This article contains the full text of the consecration to the Holy Spirit, made available so that anyone in Opus Dei can pray and meditate on it. Saint Josemaría arranged for these consecrations to be renewed each year on their respective feasts, with each member of the Work renewing them together with the others in their centre. The article includes the historical context in which Saint Josemaría made the consecration for the first time, the full text, and resources for coming to know the Holy Spirit better.
2. Consecration to the Holy Spirit (full text)
3. Resources for prayer and reflection
1. Historical context
Opus Dei was consecrated by its founder on four occasions: to the Holy Family (1951), to the Most Sweet Heart of Mary (1951), to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus (1952), and to the Holy Spirit (1971). In every case, Saint Josemaría took this step to ask for divine help in the face of specific needs.
This article provides a short explanation of the historical context of the last of the four consecrations: the consecration to the Holy Spirit. It was made by St. Josemaría on 30 May 1971, in the oratory of the General Council at Villa Tevere, whose altarpiece is a stained-glass window depicting the coming of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost.
The motive for this consecration was manifold. Above all, Saint Josemaría wished to implore the help of the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity to inspire and guide all the Work’s activity and its expansion “among souls of every race, language, and nation,” and to foster the holiness of its members amid the doctrinal and disciplinary crisis that was affecting many Catholic institutions in the post-conciliar years.
The formula, which is the longest and most elaborate of the four, also includes a special petition for the Church, the Pope, and the pastors. It is very likely that the founder also had in mind, in making this consecration, the new juridical status for Opus Dei, the attainment of which was ultimately key to safeguarding the Work’s genuine charism.
Finally, this act reflects a renewed flourishing of devotion to the Paraclete in the founder’s soul; a devotion long-standing in Saint Josemaría, but which in those years he experienced as a “new discovery,” particularly regarding the action of the Paraclete in the Mass (cf. AVP, III, pg. 609).
With this consecration, Saint Josemaría was not simply recommending one more devotion to the members of Opus Dei. His aim was to encourage
His aim was to encourage a spiritual life more open to the action of the Holy Spirit; to help those called by vocation to seek holiness to foster a more personal relationship with the Sanctifier, whom he often referred to as “the Great Unknown,” since He was, at least in popular devotion and some theological-spiritual reflection, relatively little known. From these years dates a homily dedicated to the Holy Spirit, which he entitled “The Great Unknown” (later included in Christ is Passing By), in which he emphasises the constant action of the Paraclete in souls and in the Church.
2. Consecration to the Holy Spirit
O Holy Spirit, third Person of the Blessed Trinity, loving spiration of the Father and the Son, from whom you proceed eternally as consubstantial and subsistent bond, in the simple unity of the one true God; Holy Spirit, Paraclete, fullness of love, infinite light, uncreated gift and source of all grace: graciously accept the consecration of Opus Dei that we now make to you.
God the Father in heaven, you were neither created nor made nor begotten. With the Word and the Holy Spirit, you willed, by a unique act of love, the Incarnation of your only begotten Son; and in the name of Jesus Christ you sent us your consoling Spirit, to sanctify us and be with us for ever. Confirm and renew in us that sharing in the divine nature which by your grace you have granted us.
God the Son, you were neither created nor made, but eternally begotten by the Father. Through the work of the Holy Spirit, you took on our human nature in Mary’s virginal womb, and are thus true God and true Man. Out of filial obedience, you accomplished the Redemption from our sins by the sacrifice of the Cross; and after rising from the dead and returning to your glory, far from leaving us orphans, you sent us another Consoler from the Father, the Spirit of Truth, to glorify you and bear witness to you, and give his light to our souls. We ask you to increase and strengthen in us the mission of your Spirit who, by shaping us in your image, makes us one with you.
God the Holy Spirit, you were neither created nor made nor begotten, but proceed eternally from the Father and the Son. When the days of Pentecost were accomplished and all the Apostles were gathered together in the upper room with Mary, the Mother of God and our Mother, you came down upon them and filled their hearts, moving them to confess boldly in all languages that Jesus is the Son of the living God. You have always given the Church your peace, joy and consolation amid so many difficulties, confirming our faith, sustaining our hope, and inflaming our love. Grant us your sevenfold gift, so that throughout our whole life, in our thoughts, words and deeds, we may be pleasing to our Father in heaven, the eternal and Triune God.
