This morning's General Audience began at 9:25am (3:25am EDT) in Saint Peter's Square, where the Holy Father, Pope Francis met with groups of pilgrims and the faithful from Italy and from every corner of the world, including a group of 35 Canadian pilgrims who were completing a Marian pilgrimage through Europe.
In his speech, the Pope began a new cycle of catechesis on the Sacrament of Confirmation, focusing his meditation on Christian witness (The biblical passage that was read aloud before His Holiness' catechesis was taken from the gospel of Saint Luke 4:16-18).
After having summarized his catechesis in various languages, the Holy Father offered particular greetings to each group of the faithful in attendance. He then issued a call, inviting all people to pray for the Catholics in China.
The General Audience concluded with the chanting of the Pater Noster and the Apostolic blessing.
Dear brothers and sisters, good morning!
After the catecheses on Baptism, these days that follow the Solemnity of Pentecost invite us to reflect on the witness that the Spirit awakens in the baptized, putting their lives in motion and opening their lives to the good of others. Jesus entrusted a great mission to his disciples: You are the salt of the earth, you are the light of the world (cf Mt 5:13-16). These are images that make us think about our behaviour because both too little salt and too much salt make food unpalatable, just as a lack of light or excessive light can hinder us from seeing. Who can truly help us to add just enough salt to make our faith flavourful and to preserve us from corruption, and who can help us to add just enough light so that we can enlighten the world? Only the Spirit of Christ! And this is the gift we receive in the Sacrament of Confirmation or Chrism. I want to stop for a moment to reflect with you about this Sacrament. It is called Confirmation because it confirms our Baptism and strengthens its graces (cf Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1289); it is also referred to as the Sacrament of Chrism, because of the fact that we receive the Spirit through the anointing with chrism - oil that has been mixed with perfume and consecrated by the Bishop - a term that refers to Christ, the One who has been Anointed by the Spirit.
Being reborn to divine life in Baptism is the first step; it happens and then we must behave as children of God, conforming ourselves to Christ who is at work in the Church by involving ourselves in his mission in the world. This is what the anointing with the Holy Spirit provides: without his strength, nothing exists within us (cf Pentecost Sequence). Without the strength of the Holy Spirit we cannot do anything: it is the Spirit that gives us the strength to go on. Just as the life of Jesus was enlivened by the Spirit, so too, the life of the Church and of every one of her members is guided by this same Spirit.
Conceived by the Virgin through the work of the Holy Spirit, Jesus undertook his mission after having come out of the waters of the Jordan. He was consecrated by the Spirit, who descended and remained upon Him (cf Mk 1:10; Jn 1:32). He explicitly declared this truth in the Synagogue in Nazareth: it is beautiful how Jesus presents himself, the identity card that Jesus presents in the synagogue in Nazareth! Let us listen to how he does it: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me; he has consecrated me with an anointing and has sent me to bring good news to the poor (Lk 4:18). Jesus presented himself in the synagogue in his own village as the Anointed One, the One who was anointed by the Spirit.
Jesus is filled with the Holy Spirit; he is the font of the Spirit promised by the Father (cf Jn 15:26; Lk 24:49; Acts 1:8; 2:33). In reality, on the evening of Easter Sunday, the Risen One breathed upon his disciples and said to them: Receive the Holy Spirit (Jn 20:22); and on the day of Pentecost, the strength of the Holy Spirit descended upon the Apostles in an extraordinary way (cf Acts 2:1-4), as we know.
The Breath of the Risen Christ fills the lungs of the Church with life; and indeed the mouths of the disciples, filled with the Holy Spirit, were opened to proclaim the great works of God to all people (cf Acts 2:1-11).
Pentecost - which we celebrated last Sunday - is for the Church the anointing which Jesus received at the Jordan river, which is to say that Pentecost is the missionary motivation for us to give our entire lives for the sanctification of mankind, to the glory of God. If the Spirit is at work in every sacrament, it is especially at work in a specific way in Confirmation which the faithful receive as a Gift from the Holy Spirit (Paul VI, Divinae consortium naturae). And at the moment of the anointing, the Bishop says these words: Receive the Holy Spirit who is given to you as a gift: this is the great gift of the Lord, the Holy Spirit. And we all have the Spirit within us. The Spirit is in our hearts, in our souls. The Spirit guides us in life so that we can become salt and light for mankind.
