The General Audience held on Wednesday, April 30 began at 10:30 in the morning in Saint Peter's Square, where the Holy Father, Pope Francis met with groups of pilgrims and with members of the faithful who had travelled from various parts of Italy and from every corner of the world.
During his discourse, the Pope continued the cycle of catechesis on the gifts of the Holy Spirit, adding his meditation on the gift of understanding.
Following the summaries of the catechesis, presented in various languages, the Holy Father addressed particular expressions of greeting to the various groups of faithful who were present. The General Audience concluded with the singing of the Pater Noster and the imparting of the Apostolic Blessing.
Dear brothers and sisters, good morning!
After having examined wisdom, as primary among the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, today, I want to focus our attention on the second gift, that of understanding. Here, we are not concerned with human intelligence, or about intellectual capacity with which each of us can be more or less gifted. Instead, understanding is a grace that only the Holy Spirit can infuse and which creates within the Christian person the capacity to go beyond the outward appearance of reality in search of the depths of God's thoughts and his plan for salvation.
The apostle Paul, addressing the community at Corinth, describes the effect of this gift - explaining how the gift of understanding is created in us - Paul says this: Eye has not seen, nor has ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of human beings, that which God has prepared for those who love him. But to us, God has revealed these truths through the Spirit (1 Cor 2: 9-10). Of course, this does not mean that a Christian can understand everything and possess a conscience filled with the designs of God; everything will one day be made clear in all its fullness when we appear before the face of God, when we are truly at one with Him. However, as the word itself suggests, the gift of understanding permits us to inter legere, that is to read into: this gift makes it possible for us to understand things as God understands them, with the intelligence of God. We can understand a given situation with human intelligence, and that's fine, but to understand a situation in depth, as God understands it, is the effect of this gift. It was Jesus' will to send the Holy Spirit to us so that we might have this gift, so that all of us could understand things like God understands them, with the intelligence of God. This is a beautiful gift which God has given to us. This is the gift through which the Holy Spirit leads us into intimacy with God and allows us to take part in the plan of love that God has for us.
Therefore it is clear that the gift of understanding is closely related to faith. When the Holy Spirit lives in our hearts and illumines our thoughts, it makes us grow day after day in our ability to understand what the Lord has said and done. Jesus himself said to his disciples: I will send the Holy Spirit and He will help you to understand all that I have taught you. To understand the teachings of Jesus, to understand his Word, to understand the Gospel, to understand the Word of God. We can read the Gospel and understand something, but if we read the Gospel with this gift of the Holy Spirit, we can understand the word of God in all its fullness. This is a wonderful gift, a great gift which all of us should ask for, and we should ask together: Lord, give us the gift of understanding.
There is a part of the Gospel of Luke that expresses the depth of the strength of this gift very well. After having been present at the death of Jesus on the cross and at his tomb, two of his disciples, disillusioned and crushed, left Jerusalem and headed for their village of Emmaus. While they were walking along, the risen Jesus came close to them and began to speak with them, but their eyes, veiled by sadness and desperation, were not able to recognize him. Jesus walked with them, but they were so sad, so desperate that they could not recognize him. However, when the Lord explained the scriptures to them, so that they came to understand that He had to suffer in order to later rise from the dead, their minds were opened and in their hearts, they began to hope (cf Lk 24:13-27). This is what the Holy Spirit does with us: he opens our minds, he opens us up so that we can better understand, so that we can better understand the things of God, the things of man, the situations and everything that is part of life. The gift of understanding is important for our Christian lives. Let us ask the Lord to give it to us, that is might be given, given to all of us so that we can learn to understand the things that happen to us as He understands them, and most of all so that we can understand the Word of God in the Gospel. Thank you!
During his discourse, the Pope continued the cycle of catechesis on the gifts of the Holy Spirit, adding his meditation on the gift of understanding.
Following the summaries of the catechesis, presented in various languages, the Holy Father addressed particular expressions of greeting to the various groups of faithful who were present. The General Audience concluded with the singing of the Pater Noster and the imparting of the Apostolic Blessing.
Catechesis of the Holy Father, Pope Francis
for the General Audience
Dear brothers and sisters, good morning!
After having examined wisdom, as primary among the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, today, I want to focus our attention on the second gift, that of understanding. Here, we are not concerned with human intelligence, or about intellectual capacity with which each of us can be more or less gifted. Instead, understanding is a grace that only the Holy Spirit can infuse and which creates within the Christian person the capacity to go beyond the outward appearance of reality in search of the depths of God's thoughts and his plan for salvation.
The apostle Paul, addressing the community at Corinth, describes the effect of this gift - explaining how the gift of understanding is created in us - Paul says this: Eye has not seen, nor has ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of human beings, that which God has prepared for those who love him. But to us, God has revealed these truths through the Spirit (1 Cor 2: 9-10). Of course, this does not mean that a Christian can understand everything and possess a conscience filled with the designs of God; everything will one day be made clear in all its fullness when we appear before the face of God, when we are truly at one with Him. However, as the word itself suggests, the gift of understanding permits us to inter legere, that is to read into: this gift makes it possible for us to understand things as God understands them, with the intelligence of God. We can understand a given situation with human intelligence, and that's fine, but to understand a situation in depth, as God understands it, is the effect of this gift. It was Jesus' will to send the Holy Spirit to us so that we might have this gift, so that all of us could understand things like God understands them, with the intelligence of God. This is a beautiful gift which God has given to us. This is the gift through which the Holy Spirit leads us into intimacy with God and allows us to take part in the plan of love that God has for us.
Therefore it is clear that the gift of understanding is closely related to faith. When the Holy Spirit lives in our hearts and illumines our thoughts, it makes us grow day after day in our ability to understand what the Lord has said and done. Jesus himself said to his disciples: I will send the Holy Spirit and He will help you to understand all that I have taught you. To understand the teachings of Jesus, to understand his Word, to understand the Gospel, to understand the Word of God. We can read the Gospel and understand something, but if we read the Gospel with this gift of the Holy Spirit, we can understand the word of God in all its fullness. This is a wonderful gift, a great gift which all of us should ask for, and we should ask together: Lord, give us the gift of understanding.
There is a part of the Gospel of Luke that expresses the depth of the strength of this gift very well. After having been present at the death of Jesus on the cross and at his tomb, two of his disciples, disillusioned and crushed, left Jerusalem and headed for their village of Emmaus. While they were walking along, the risen Jesus came close to them and began to speak with them, but their eyes, veiled by sadness and desperation, were not able to recognize him. Jesus walked with them, but they were so sad, so desperate that they could not recognize him. However, when the Lord explained the scriptures to them, so that they came to understand that He had to suffer in order to later rise from the dead, their minds were opened and in their hearts, they began to hope (cf Lk 24:13-27). This is what the Holy Spirit does with us: he opens our minds, he opens us up so that we can better understand, so that we can better understand the things of God, the things of man, the situations and everything that is part of life. The gift of understanding is important for our Christian lives. Let us ask the Lord to give it to us, that is might be given, given to all of us so that we can learn to understand the things that happen to us as He understands them, and most of all so that we can understand the Word of God in the Gospel. Thank you!
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