For the first time, the global Jesuit and Ignatian family will come together online on 30 May for a worldwide Pentecost prayer vigil. The initiative is an “experiment” spearheaded by Jesuits and lay companions under the Secretariat for the Service of Faith of the Jesuit curia in Rome.

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“This year the Covid-19 pandemic has given our Pentecost prayer, ‘Come Holy Spirt and renew the face of the earth’ a new urgency,” said Fr James Hanvey SJ, Secretary for the Service of Faith. “We know that we need the gift of the Holy Spirit to recreate and renew this light; to bind us in a deeper universal community in our need and in our hope.”

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The half-hour vigil will be celebrated three times to accommodate the global Ignatian family across time zones. It will be held at 8pm Manila time, 8pm Rome time, and 8pm New York time, and will be streamed on the Society of Jesus’ YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter pages, as well as on http://pentecost.jesuits.global. The content for the vigil will be the same each time, but there will be a live conversation and sharing of prayer intentions on social media during the vigil.

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Everyone is invited to participate, and to share the event with family and friends. Between now and 30 May, we are encouraged to pray daily for the Holy Spirit to come powerfully among us, and, on the night of the vigil, to light a candle and come with an open heart along with our prayer intentions.

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Just as at the birth of the Church on Pentecost people from many nations and languages were united in prayer, the Ignatian Pentecost vigil promises to be a memorable prayer experience, with more than 15,000 Jesuits and countless lay collaborators around the world coming together in prayer.

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“In some way, we are hoping that this ‘Pentecost network’ will allow us to experience the extraordinary gift of solidarity in mission that is the life of the Society of Jesus and our companions in the mission,” said Fr Hanvey. “From each corner of the world, united in prayer we can experience the deeper reality of the Holy Spirit which gathers us, sustains and inspires us in our service of Christ and His Church for ‘the life of the world.’”