Pope: We must learn to listen to what the Holy Spirit says to us, to our community, to the Church
A person who does not "disturb" the Spirit "is a person who has a cold faith, an ideological faith. His faith is an ideology, that’s it. " "Why do I ask for the grace to distinguish the lesser good? Because the good from evil is immediately distinguished. But there is the hidden evil that is the lesser good, but it has hidden evil. "
Vatican City (AsiaNews) - Before making a decision ask and listen to what the Holy Spirit asks us as people, as a community, as a Church. Learning to listen to the Holy Spirit was the subject of Pope Francis’ homily at Mass at Casa Santa Martha this morning, in view of the Sunday celebration of Pentecost.
The Pope began with First Reading which - he said - we could call "the Pentecost of Ephesus". The community of Ephesus had in fact received the faith but did not even know that the Holy Spirit existed. They were "good people, people of faith" but they did not know this gift of the Father. When Paul laid hands on them, the Holy Spirit descended on them and they began to speak in tongues.
In fact, the Holy Spirit moves the heart, as it is read in the Gospels, where so many people - Nicodemus, the Samaritan, the sinner - are moved to approach Jesus by the Holy Spirit. Francis then invited us to wonder what place the Holy Spirit has in our lives. "Am I able to hear? Am I able to ask for inspiration before making a decision or saying a word or doing something? Or is my heart calm, without emotion, a fixed heart? But certain hearts, if we carried out a spiritual electrocardiogram the result would be linear, without emotion. Even in the Gospels there are these, we think of the doctors of the law: they were believers in God, they knew all the commandments, but their heart was closed, firm, they were not disturbed. "
Instead, Francis urged us, "to be disturbed by the Holy Spirit: 'Eh, I heard this ... But father, that is sentimentality?' - 'No, it may be, but no. If you're on the right track, you're not sentimental. ' 'I felt the urge to do this, to go to visit that sick person or change life or leave this ...'. Feeling and discerning: discern what my heart feels, for the Holy Ghost is the master of discernment. A person who does not have these movements of the heart, who does not discern what is happening, is a person who has a cold faith, an ideological faith. His faith is an ideology, that’s it. " This was the "drama" of those doctors of the law who took it with Jesus.
And I? "Do I ask you to guide me on the path I must choose in my life and also every day? Do I ask you to give me the grace of distinguishing the good from the lesser good? Because the good from evil is immediately distinguished. But there is the hidden evil that is the lesser good, but it has hidden evil. Do I ask for that grace? I would like you to ask this question today. "
One must then wonder if when "the desire to do something" comes to the Holy Spirit who inspires us, that "yes or no," or just "calculating with the mind." In Apocalypse, the apostle John begins by inviting the "Seven Churches" - the seven dioceses of that time - to listen to what the Holy Ghost tells him. "We also ask for this grace to listen to what the Spirit says to our Church, our community, our parish, our family," and "each one of us," concluded the Pope, "the grace of learning this language to listen to the Holy Ghost ".
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