Pope Francis delivered his homily from a wheelchair in front of the main altar of St. Peter’s Basilica on June 5, 2022. / Vatican Media
Vatican City, Jun 5, 2022 / 05:30 am (CNA).
Here is the full text of Pope Francis’ homily for the Solemnity of Pentecost 2022, which was celebrated in St. Peter’s Basilica on June 5, 2022.
In the final words of the Gospel we have just heard, Jesus says something that can offer us hope and make us think. He tells his disciples: “The Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all I have said to you (Jn 14:26). “Everything,” “all” – these words are striking; they make us wonder: how does the Spirit give this new and full understanding to those who receive him? It is not about quantity, or an academic question: God does not want to make us encyclopedias or polymaths. No. It is a question of quality, perspective, perception. The Spirit makes us see everything in a new way, with the eyes of Jesus. I would put it this way: in the great journey of life, the Spirit teaches us where to begin, what paths to take, and how to walk.
First, where to begin. The Spirit points out to us the starting point of the spiritual life. What is it? Jesus speaks of it in the first verse of the Gospel, when he says: “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” (v. 15). If you love me, you will keep … this is the “logic” of the Spirit. We tend to think the exact opposite: if we keep the commandments, we will love Jesus. We tend to think that love comes from our keeping, our fidelity and our devotion. Yet the Spirit reminds us that without love as our basis, all the rest is in vain. And that love comes not so much from our abilities, but as his gift. He teaches us to love and we have to ask for this gift. The Spirit of love pours love into our hearts, he makes us feel loved and he teaches us how to love. He is the “motor” of our spiritual lives. He set it in motion within us. But if we do not begin from the Spirit, or with the Spirit or through the Spirit, we will get nowhere.
The Spirit himself reminds us of this, because he is the memory of God, the one who brings to our minds all that Jesus has said (cf. v. 26). The Holy Spirit is an active memory; he constantly rekindles the love of God in our hearts. We have experienced his presence in the forgiveness of our sins, in moments when we are filled with his peace, his freedom and his consolation. It is essential to cherish this spiritual memory. We always remember the things that go wrong; we listen to the voice within us that reminds us of our failures and failings, the voice that keeps saying: “Look, yet another failure, yet another disappointment. You will never succeed; you cannot do it.” This is a terrible thing to be told. Yet the Holy Spirit tells us something completely different. He reminds us: “Have you fallen? You are a son or daughter of God. You are a unique, elect, precious and beloved child. Even when you lose confidence in yourself, God has confidence in you!” This is the “memory” of the Spirit, what the Spirit constantly reminds us: God knows you. You may forget about God, but he does not forget about you. He remembers you always.
You, however, may well object: these are nice words, but I have problems, hurts and worries that cannot be removed by facile words of comfort! Yet that is precisely where the Holy Spirit asks you to let him in. Because he, the Consoler, is the Spirit of healing, of resurrection, who can transform the hurts burning within you. He teaches us not to harbor the memory of all those people and situations that have hurt us, but to let him purify those memories by his presence. That is what he did with the apostles and their failures. They had deserted Jesus before the Passion; Peter had denied him; Paul had persecuted Christians. We too think of our own mistakes. How many of them, and so much guilt! Left to themselves, they had no way out. Left to themselves, no. But with the Comforter, yes. Because the Spirit heals memories. How? By putting at the top of the list the thing that really matters: the memory of God’s love, his loving gaze. In this way, he sets our lives in order. He teaches us to accept one another, to forgive one another and to forgive ourselves; he teaches us to be reconciled with the past. And to set out anew.
In addition to reminding us where to begin, the Spirit teaches us what paths to take. We see this in the second reading, where Saint Paul explains that those “led by the Spirit of God” (Rom 8:14) “walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit” (v. 4). The Spirit, at every crossroads in our lives, suggests to us the best path to follow. It is important, then, to be able to distinguish his voice from the voice of the spirit of evil. Both speak to us: we need to learn to distinguish the voice of the Spirit, to be able to recognize that voice and follow its lead, to follow the things he tells us.
Let us consider some examples. The Holy Spirit will never tell you that on your journey everything is going just fine. He will never tell you this, because it isn’t true. No, he corrects you; he makes you weep for your sins; he pushes you to change, to fight against your lies and deceptions, even when that calls for hard work, interior struggle and sacrifice. Whereas the evil spirit, on the contrary, pushes you to always do what you want, what you find pleasing. He makes you think that you have the right to use your freedom any way you want. Then, once you are left feeling empty inside – it is bad, this feeling of emptiness inside, many of us have felt it – and when you are left feeling empty inside, he blames you and casts you down. He blames you, becomes the accuser. He throws you down, destroys you. The Holy Spirit, correcting you along the way, never leaves you lying on the ground, never. He takes you by the hand, comforts you and constantly encourages you.