Grant us the gift of understanding, to perfect our perception of the mysteries of faith. Grant us the gift of wisdom, the fruit of perfect charity, to improve our loving knowledge of God and all that leads to and comes from him. Grant us the gift of knowledge, to make us understand properly what created things are, and what they ought to be according to the divine plan of creation and elevation to the supernatural order. Grant us the gift of counsel, so that by correctly judging God's will at every moment and for each person, we may be able to advise others. Grant us the gift of fear, which, by making us detest all sin, will impress upon our hearts a spirit of adoration and a profound and sincere humility.
Grant us the gift of fortitude, to make us steadfast in the faith, constant in struggle, and faithful in our perseverance in the Work of God. Grant us the gift of piety, to teach us the meaning of our divine filiation, the joyful supernatural awareness of being children of God and, in Jesus Christ, brothers and sisters of all mankind.
We also beg you to pour out abundantly, on us and on all those associated with your Work, the fruits of your sovereign action in souls: charity, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, longanimity, meekness, faith, modesty, continence, and chastity.
We beseech you always to assist your Church, and in particular the Holy Father, so that he may guide us with his word and example, and attain eternal life together with the flock entrusted to him. We ask that we may never be without good Shepherds, and that all the faithful may reach the glory of heaven after having lived a life of deep faith and holiness in your service.
As for ourselves, O Holy Spirit, we consecrate Opus Dei and our entire life to you. We offer you ourselves and all that we are able to do or achieve: our minds and our wills, our hearts, our senses, our souls and our bodies. We want to be, now and always, holy temples in which you dwell with the Father and the Son. Grant that there may never be anything in us contrary to this indwelling.
Let us pray
O God, One and Three, beginning and end of our life, you deigned to call us to share in the intimacy of your glory. Listen to the petitions that, with filial piety, we address to you.
Grant the Church peace, so that all Catholics, filled with the Holy Spirit, may always give to others a firm and true testimony of their faith, genuine proof of their love, and an account of their hope.
Preserve always in your Work the spiritual gifts you have bestowed on it, so that, in keeping with your most lovable will, and inseparably united to our Father, to the Father, and to all our brothers and sisters, cor unum et anima una, we may be holy, and, at the same time, an effective leaven of holiness among all people. Keep us ever-faithful to the spirit you have entrusted to our Founder, and help us to preserve it and transmit it in all its divine integrity.
Enlighten our minds, purify our hearts and confirm our wills. Teach us to accept all things as coming from your hands, in the knowledge that everything works to the good of those who love God. Make us docile to the gentle inspirations of your grace, O Holy Spirit, and help us to respond generously. With our human loyalty and supernatural faithfulness, may we always yield the fruit you expect of us, fruit that will last; and thus, living permanently in your love, may we be able to enjoy your eternal glory, together with our Mother Mary, united for ever to the Father who, with the Son, lives and reigns with you for ever and ever. Amen.
The following aspirations are said, to which everyone says the response.
V/. Pater de caelis, Deus,
R/. Miserere nobis!
V/. Fili, Redemptor mundi, Deus,
R/. Miserere nobis!
V/. Spíritus Sancte, Deus,
R/. Miserere nobis!
V/. Sancta Trínitas, unus Deus
R/. Miserere nobis!
3. Resources for prayer and reflection
📹 Video in which Saint Josemaría invites us to discover the presence of the Holy Spirit within us and to experience God’s constant companionship.
🧏♂️ New Mediterraneans (IV): "Don't speak: Listen to Him." Saint Josemaría “discovers” the Holy Spirit through a simple piece of advice, one that can shed light on our own spiritual lives.
🤔Who is the Holy Spirit? On the feast of Pentecost, the Church celebrates the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles. Who is the Holy Spirit? What was his descent like? How does he act in the life of a Christian? What are his gifts?