"The Spirit God has given us is no cowardly spirit."
2 Tim. 1:7
Prayer to the Holy Spirit, Giver of Life
Come Holy Spirit, Creator of all things...You who breathed over the waters at the dawn of creation and brought forth all living beings...You who filled the apostles when the Risen Lord breathed on them on the first Easter night, giving them the power to restore life to those dead in sin...You who, on the last day, will breathe again over all the dead and raise them from the grave--Come! Come and breathe on our world again, immersed as it is in the Culture of Death! Come, O Lord and Giver of Life! Defeat the works of death in our midst, that abortion may no longer stain our land.
We worship You, O Holy Spirit, and we rejoice in You. We know that no matter how strong the forces of death may be, we can still find in You the endless source of life. Renew that life in each of us, and make us worthy apostles of the Culture of Life in our day! Amen.
Prayer to the Holy Spirit, the Advocate
O Holy Spirit of God, You were promised to us by the Lord Jesus as an Advocate, as one who pleads our cause and speaks up for us in the heights of heaven. "I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever..."(Jn.14:15).
The apostle Paul has taught us that You intercede for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in speech (Rom. 8:26).
We praise You today for the gift of salvation, for we are deeply aware that we cannot save ourselves. We have sinned, and we cannot win forgiveness on our own. We need an Advocate.
We ask You, O Holy Spirit, to make us ever more aware of those who need us as advocates. Grant that we may hear the cries of our youngest, smallest brothers and sisters, those still in the womb, who cannot speak or defend themselves, and who cannot even pray.
Holy Spirit, as You are the Advocate, so make us advocates. As You hear our cries for mercy, so let us hear the cries of others for mercy. Save us from the misfortune of seeking mercy only for ourselves, while being deaf to others. As you loosened the tongues of the apostles at Pentecost, so grant us today a Pentecost for the unborn, that we may speak for them before the great and the small, before governments and institutions, and before all Your people. Amen.
