What does this prayer to the Holy Spirit mean?

Question: What does this prayer to the Holy Spirit mean? “Send forth your spirit and they shall be created.” 

— Lucille Murphy, via email 

Answer: The prayer is from Psalm 104:30: “Send forth your spirit, they are created and you renew the face of the earth.” The psalm is commenting on creation and that God “spoke” creation into existence. 

Using a human analogy, to “speak” requires our breath or spirit to pass over our vocal cords. And while God does not need or breathe air like we do, nevertheless his speaking conveys his Holy Spirit through his Word. The Holy Spirit is the “breath” of God, the life of God, the will of God. When God spoke, “Let the earth bring forth every kind of living creature: tame animals, crawling things, and every kind of wild animal” (Gn 1:24), he spoke through his Word, Jesus, in the power and life of the Holy Spirit. God the Father, sending forth his creative Holy Spirit through his Son, Jesus, the Word, creates all things. Hence, As the prayer says, all things are created by God the Father in the power of his Holy Spirit spoken through his Word, Jesus. 

The Gospel of John says: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came to be through him, and without him nothing came to be (Jn 1:1-3).

Msgr. Charles Pope is the pastor of Holy Comforter-St. Cyprian in Washington, D.C., and writes for the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C. at blog.adw.org. Send questions to msgrpope@osv.com.