Then again, whenever you feel troubled by bitterness, pessimism and negativity – how many times have we fallen into this! – then it is good to remember that these things never come from the Holy Spirit. Bitterness, pessimism, sad thoughts, these never come from the Holy Spirit. They come from evil, which is at home with negativity. It often uses this strategy: it stokes impatience and self-pity, and with self-pity the need to blame others for all our problems. It makes us edgy, suspicious, and querulous. Complaining is the language of the evil spirit; he wants to make you complain, to be gloomy, to put on a funeral face. The Holy Spirit on the other hand urges us never to lose heart and always to start over again. He always encourages you to get up. He takes you by the hand and says: “Get up!” How do we do that? By jumping right in, without waiting for someone else. And by spreading hope and joy, not complaints; never envying others, never — envy is the door through which the evil spirit enters. The Bible tells us this: by the envy of the devil, evil entered the world. So never be envious! — but the Holy Spirit brings you goodness; he leads you to rejoice in the success of others.
The Holy Spirit is practical, he is not an idealist. He wants us to concentrate on the here and now, because the time and place in which we find ourselves are themselves grace-filled. These are concrete times and places of grace, here and now. That is where the Holy Spirit is leading us. The spirit of evil, however, would pull us away from the here and now, and put us somewhere else. Often he anchors us to the past: to our regrets, our nostalgia, our disappointments. Or else he points us to the future, fueling our fears, illusions and false hopes. But not the Holy Spirit. The Spirit leads us to love, concretely, here and now, not an ideal world or an ideal Church, an ideal religious congregation, but the real ones, as they are, seen in broad light of day, with transparency and simplicity. How very different from the evil one, who foments gossip and idle chatter. Idle chatter is a nasty habit; it destroys a person’s identity.
The Holy Spirit wants us to be together; he makes us Church and today – here is the third and final aspect – he teaches the Church how to walk. The disciples were cowering in the Upper Room; the Spirit then came down and made them go forth. Without the Spirit, they were alone, by themselves, huddled together. With the Spirit, they were open to all. In every age, the Spirit overturns our preconceived notions and opens us to his newness. God, the Spirit, is always new! He constantly teaches the Church the vital importance of going forth, impelled to proclaim the Gospel. The importance of our being, not a secure sheepfold, but an open pasture where all can graze on God’s beauty. He teaches us to be an open house without walls of division. The worldly spirit drives us to concentrate on our own problems and interests, on our need to appear relevant, on our strenuous defense of the nation or group to which we belong. That is not the way of the Holy Spirit. He invites us to forget ourselves and to open our hearts to all. In that way, he makes the Church grow young. We need to remember this: the Spirit rejuvenates the Church. Not us and our efforts to dress her up a bit. For the Church cannot be “programmed” and every effort at “modernization” is not enough. The Spirit liberates us from obsession with emergencies. He beckons us to walk his paths, ever ancient and ever new, the paths of witness, poverty and mission, and in this way, he sets us free from ourselves and sends us forth into the world.
And finally, oddly, the Holy Spirit is the author of division, of ruckus, of a certain disorder. Think of the morning of Pentecost: he is the author… he creates division of languages and attitudes… it was a ruckus, that! Yet at the same time, he is the author of harmony. He divides with the variety of charisms, but it is a false division, because true division is part of harmony. He creates division with charisms and he creates harmony with all this division. This is the richness of the Church.
Brothers and sisters, let us sit at the school of the Holy Spirit, so that he can teach us all things. Let us invoke him each day, so that he can remind us to make God’s gaze upon us our starting point, to make decisions by listening to his voice, and to journey together as Church, docile to him and open to the world. Amen.
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Catholics unlike Protestants rarely spoke of the Holy Spirit pre Vat II. Perhaps too mysterious. The Council evoked an epiphany. Suddenly he was everywhere. Byzantine liturgical prayer as quoted impresses that. We also know difference, the Spirit creative and maintaining all being [implied in the Byzantine prayer], and the interior willful presence within us [also implied]. Mystery are [yes in the plural] deemed the essence of beauty. We discern beauty easy enough not the presence of the Spirit. Christ told Nicodemus the wind blows from one direction or other we not knowing from where. Windage is a military term for sighting rifles, in my day the MI Garand. It had apertures for wind compensation. Throw grass in the air take the angle of fall and determine the correction. We don’t have a physical measure for the Holy Spirit’s whereabouts. Aquinas well quoted by author Olson first says it’s Gift. Then Love. Windage for the Holy Spirit’s presence in us may be measured by the unanticipated degree of our similitude to Christ, the Rule of that measure.
