, Reverend Father Abbot, to take the words of Our Lord literally, that ‘by their fruits thou shalt know them’ (Matt. 7:16).
“In every individual soul, in every family or community we should watch whether love, peace, and joy prevail.
“On the last day of the novena, we meditate together on the two great hymns ‘Veni, Sancte Spiritus’ and ‘Veni, Creator Spiritus.’ Through our previous discussions, these texts are seen in a new light, and the repeated ‘Veni, veni’ (Come, [Holy Ghost,] come) really rises from the longing hearts.
“And when, during High Mass on Pentecost Sunday, priest and community kneel at the solemn text of the Gradual, Veni, Sancte Spiritus, we feel the miracle of the first Pentecost repeated in our hearts, filled by the Holy Spirit in response to the intensity of our Veni.”
Putting it to Practice
This will be the first year that we follow this outline.
We are very much looking forward to implementing this into our Liturgical practices and I hope you all will join us this year.
Hopefully, this will be the first of many years of preparing for Pentecost in this way.
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