“You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses.” (Acts 1:8)

The nine days between Ascension and Pentecost were spent by the disciples in prayer, with Mary.

We want to receive your power Lord,
In the symbol of our Faith we know that the Holy Spirit is the Lord, the Giver of Life... and he speaks through the prophets.

Give us life
Because love is life and we can’t live without it.

You speak through the prophets
not just in the Old Testament and the New
Make us your witnesses.

We set these nine days apart with the Lord in prayer. We ask for the Holy Spirit to come on the Church, to rest ever more deeply on our Father, Benedict XVI, to fill with power and love our bishops priests, deacons, consecrated men and women and all the Holy People of God. Because that is what we are!

Ty Mam Duw wishes to thank here, the young priests, men and women religious and young lay people who contributed their witness to the nine days of prayer.  They are all members of XT3, an official World Youth Day social networking site.  From Pentecost Sunday this site will be open to all young Catholics over sixteen.  You can find it at:

http://www.xt3.com/holdpage.php 

We pray for each other, we also pray for ourselves and we pray especially that at World Youth Day in Sydney 2008 the Spirit will move over the surface of our age and transform it with new life and love.

The Spirit has a gift for each of us. We may know what we want, or we may simply ask the Lord to choose for us, holding out our open hands and waiting for his surprise. This is a risk - because the Holy Spirit never does nothing......

A suggestion for these nine days. Give yourself two times to pray. At the beginning of the day pray and ask the Father to give you the Spirit to fill your heart with his love and his gifts. At the end of the day invite the Spirit to teach you as you reflect on Sacred Scripture and pray the Lord’s Prayer, the Hail Mary and the Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. An outline prayer, a scripture passage (please have your Bible handy) and a meditation are offered for each day, if they should help. Read the witnesses of others and reflect on what the Lord has already done for you ...

Prayer for all Nine Days:

Let us pray

Father,
Awaken in us the Holy Spirit
whom you have given us.
The Spirit is your breath within us
speaking your Son’s Word.
Give us the power
to change our lives
and to live in Jesus.

Lord,
you know the gifts we long for
and the gifts we need.
Fill us now as we ask....

Deliver us from evil
and make Sydney World Youth Day
a new Pentecost for the world.
Through Christ our Lord.

Amen.