For pope, prayers must always be spontaneous and free
In Wednesday's general audience in St Peter's Square, Francis shared the pain for the civilians "gunned down" in Gaza and Valencia, invaded by mud. He laid a flower in front of the “Virgin of the Forsaken,” patroness of the Spanish city, reciting the Hail Mary with the faithful. Today’s catechesis was centred on prayer, "sanctifying action of the Holy Spirit", advocate before God.
Vatican City (AsiaNews) – Pope Francis began his Wednesday General Audience this morning in St Peter's Square with Gaza and Valencia (Spain). The pontiff said that he was “very sad” and pained about deaths in Gaza. “The other day 153 civilians were gunned going down the street,” he lamented. He also spoke about Valencia, on its knees due to a weather phenomenon called DANA, which caused 222 deaths, with 89 people still missing.
The pope laid a flower in front of the image of the Virgen de los Desamparados (Virgin of the Forsaken), patroness of Spain's third-largest city, Spanish city in St Peter’s Square. “Our Lady who takes care of the poor, Patroness of Valencia; Valencia, which is suffering greatly, and also other parts of Spain,” he said at the start of the audience.
In his greetings to Italian-speaking pilgrims, Holy Father together with the faithful from many nations of the world recited a Hail Mary to Valencia’s patroness while the city, where government officials were recently met with little favour, is still covered in mud
"I urge you to pray for Valencia," Francis said. "Let us pray to the Lord to always live with hope." Together with the other call to pray addressed today to those who are listening: the one for peace. Likewise, “Let's not forget the martyred Ukraine, which suffers so much. Let's not forget Gaza and Israel," he said. "Let's not forget Myanmar".
Today's catechesis was also dedicated to prayer, which is even more necessary in times of tragedy. Yet, Francis warned: “[D]o not pray like parrots, please! Do not say, ‘Blah, blah, blah…’. No. Say ‘Lord’, but say it with your heart. ‘Help me, Lord’, ‘I love you, Lord’.”
The pontiff continued the cycle of reflections dedicated to the Holy Spirit and its “bride", the Church. Today’s meditation was “The Spirit intercedes for us", starting with a passage from the Letter to the Romans (Rom 8:26-27).
“The sanctifying action of the Holy Spirit, in addition to the Word of God and the Sacraments, is expressed in prayer, and it is to this that we wish to dedicate today's reflection: prayer,” the pope said, emphasising two fundamental traits of prayer: freedom and spontaneity.
“You pray when you feel the need to pray in your heart, and when you do not feel anything, you stop and ask: ‘Why do I not feel the wish to pray? What is happening in my life?’ But always, spontaneity in prayer is what helps us the most. This is what is meant by praying as children, not as slaves.”
We must learn to pray. “[W]e do not know how to pray, we do not know. We must learn every day.” It is also important to train ourselves to pray because “It is the only ‘power’ we have over the Spirit of God. The power of prayer: He does not resist prayer. We pray, and He comes,” he said.
The "weakness" that is experienced with respect to prayer is motivated by a word in the past "used in three different ways: as an adjective, as a noun and as an adverb", which "contains an entire treatise".
“We human beings, according to that saying, “mali, mala, male petimus”, which means, being bad (mali), we ask for the wrong things (mala) and in the wrong way (male).”
This weakness is met by the Holy Spirit, who becomes the "paraclete", that is, the advocate and defender, of every human being. “He does not accuse us before the Father, but defends us. Yes, He defends us, He convinces us of the fact that we are sinners (cf. Jn 16:8), but He does so in order to make us able to savour the joy of the Father’s mercy,” Francis said.
And all of us can receive divine forgiveness, for “God is greater than our sin.” Indeed, “We are all sinners, but think: perhaps some of you – I don’t know – are very afraid because of the things they have done, afraid of being reproached by God,” the Holy Father said.
“Pray, call to the Holy Spirit, and He will teach you how to ask for forgiveness. And do you know something? God does not know much grammar, and when we ask for forgiveness, He does not let us finish! ‘For…’ and there, He does not let us finish the word forgiveness. [. . .] the Father always forgives us.”
The Holy Spirit intercedes for those who invoke him, but also teaches them to intercede for their brothers and sisters. “He teaches us the prayer of intercession: praying for this person, praying for that sick person, for the one who is in prison, praying… even praying for one’s mother-in-law! And pray, always.”
A prayer is most "pleasing to God" because it is "free and disinterested". Indeed, “When someone prays for everyone, it happens – as Saint Ambrose used to say – that everyone prays for someone; prayer multiplies,” Francis said.
“This is how prayer is. This is a task that is so precious and necessary in the Church, particularly during this time of preparation for the Jubilee: to unite ourselves to the Paraclete who intercedes for all of us according to God's plans.”
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03/04/2024 15:12
