II

A Prayer to the Holy Spirit.¹⁹⁰¹⁹⁰   This is the 14th Prayer in Gerberon’s edition.

NOW, O Thou Love that art the bond of the Godhead, Thou that art the holy Love which is betwixt the Father Almighty and His most blessed Son, Thou Almighty Spirit, the Comforter, the most merciful consoler of them that mourn, do Thou enter by Thy mighty power into the innermost sanctuary of my heart, and of Thy goodness dwell therein, making glad with the brightness of Thy glorious light the neglected corners thereof, and making fruitful by the visitation of Thine abundant dew the fields that are parched and barren with long continued drought. Pierce with the arrows of Thy love the secret chambers of the inner man. Let the entrance of Thy healthful flames set the sluggish heart alight, and the burning fire of Thy sacred inspiration enlighten it and consume 125all that is within me, both of mind and body. Give me drink of Thy pleasures as out of the river¹⁹¹¹⁹¹   Ps. xxxvi. 8.; so that I may take no pleasure hereafter in the poisonous sweetness of worldly delights. Give sentence with me, God, and defend my cause against the ungodly people.¹⁹²¹⁹²   Ps. xliii. 1. Teach me to do the thing that pleaseth Thee, for Thou art my God.¹⁹³¹⁹³   Ps. cxliii. 10. I believe that in whomsoever Thou dost dwell, Thou makest there an habitation for the Father and for the Son. Blessed is he who shall be counted worthy to entertain Thee; because by Thee the Father and the Son shall make their abode with him.¹⁹⁴¹⁹⁴   John xiv. 23.

Come, O come, most gracious consoler of the soul that sorroweth, Thou refuge in due time of trouble.¹⁹⁵¹⁹⁵   Ps. ix. 9. Come, Thou cleanser from sin, Thou healer of wounds.¹⁹⁶¹⁹⁶   See the Veni Sancte Spiritus (the sequence for Pentecost). Come, Thou strength of the weak, Thou lifter up of them that fall. Come, Thou teacher of the lowly and destroyer of the proud. Come, Thou gracious father of the fatherless, Thou gentle defender of the cause of the widows.¹⁹⁷¹⁹⁷   Ps. lxviii. 5. Come, Thou hope of the poor, and cherisher of the sick. Come, Thou star of the seafarer, Thou haven of the shipwrecked. Come, Thou that art the only glory of them that live, the only salvation of them that die. Come, most holy Spirit, come and have mercy upon me, and fit me to receive 126Thee: and graciously grant to me that my littleness may be pleasing to Thy greatness, my weakness to Thy strength, according to the multitude of Thy mercies, through Jesus Christ my Saviour, who liveth and reigneth with the Father in the Unity that is of Thee, world without end. Amen.