In his audience series on sharing the message of Jesus with others, Pope Francis this February 22 stressed that it is only the power of the Holy Spirit that enables the Gospel to be shared:
When Jesus says to His disciples – and also to us – ‘Go!’, He is not just communicating a word. No. He communicates the Holy Spirit at the same time, because it is only thanks to Him, thanks to the Spirit, that one can receive Christ’s mission and carry it out.
This led the Pope to a very concrete question: Do we ask the Holy Spirit for help?
Let us ask ourselves, each one of us, let us ask ourselves if we open ourselves up to this light, if we give it space: Do I invoke the Spirit? Each of us can answer within ourselves. How many of us pray to the Spirit?
‘No, Father, I pray to Our Lady, I pray to the Saints, I pray to Jesus, sometimes I pray the Our Father, I pray to the Father…’
‘And the Holy Spirit? Don’t you pray to the Holy Spirit, who is the one who moves your heart, who brings you consolation, who brings you the desire to evangelize, undertake mission?’
Do I let myself be guided by Him, who invites me not to close in on myself but to bear Jesus, to bear witness to the primacy of God’s consolation over the desolation of the world?
The Pope invited us to pray to Our Lady, “who has understood this well,” that she might “help us to understand it.”
Lenten prayer to the Spirit
In his greetings to various language groups at the end of the audience, the Pope reiterated this point. He invited Spanish-speaking faithful to pray often to the Spirit, “so that he enlightens us and helps us to give testimony to the primacy of God in our lives – God who loves and consoles us, vanquishing every desolation.”
And to the Arabic-speaking faithful, the Pope suggested some further Lenten practices: He invited us to spend time with the Mass readings, “renewing our relationship with the Word of God,” and to meditate on the Way of the Cross.
And today we celebrate...