Continuing his series on the gifts of the Holy Spirit, Francis spoke of the gift of counsel. "You mothers who have this gift, ask for this gift to your children: the gift to counsel your children. It is a gift from God". " Nobody notices when we pray on the bus, on the street, we pray in silence, in our heart, take advantage of these moments to pray."

Vatican City ( AsiaNews) - Seek counsel from God, "ask the Lord: what is your wish? What is your will? What do you want?", "to understand the right way to speak and behave and the path to follow".  Pope Francis spoke today to the 60 thousand people present in St Peter's Square for the general audience about how to welcome this gift of the Holy Spirit . As per tradition, the Pope toured among the throngs in his white jeep, blessing, greeting and kissing babies. He had a special greeting for an elderly disabled man who was lifted up to him with his wheelchair by security men. Visibly moved, he was able to exchange a few words with Francis.

In his address to those present, following the illustration of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, the Pope then spoke of the gift of counsel. "We know how important it is, especially in the most delicate moments, to be able to count on the advice of wise people who love us. Now, through the gift of counsel, it is God himself, with his Spirit who enlightens our hearts, so as to help us understand the proper way to speak and behave and the path to follow. But how does this work? From the moment we welcome and host Him in our hearts, the Holy Spirit immediately begins to make us sensitive to His voice and to direct our thoughts, our feelings and our intentions according to God's heart.  At the same time, He increasingly brings us to turn our inward gaze upon Jesus as a model of how to act and relate with God the Father and our brothers and sisters. Counsel, then, is the gift by which the Holy Spirit makes our conscience capable of making a concrete choice in communion with God, according to the logic of Jesus and of his Gospel. In this way, the Spirit helps us grow inwardly, helps us grow positively, helps us grow in communion and helps us to avoid being at the mercy of selfishness and our own way of seeing things.  This is how the Spirit helps us grow and also live in communion."

The Holy Father went on to say that the essential condition to preserve this gift is prayer. "We always return to the same point: prayer.  Prayer, praying is so important. Praying those prayers that we all know from childhood but also praying with our words, praying to the Lord: 'Lord, help me, advise me, what should I do now?'. With prayer we make room for the Spirit to come and help us in that moment, he advises us all on what we must do. Prayer, never forget prayer, never. Nobody notices when we pray on the bus, on the streets, we pray in silence, with our hearts, take advantage of these moments to pray. Pray for the Spirit to give us this gift of counsel."

"In intimacy with God and listening to His Word slowly we put aside our personal logic, dictated most of the time by our closure, our prejudices and our ambitions, and instead learn to ask the Lord, what is your wish? Seek advice from the Lord. And we do so with prayer." "In this way a profound harmony matures in us, almost innate in the Spirit and we experience how true the words of Jesus recorded in the Gospel of Matthew are: 'When they hand you over, do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say. You will be given at that moment what you are to say (Mt 10:19-20)'. It is the Spirit who counsels us but we have to make room for the Spirit to give us counsel and give space to prayer, prayer for Him to come and always help us."

"Like all the other gifts of the Spirit, counsel is also a treasure for the entire Christian community. The Lord speaks to us not only in the intimacy of our heart, - He speaks to us, yes, but not only there - but also through the voice and the testimony of others. It really is a great gift to meet the men and women of faith who , especially in the most complicated and important moments of our lives, help us to shed light in our hearts and recognize the will of the Lord."

"I remember once, I was in the confessional, and there was a long queue in front of the Shrine of Lujan, the diocese of that bishop there, and there was a young man in the queue, all modern with tattoos And ... he came to tell me what was happening in his life. He had a big, difficult problem. ' And [he asked me] what would you do? So I told my mother about this and my mother said to me: 'Go to the Virgin Mary and she will tell you what you must do.' Here was a woman who had the gift of counsel. She did not know how to solve her son's problems but she indicated the right way: 'Go to Our Lady and she'll tell you.' This is the gift of counsel. Do not say, 'Do this ...'. Let the Spirit speak . And that woman, humble, simple, gave her son the truest, most beautiful advice, because this young man said to me: 'I looked upon Our Lady and I heard that I need to do this, this, this.' I did not have to say a word. It all came from my mother, the Virgin Mary and the young man. This is the gift of counsel. You mothers who have this gift, ask for this gift for your children: the gift of being able to counsel your children . It is a gift from God."

Finally, greeting a group of family members of  young people in the  San Patrignano drug rehabilitation centre, the Pope said:  "No to all drugs. No! All to all types of drug".

 

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