(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis says it is the Holy Spirit that moves the Church but for many Christians today, the Holy Spirit is a stranger.
Speaking on Monday morning during Mass at the Casa Santa Marta the Pope urged believers to allow themselves to be propelled by the Holy Spirit whom, he said, shows us the way to freedom.
He also had a special greeting for the Vincentian Sisters of Charity who work at the Casa Santa Marta and who are marking the feast day of their founder: St. Louise de Marillac.
Drawing inspiration from the reading of the day which recounts the dialogue between Paul and the first disciples in Ephesus, Pope Francis recalled that the disciples told Paul that they had “not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit”.
This is something, he said, that happens today as well as many who believe in Jesus do not know the Holy Spirit.
Many, he said, say they have “learnt through Catechism” that the Holy Spirit is “in the Trinity” but they do not know anything more and they wonder what the Spirit does:
“The Holy Spirit is the one who moves the Church, he said, the one who works in the Church and in our hearts” making each Christian unique and yet, together with other Christians, a unit.
The Holy Spirit, the Pope continued, opens the doors and invites us to bear witness to Jesus.
“At the beginning of Mass we heard the words: ‘you will receive the Holy Spirit and you will be my witnesses in the world’. The Holy Spirit is the one who moves us to praise God, to pray the Lord, the one who is within us and teaches us to see the Father and to call him ‘Father’. The Holy Spirit frees us from this ‘orphan-like’ condition which the spirit of the world wants to put us in” he said.
Pope Francis said the Holy Spirit is “the protagonist of the living Church” and he warned against the danger of not living up to this mission of the Holy Spirit thereby reducing faith to “morals and ethics”.
It is not enough, he said, to just respect the Commandments and do “nothing more”.
Christian life, Francis reiterated, “is not just an ethical life: it is an encounter with Jesus Christ.” And it is thanks to the Holy Spirit that this encounter takes place:
“But we keep the Holy Spirit as a ‘luxury prisoner’ in our hearts: we do not allow the Spirit to push us forward, to move us. The Sprit does everything, knows everything, reminds us what Jesus said, can explain all about Jesus. There is only one thing the Holy Spirit can’t do: make us ‘parlour’ Christians (…) The Holy Spirit cannot make us ‘virtual’ Christians who are not virtuous. The Holy Spirit makes real Christians. The Spirit takes life as it is and prophetically reads the signs of the times pushing us forward (…), the Holy Spirit is the third Person of the Trinity” he said.
Pope Francis urged all faithful this week to reflect on the action of the Holy Spirit in our lives and to ask ourselves whether we have the courage to go out into the world bearing witness to Jesus.
And inviting us to prepare for the upcoming Feast of Pentecost, the Pope said we must think of the Holy Spirit who is within our hearts and ask for the grace of obedience and docility to the Spirit:
“This is what we must do this week: think of the Sprit and talk to Him”.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis marked World Communications Day with a Message and with words of encouragement to Catholic communicators during his Regina coeli remarks.
He also used his Twitter and Instagram accounts to spread the word, which he composed by hand and photographed digitally for worldwide sharing.
The text of the Holy Father’s handwritten note says, ” To you, who from the great digital community, ask for my prayers and blessing, I wish to say that you will be the precious gift in my prayer to the Father. And you, don’t forget to pray for me so that I may be a servant of the Gospel of Mercy.”
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis prayed the Regina coeli with pilgrims and tourists gathered under a hazy Roman sky in St Peter’s Square on Sunday, the 7 th Sunday of Easter and in many countries – including Italy – the day on which the Church marks the Ascension of Our Lord.
“Before parting from his friends,” said Pope Francis, “Jesus, referring to the event of his death and resurrection, told them, ‘You are my witnesses’: that is, the disciples, the Apostles are witnesses of the death and resurrection of Christ, on that day, even at the Ascension of Christ.”
The Holy Father went on to say, “In fact, after seeing their Lord ascending into heaven, the disciples returned to the city as witnesses who joyfully announced to everyone the new life that comes from the Risen Christ, in whose name ‘they would preach to all nations repentance and forgiveness of sins.’
“This,” he continued, “is the witness – not only with words but also with everyday life – the testimony that every Sunday should go out of our churches in order to enter throughout the whole week into our homes, our offices, our schools, our gathering places and entertainment venues, our hospitals, prisons, and homes for the elderly, into places crowded with immigrants, on the outskirts of the city. We must carry this witness every week: Christ is with us; Jesus is ascended to heaven; He is with us; Christ is alive!”
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Sunday is the 50 th World Day for Social Communications , an annual recurrence begun by Bl. Paul VI in the wake of the II Vatican Council as a way of setting in relief the importance the Council Fathers put on recovering the genius of the Church for proclaiming the Gospel, especially in a world ever more signed by the spread and growth of communications technology and ever more starved for truth.
Pope Francis ’ Message for the 50 th World Communications Day focuses on the need to foster fruitful human encounters by communicating with mercy . “In a broken, fragmented and polarized world,” writes Pope Francis , “to communicate with mercy means to help create a healthy, free and fraternal closeness between the children of God and all our brothers and sisters in the one human family.”
You can find out more about the the 50 th World Communications Day by visiting the dedicated website space created by the new Secretariat for Communication at this link .
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis used his remarks to the faithful at Sunday’s Regina coeli to mark the 50 th annual recurrence of World Communications Day , recalling the fundamental mission of the Church to proclaim the Good News of Christ’s victory over death, and the duty of all the baptized faithful of every age and in every state of life within the Church to make themselves protagonists of that mission.
“The [II Vatican] Council Fathers,” he said, drawing on his Message for the occasion, published earlier this year, “reflecting on the Church in the contemporary world, understood the crucial importance of communications, which ‘are capable of building bridges among persons, families, social groups, and peoples – and this both in physical and in digital environments.’”
The Holy Father went on to say, “I offer cordial greetings to everyone working the field of communications, and I hope that our way of communicating in the Church will always have a clear Gospel style, [conducted in] a manner that unites truth and mercy.”
Readers can find out more about the 50 th World Communications Day by visiting the dedicated website space created by the new Secretariat for Communication at this link .
(from Vatican Radio)…