Monthly Archives: June 2025

Fire. We dread it, we fear it, we need it.

We look for the arsonist’s sparks that precede it.

Who lit the match? Now the city’s ablaze.

Tongues as of fire light tongues filled with praise.

It’s fire! It’s roaring, it’s soaring, it’s spreading.

It looks like it might be quite rapidly heading

To Your street, to Your house, and to Your heart, now lighting

A joy and a power the Spirit’s igniting.

We know how we got here. We kept our hearts still.

We listened to scripture. We searched for God’s will.

It started with Mary, her wide-hearted YES,

And now every Christian must kneel and confess

That our Jesus is LORD. Let all the earth tremble.

Let war zones, and drought zones, begin to resemble

The City of Peace, where wide rivers flow.

O Spirit, come heal us, that all hearts should know

That YOU are the Comforted soul’s welcome guest.

YOU are our wisdom, Refreshment, and Rest.

Lord, send your Spirit, and give grace, I pray

To every dear person who reads this today.

How can the Spirit help you this year?

Kathy McGovern ©2025 

Okay, Church. It’s that time of year again. This is the week when the entire Church does a full-court novena. We celebrate Ascension Thursday today, on a Sunday, because it often goes unnoticed on the weekday, and it’s a tremendous solemnity. So, yes, technically, the novena started last Thursday. Still, all 14 million practicing Catholics worldwide observe Ascension today, which means we collectively begin our joyful wait for the coming of the Spirit in one week.

We do this in solidarity with those disciples—Mary, the mother of Jesus, being foremost among them (Acts 1:12)—who followed Jesus’ instruction not to leave Jerusalem until they received the Spirit (Lk. 24:48). Nine days later, a noise like a driving wind filled the house where they were staying, and the Holy Spirit descended.

So YES! We keep this Pentecost novena (seven days, really) as a worldwide Church, and we wait in joyful hope for the Spirit to come to us in mighty ways next Sunday on the great feast of the Holy Spirit, the birthday of the Church.

I entreat us all to storm heaven during this particularly potent week of prayer. I’m begging for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and for immediate food and medicine to be rushed to the millions of people who will die of famine without humanitarian aid.

Once again this year, I invite each of us to imagine someone in the world of our same gender, age, and name who needs our prayers this year. There are at least thirteen different global spellings of Kathleen. Google your name and randomly choose someone. They can thank you when they meet you in heaven.

What will be your novena prayer this year?

 Kathy McGovern ©2025