If in Baptism, it is the Holy Spirit who immerses us in Christ, in Confirmation, it is Christ who fills us with his spirit, consecrating us as his witnesses, partakers with him in the same principle of life and the same mission, according to he plan of our heavenly Father. The testimony given by those who have been Confirmed demonstrates the fact that we have received the Holy Spirit and that we are docile to his creative inspiration. I wonder: how can we be sure that we have received the Gift of the Spirit? If we perform the works of the Spirit, if we speak words that we have learned from the Spirit (cf 1 Cor 2:13). Christian witness consists in doing all that, and only that which the Spirit of Christ asks of us, while He himself grants us the strength we need to do what he asks of us.
The Holy Father's catechesis was then summarized in French, English, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic, Polish and Ukrainian. To English-speaking pilgrims present at this week's General Audience, he said:
Sintesi della catechesi e saluti nelle diverse lingue
I greet the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors taking part in today’s Audience, particularly those from England, Wales, Ireland, India, Philippines, Russia, Vietnam, Canada and the United States of America.
In the continuing joy of our celebration of Pentecost, I invoke upon you and your families a rich outpouring of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. May the Lord bless you all!
At the conclusion of the General Audience, the Holy Father said the following:
Tomorrow, 24 May, is the annual feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary Help of Christians, who is particularly venerated in the Shrine at Sheshan, near Shanghai in China.
This anniversary invites us to be spiritually united with all the Catholic faithful who are living in China. We pray to Our Lady for them, so that they may live their faith with generosity and sincerity, and so that they may be able to carry out concrete gestures of fraternity, concord and reconciliation in full communion with the Successor of Peter.
Beloved disciples of the Lord in China, the universal Church is praying with you and for you, that even in the midst of difficulties, you may continue to entrust yourselves to God's will. May Our Lady never fail to help you and to care for you with her motherly love.
In his speech, the Pope began a new cycle of catechesis on the Sacrament of Confirmation, focusing his meditation on Christian witness (The biblical passage that was read aloud before His Holiness' catechesis was taken from the gospel of Saint Luke 4:16-18).
After having summarized his catechesis in various languages, the Holy Father offered particular greetings to each group of the faithful in attendance. He then issued a call, inviting all people to pray for the Catholics in China.
The General Audience concluded with the chanting of the Pater Noster and the Apostolic blessing.
Catechesis of the Holy Father, Pope Francis
for the General Audience
Dear brothers and sisters, good morning!
After the catecheses on Baptism, these days that follow the Solemnity of Pentecost invite us to reflect on the witness that the Spirit awakens in the baptized, putting their lives in motion and opening their lives to the good of others. Jesus entrusted a great mission to his disciples: You are the salt of the earth, you are the light of the world (cf Mt 5:13-16). These are images that make us think about our behaviour because both too little salt and too much salt make food unpalatable, just as a lack of light or excessive light can hinder us from seeing. Who can truly help us to add just enough salt to make our faith flavourful and to preserve us from corruption, and who can help us to add just enough light so that we can enlighten the world? Only the Spirit of Christ! And this is the gift we receive in the Sacrament of Confirmation or Chrism. I want to stop for a moment to reflect with you about this Sacrament. It is called Confirmation because it confirms our Baptism and strengthens its graces (cf Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1289); it is also referred to as the Sacrament of Chrism, because of the fact that we receive the Spirit through the anointing with chrism - oil that has been mixed with perfume and consecrated by the Bishop - a term that refers to Christ, the One who has been Anointed by the Spirit.
Being reborn to divine life in Baptism is the first step; it happens and then we must behave as children of God, conforming ourselves to Christ who is at work in the Church by involving ourselves in his mission in the world. This is what the anointing with the Holy Spirit provides: without his strength, nothing exists within us (cf Pentecost Sequence). Without the strength of the Holy Spirit we cannot do anything: it is the Spirit that gives us the strength to go on. Just as the life of Jesus was enlivened by the Spirit, so too, the life of the Church and of every one of her members is guided by this same Spirit.
