The Litany is my favorite of prayers. The chant and its transition halfway through are penitent but not despairing, humble but confident. It is bracketed on either end with threefold pleas for mercy, and the petitions in between are as comprehensive as one could want.

When I was praying it recently I was startled by one line in particular—a familiar experience for those who are used to praying the same old words over and over that are usually dulled by their frequency. In one petition we implore the good Lord to “accompany your Word with your Spirit and power.”

This is, in fact, a startling prayer. The implication is that the Word by itself is not enough.

The Word actually knew this and told us so. In his long discourse before his death in the gospel of John, Jesus tells his disciples it is actually to their advantage that he leave them, because the Advocate will not come until the Word leaves. After his resurrection, before he sends them out to do the apostolic ministry of forgiving sins, Jesus breathes the Holy Spirit upon them. The Word they will preach must be accompanied by Spirit and power.

In the church and in our ministries, we proclaim the Word. But we cannot bestow the Spirit. The Spirit blows according to the mysterious will of the Father. We can and should pray earnestly that the Word (as He comes in Scripture, preaching, sacraments, consolation, exhortations to repentance) will be accompanied by the Spirit, for until the Spirit comes, the whole God is not present and the whole of salvation has not been effected.