Pope: the Holy Spirit tells us that God loves us "like a father"
Vatican City (AsiaNews) - The Holy Spirit, "living water", "gift of Christ the Redeemer", brings us "the very life of God," tells us that God loves us, "like a real father," makes that we feel are able to call him father and others our brothers and sisters. But do "we truly love God and others like Jesus" and " are we guided by the Spirit on the road of love, mercy and forgiveness?". This is the question that Pope Francis invites everyone to ask themselves every day, to be true followers of Christ and which he addressed to the 80 thousand people present in St Peter's Square for the general audience.
Among them, as has become customary, Francis toured at length, waving and kissing babies. Twice he stepped down from the jeep to greet an old lady in a wheelchair and then, a long line of people with disabilities, their carers and those who were close by, with one child he exchanged his white skullcap or zucchetto, and then walked up the grand staircase in front of the basilica and greeted, one by one the priests who read his summary and greetings in different languages.
In his catechesis, Francis also today started with a statement of the Creed: "I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of life." " he first truth to which we adhere in the Creed is that the Holy Spirit is Kyrios, Lord. This means that He is truly God as are the Father and the Son, on our part object of the same act of worship and glorification that we direct to the Father and the Son. The Holy Spirit, in fact, is the third Person of the Blessed Trinity; the Holy Spirit is the great gift of the Risen Christ who opens our minds and our hearts to faith in Jesus as the Son sent by the Father, and who leads us to friendship, to communion with God".
"The Holy Spirit is the inexhaustible source of God's life in us", He is "an eternally abundant '"living water" to all those who recognize him as the Son sent by the Father to save us.
Jesus came to give us this' "living water" that is the Holy Spirit, so that our life may be guided by God, may be animated by God, may be nourished by God. When we say that a Christian is a spiritual man, this is what we mean: a Christian is a person who thinks and acts according to God, according to the Holy Spirit. And do we believe in God? Do we act according to God? Or do we let ourselves be guided by so many other things that are not God?".
The Pope then asked, "how can this water quench our deep thirst? We know that water is essential for life; without water we die; it quenches our thirst, it cleanses, it renders the earth fertile. In the Epistle to the Romans we find this sentence: "God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us" (5:5). The '"living water," the Holy Spirit, the Gift of the Risen One who comes to dwell in us, cleanses us, enlightens us, renews us, transforms us because rendering us partakers of the very life of God who is Love. This is why the Apostle Paul says that the Christian's life is animated by the Spirit and by its fruits, which are "love, joy, peace, generosity, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control" (Gal 5:22 -23). The Holy Spirit leads us to divine life as "children of the Only Son." In another passage from the Letter to the Romans, which we have mentioned several times, St. Paul sums it up in these words: "All who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. And you... have you received the Spirit who renders us adoptive children, and thanks to whom we cry out, "Abba! Father. "The Spirit itself, together with our own spirit, attests that we are children of God. And if we are His children, we are also His heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we take part in his suffering so we can participate in his glory".
"This is the precious gift that the Holy Spirit brings into our hearts: the very life of God, the life of true children, a relationship of familiarity, freedom and trust in the love and mercy of God, which as an effect has also a new vision of others, near and far, seen always as brothers and sisters in Jesus to be respected and loved. The Holy Spirit teaches us to look with the eyes of Christ, to live life as Christ lived, to understand life as Christ did. That's why the living water that is the Holy Spirit quenches our lives because it tells us that we are loved by God as His children, that we can love God as his children, and that by his grace we can live as children of God, as did Jesus".
"And us? Do we listen to the Holy Spirit who tells us: God loves you? Do we really love God and others as Jesus did? Let us be guided, let us guided by the Holy Spirit. Let Him speak to our hearts and tell us this: that God is love, that He is always waiting for us, that He is the Father and loves us as a true father; He truly loves us. And only the Holy Spirit tells our heart this. Listen to the Holy Spirit, and let us move forward on this road of love, mercy and forgiveness ".
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