The great feast of Pentecost approaches, this year of Our Lord 2025 it falls on June 8th. The feast of Pentecost, commerorating the Holy Spirit coming upon the apostles, is the conclusion of the 50 day Easter season. Before Jesus ascended into Heaven, he promised that he would send the Holy Spirit to the apostles so that they might be sent forth ready to proclaim the gospel and baptize the nations. What better way to prepare for Pentecost than to pray a novena to the Holy Spirit? As the apostles waited they, too, must have prayed in anticipation. They must have been turning over in their minds the words Jesus spoke to them before he ascended. They must have been wondering what they were about to do, with their mission not entirely clear. Praying a novena to the Holy Spirit is considered the oldest of the novenas, as there are nine full days between the Ascension and Pentecost. A novena to the Holy Spirit is the original novena. 

Another good reason to pray a novena to the Holy Spirit would be in preparation to receive the Sacrament of Confirmation. Many Confirmations take place during this season and what better way to prepare for the reception of the Gifts of the Holy Spirit than to beg for grace from the Holy Spirit? 

Novenas are an easy way to make a habit of prayer to a particular saint, or in this case, a particular person of the Holy Trinity. The repetition over the course of the nine days calls to mind more frequently the petition and the one whom you are petitioning. I have found in my own life that a novena can really help develop a relationship with the one whom you are petitioning. 

Perhaps you feel like you understand the Father and the Son but struggle with the role of the Holy Spirit in the Church or in your own heart. Praying a novena to the Holy Spirit is an excellent way to help foster that relationship and call to mind the beautiful reality that if you are baptized, you have the Holy Spirit dwelling in you. If you have received the Sacrament of Confirmation, you have also received the Gifts of the Holy Spirit to help you fulfill the duties to which you have been called by God. 

Many graces are available through praying a novena to the Holy Spirit and developing an ever-greater awareness of the presence and power of the Holy Spirit in your life and in the life of the Church. 

St. John Vianney preached on the Holy Spirit,

“Without the Holy Spirit all is cold; therefore, when we feel we are losing our fervour, we must instantly make a novena to the Holy Spirit to ask for faith and love... See, when we have made a retreat how we are full of good desires: these good desires are the breath of the Holy Ghost, which has passed over our souls, and has renewed everything like the warm wind which melts the ice and brings back the spring... When we have the Holy Spirit, the heart expands and bathes itself in divine love. And so we should say every morning, ‘O God, send my Thy Spirit to teach me what I am and what Thou art.' "

There are different versions of novenas to the Holy Spirit. A few are linked here below: 

This novena focuses on a fruit of the Spirit for each day: https://www.praymorenovenas.com/novena-to-the-holy-spirit

This novena has a special prayer focusing on the Gifts of the Holy Spirit: https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/devotions/novena-to-the-holy-spirit-for-the-seven-gifts-309

This novena includes lines for meditation from the great sequence of Pentecost, the Veni Creator Spiritus: https://angeluspress.org/pages/copy-of-novena-to-the-holy-ghost-9-day-novena?srsltid=AfmBOoqcr2kRhtEdtTNUbrJkXX-hnTX0GOhWcXEVXbj0pxcHEJ6W0WG9