That’s because pre-VII we invoked the “Holy Ghost.” Same guy (just a little Vatican II humor there). You are certainly better informed than I and doubtless making the correct and valid observation but my impression growing up was the opposite. The Holy Ghost was a big part of our pre-VII Baltimore Catechism, and I was so proud to become a vessel of the Holy Ghost in my Confirmation, concurrent with the council but the old Mass, before the deliberations were published. I realize now that evangelical protestantism is very Pentacostal and very much about the Holy Spirit, but the face of evangelicalism in my youth comprised the “Jesus Freaks,” for whom everything was Jesus. I recall wondering why the Holy Spirit was not more important to them. I realize now I got it wrong but I am glad I had an early devotion to the Holy Ghost, and even knew His phone number – Et Cum Spiri 220. (some more pre-VII humor).
1Peter3,18-19, I have not realized before . Thank you for this . But still , it’s not clear to me. But it is full of wonder . Thankyou for this. Come , Holy Spirit.
“…or fallen angels whose rebellion against God was associated in Jewish tradition with that same flood…”
Um. Needs elucidation. Considering ‘…Even the demons believe—and shudder’ (James 2:19) and considering their association with the serpent’s ‘i will not serve’ what’s the point of preaching to fallen angels in prison? Does the Jewish or Christian tradition (or even your personal opinion) “leave the door ajar” for the possibility of at least some fallen angels ‘returning’ as a result of the preaching?
Demonologist Adam Blai did a presentation where he covered the fallen angels and why they are irredeemable. The presentation is on YouTube, “Exorcism in the Modern Church and How to Keep the Doors to the Demonic Closed.”
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKnGdr9WMqs
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The segment on the fallen angels starts at the 12:50 minute mark. He said that when demons are asked why they don’t repent the demons themselves say that that is impossible. He further said that in one case the person asking this got the response “Are you a competent theologian?”
Several years ago, Father Mike (since deceased) the pastor at a parish in Wheeling, Illinois, in a sermon on the Holy Spirit recommended bringing the Holy Spirit into ones life by making it a habit to Pray the words “Come Holy Spirit” at least daily. Think he also recommended that one should be aware of the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit and, as part of the prayer, request the gifts of the Holy Spirit to be active in one life. Until then I really did not think much about the Holy Spirit, but now I follow this advice and more conscious of the importance of the Holy Spirit.
“The wind blows where it wills.”
Hence, unbounded by time (or place), the Holy Spirit proclaims the Gospel of salvation to all men, even those who once rejected Him, because His love for Man endures, from before all ages.
How unlimited is the mind and heart…of the Holy One.
Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful, and kindle in us, the fire of your love.
Carol and JN raise interesting takes on Peter’s controversial Christ preaching “to the spirits in prison”. We know Jewish tradition had varied notions of where souls went after death. The Psalms indicate Heaven for the just [Moses and Elijah we know were with Christ]. Sheol was a type of prison image not necessarily Gehenna, the place of the damned. Of all the persons who died before Christ there could conceivably be a ‘Sheol’ where status for many who basically qualify as just was pending. Time for God of course is dissimilar to time for Man. All is presence for God. That may be a way of understanding a revelation to those in Sheol and possible salvation, and the general Resurrection and Judgment of the Dead at End Times. An astute Jicarilla Apache parishioner once asked, “Father, if we are judged when we die how can we be judged again at End Times?”. Double Jeopardy? No. That presence which is God’s omniscience may be divided in segments for Man but not for God.
Personally, that’s why I view the Synod (sin-nod?) with some suspicion. Many things have been attributed to the “holy spirit” that I suspect have nothing to do with the “Holy Spirit”; but the “spirit of the age”. He seems to be vulnerable to having attributed to Him a slew of things that suggest He engages in double-speak at best or outright confusion at worst. For example, it was unimaginable that one should stand and receive communion in the hand not so long ago; yet, by virtue of the “spirit of Vatican II” which HAS to be understood as the working of the Holy Spirit (otherwise, why make the change?), it is now customary to receive standing and in the hand, so much so that those who present for reception of communion kneeling and on the tongue are routinely denied. It was by the “Spirit”, again, of Vatican II that the communion rails were removed, the Cramner table was introduced, ad orientem became the rage, etc., etc., etc. Yes, He is mysterious to say the least and there are very few, I believe, that are humble enough to actually know Him well enough to speak for Him, or let themselves be instruments through which He is able to communicate to the rest of us.
It does appear that a lot of contradictory positions are attributed to the Holy Spirit in the post Vatican II era. I suspect that the Holy Spirit has been subject to impersonation and identity theft. There is a commandment concerning taking God’s name in vain.
Perhaps the circular and self-validating Synod(s)-on-Synodality (2023, 2024) should begin with silence and the following, even before the layered and “expert” synthesis papers?
