Veni Creator Spiritus

Our Lady and the 11 Disciples

Just as the Church sings Te Deum at the end of the calendar year, She has also made it a pious custom to sing Veni Creator Spiritus at the beginning of the calendar year. Believed to have been composed in the 9th century AD by Rabanus Maurus, a Frankish Benedictine monk who became the archbishop of Mainz in East Francia, Veni Creator Spiritus is also sung on Pentecost, as well as at ordinations and Confirmations. It is a wonderful hymn invoking the Holy Ghost to come and influence each and every aspect of our lives.

Come, Holy Spirit, Creator blest,

and in our souls take up Thy rest;

come with Thy grace and heavenly aid

to fill the hearts which Thou hast made. 

O comforter, to Thee we cry,

O heavenly gift of God Most High,

O fount of life and fire of love,

and sweet anointing from above.

Thou in Thy sevenfold gifts are known;

Thou, finger of God's hand we own;

Thou, promise of the Father, Thou

Who dost the tongue with power imbue.

Kindle our sense from above,

and make our hearts o'erflow with love;

with patience firm and virtue high

the weakness of our flesh supply. 

Far from us drive the foe we dread,

and grant us Thy peace instead;

so shall we not, with Thee for guide,

turn from the path of life aside.

Oh, may Thy grace on us bestow

the Father and the Son to know;

and Thee, through endless times confessed,

of both the eternal Spirit blest.

Now to the Father and the Son,

Who rose from death, be glory given,

with Thou, O Holy Comforter,

henceforth by all in earth and heaven.

Amen.

May God bless us all in the year to come, and may the Holy Ghost infuse each and every aspect of our lives.