Conceived by the Virgin through the work of the Holy Spirit, Jesus undertook his mission after having come out of the waters of the Jordan. He was consecrated by the Spirit, who descended and remained upon Him (cf Mk 1:10; Jn 1:32). He explicitly declared this truth in the Synagogue in Nazareth: it is beautiful how Jesus presents himself, the identity card that Jesus presents in the synagogue in Nazareth! Let us listen to how he does it: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me; he has consecrated me with an anointing and has sent me to bring good news to the poor (Lk 4:18). Jesus presented himself in the synagogue in his own village as the Anointed One, the One who was anointed by the Spirit.
Jesus is filled with the Holy Spirit; he is the font of the Spirit promised by the Father (cf Jn 15:26; Lk 24:49; Acts 1:8; 2:33). In reality, on the evening of Easter Sunday, the Risen One breathed upon his disciples and said to them: Receive the Holy Spirit (Jn 20:22); and on the day of Pentecost, the strength of the Holy Spirit descended upon the Apostles in an extraordinary way (cf Acts 2:1-4), as we know.
The Breath of the Risen Christ fills the lungs of the Church with life; and indeed the mouths of the disciples, filled with the Holy Spirit, were opened to proclaim the great works of God to all people (cf Acts 2:1-11).
Pentecost - which we celebrated last Sunday - is for the Church the anointing which Jesus received at the Jordan river, which is to say that Pentecost is the missionary motivation for us to give our entire lives for the sanctification of mankind, to the glory of God. If the Spirit is at work in every sacrament, it is especially at work in a specific way in Confirmation which the faithful receive as a Gift from the Holy Spirit (Paul VI, Divinae consortium naturae). And at the moment of the anointing, the Bishop says these words: Receive the Holy Spirit who is given to you as a gift: this is the great gift of the Lord, the Holy Spirit. And we all have the Spirit within us. The Spirit is in our hearts, in our souls. The Spirit guides us in life so that we can become salt and light for mankind.
If in Baptism, it is the Holy Spirit who immerses us in Christ, in Confirmation, it is Christ who fills us with his spirit, consecrating us as his witnesses, partakers with him in the same principle of life and the same mission, according to he plan of our heavenly Father. The testimony given by those who have been Confirmed demonstrates the fact that we have received the Holy Spirit and that we are docile to his creative inspiration. I wonder: how can we be sure that we have received the Gift of the Spirit? If we perform the works of the Spirit, if we speak words that we have learned from the Spirit (cf 1 Cor 2:13). Christian witness consists in doing all that, and only that which the Spirit of Christ asks of us, while He himself grants us the strength we need to do what he asks of us.
The Holy Father's catechesis was then summarized in French, English, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic, Polish and Ukrainian. To English-speaking pilgrims present at this week's General Audience, he said:
Sintesi della catechesi e saluti nelle diverse lingue
I greet the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors taking part in today’s Audience, particularly those from England, Wales, Ireland, India, Philippines, Russia, Vietnam, Canada and the United States of America.
In the continuing joy of our celebration of Pentecost, I invoke upon you and your families a rich outpouring of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. May the Lord bless you all!
At the conclusion of the General Audience, the Holy Father said the following:
Tomorrow, 24 May, is the annual feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary Help of Christians, who is particularly venerated in the Shrine at Sheshan, near Shanghai in China.
This anniversary invites us to be spiritually united with all the Catholic faithful who are living in China. We pray to Our Lady for them, so that they may live their faith with generosity and sincerity, and so that they may be able to carry out concrete gestures of fraternity, concord and reconciliation in full communion with the Successor of Peter.
Beloved disciples of the Lord in China, the universal Church is praying with you and for you, that even in the midst of difficulties, you may continue to entrust yourselves to God's will. May Our Lady never fail to help you and to care for you with her motherly love.
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