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What’s Up with the Holy Spirit Prayer?

Question:

When we say the prayer to the Holy Spirit, we pray for him to fill the hearts of the faithful. Later in the prayer, we say, ". . . and they will be created." Why do we say they will be created when they are already created?

Answer:

Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful, and kindle in them the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created. And you shall renew the face of the earth.

The origins of the prayer are not well known. The line “send forth your Spirit and they shall be created” is a direct quote from Psalm 104:30. The context of the Psalm is that all good things come from the Lord, and he drives away evil.

The prayer resembles the words of St. Paul that in Christ we become a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17).

The prayer also echoes the words of Ezekiel:

And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh (Ez. 36:26).

The prayer is asking God to send the Holy Spirit to give us a new heart. This is different from just a fresh start; it is asking for a true transformation of our lives by the power of the Holy Spirit. It is asking God to create us as his people.

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