ACT of CONSECRATION to the HOLY SPIRIT
On my knees before the great multitude of heavenly witnesses I offer myself, soul and body, to You, Eternal Spirit of God. I adore the brightness of Your purity, the unerring keenness of Your justice and the might of Your love. You are the Strength and Light of my soul. In You I live and move and am. I desire never to grieve You by unfaithfulness to grace and I pray with all my heart to be kept from the smallest sin against You. Mercifully guard my every thought and grant that I may always watch for Your light and listen to Your voice and follow Your gracious inspirations. I cling to You and give myself to You and ask You by Your compassion to watch over me in my weakness. Holding the pierced Feet of Jesus and looking at His Five Wounds and trusting in His Precious Blood and adoring his opened Side and stricken Heart, I implore You, Adorable Spirit, Helper of my infirmity, so to keep me in Your grace that I may never sin against You. Give me grace, O Holy Ghost, Spirit of the Father and the Son to say to You always and everywhere, “Speak, Lord, for Your servant heareth.”
Amen
Great way to put it, Greg. There has been a lot of identity theft of the Holy Spirit.
But perhaps that has always been so. For St. John almost two millennia ago instructed Christians, through the Holy Spirit, to test the spirits to see whether they are the Spirit of God or the false prophets who had then gone out into the world. 1 John 4,1. There are certainly a plethora of false prophets today, some claiming the Synodal movement as their cover.
Thank you, Carl Olson, for the truth about and of the Holy Sprit.
Chris in Maryland’s quote “The wind blows where it wills” has varied meaning, one cited by him that salvation is open to all, a long held Catholic premise. There’s other.
Aquinas says God is free to choose whom he wills. Saint Therese of Lisieux alluded to the exception our God makes for certain people. In that vein when Moses begged God reveal his beauty, Our Lord said he’d place him high on a rock holding his hand over him until he passed and then be allowed to see God’s beauty, his back, as he walked away. Apparently the full face vision is reserved for the beatific vision. As God walks by he proclaims a doctrine, that he has power over life and death, he expresses freedom to choose whom he wills. And refuses.
Aquinas believed that God does exercise that freedom of choice, not due to any merit of the blessed recipient. It may seem strange. However, after the Fall from grace no one deserved salvation. Lovers choose freely who they wish to love. Does not God have that privilege? For example, it wouldn’t seem just if he chose all souls, as von Balthasar and others including myself would wish. The hard reality seems embedded in this mystery of freedom to love. Always a gift. If we realize in our lives that he’s been treating us with special consideration despite our evils, as David sings in psalmody, blessed is he whom the lord imputes no guilt – we are indeed very much blessed.
Adam and Eve were incapable of obeying one simple command which led to Original Sin. Too many sinners like to avoid taking responsibility for the consequences of their actions. Adam, Eve, and Cain did not take responsibility for their sinful actions. OTOH the Good Thief on the Cross took full responsibility for the consequences of his actions and said so in a very public manner. Accountability is the difference between righteousness and self-righteousness. The Church teachings are like a spiritual eye exam to evaluate a person’s spiritual visual acuity. In the absence of the Church teachings, how are people supposed to discern what logs they have in their own eyes? In John 14 and 15 Christ linked the love of Him with keeping His commandments.
Yes. Although Man possessed the natural law within, which is why the Church speaks of the Decalogue as a reminder. Man required grace. Even with the commandments of the law, the prophets, we were incapable of satisfying God’s justice. It’s only through the gift of grace won for us on the Cross that we are saved.
‘Many will try to enter God’s kingdom, though few will succeed’. These words of Christ reference the need for loving God in spirit and in truth, the gift of grace. Many observe the law externally but remain distant from God within, harboring evil. Many are called but few are chosen, suggesting that the initial gift of grace that motivates us to turn to Christ, completed by Man’s free will, has greater effect for some by nature of the gift.
There are instances when we fall into sin, some of us are lost, others seem privileged in receiving forgiveness. The Apostle Paul is an example. Paul was as opposed to Christ as Caiaphas. Saul, Israel’s first king was rejected because he didn’t completely fulfill God’s command to destroy every living creature in the Amalekite city. He kept some livestock. King David, committed adultery with Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah, then arranged to have Uriah murdered. Both men repented. David, who committed a far more serious crime was forgiven, Saul rejected. Was there something in David that made him more appealing to God? After David repented he wrote the Psalms, including the Psalm 32:2, Blessed is the Man to whom God imputes no guilt, spent many nights in prayer. We may never know the mind of God. What we do know is that the depth of our sincerity in loving others is equivalent to our love for God.
I’m back, perhaps to the consternation of many, yet someone may be pleased?
Thank you for these words of truth. Let all who have breath praise the Lord.
Welcome back.
I’m back, perhaps to the consternation of many, yet someone may be pleased?
Thank you for these words of truth. Let all who have breath praise the Lord.