"Has everything possible been done to end this war? Can the Lord forgive so much crime and so much violence?" wondered Pope Francis at the conclusion of a general audience marked by the beginning of the LentThe Paul VI Hall was filled with groups of pilgrims and faithful from Italy and many other countries.
The day after tomorrow, February 24, marks "one year of the invasion of Ukrainean absurd and cruel war. It is a sad anniversary," said a sorrowful Holy Father, as on other occasions in which he has referred to this war and other wars.
Finally, in giving the Blessing, the Pope recalled that "today Lent begins", and encouraged to "intensify prayer, meditation on the Word of God and service to our brothers and sisters".
"The Holy Spirit, the engine of evangelization".
At the General Audience, the Holy Father resumed the cycle of catechesis on "the passion to evangelize," and focused his meditation on the theme "The Protagonist of the proclamation: the Holy Spirit," whom he called "the motor of evangelization". "In the Acts of the Apostles we discover that the protagonist, the motor of evangelization is the Spirit," the Pope reiterated on several occasions.
"Today we return to the words of Jesus that we have heard: 'Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit' (Mt 28:19). Go," says the Risen One, "not to indoctrinate or proselytize, but to make disciples, that is, to give everyone the opportunity to come into contact with Jesus, to know him and to love him," Francis began.
"Go forth baptizing: to baptize means to immerse and therefore, before indicating a liturgical action, it expresses a vital action: to immerse one's life in the Father, in the Son, in the Holy Spirit; to experience every day the joy of the presence of God who is close to us as Father, as Brother, as Spirit who acts in us, in our own spirit," he added.
The Roman Pontiff then referred to Pentecost, and remarked that the proclamation of the Gospel, as happened to the Apostles, is carried out only by the power of the Spirit. "When Jesus says to his disciples - and also to us -: 'Go!', he does not communicate just a word. No. He communicates together with the Holy Spirit, because it is only thanks to him, to the Spirit, that Christ's mission can be received and carried forward (cf. Jn 20:21-22). The Apostles, in fact, remained locked up in the Upper Room out of fear until the day of Pentecost arrived and the Holy Spirit descended upon them (cf. Acts 2:1-13). With their strength these fishermen, the majority of whom were illiterate, will change the world. The proclamation of the Gospel, therefore, is realized only in the power of the Spirit, who precedes the missionaries and prepares hearts: He is 'the engine of evangelization'".
"Listening to the Spirit".
As we heard in the Gospel, the Holy Father noted, "the Risen Jesus sends us to go, to make disciples and to baptize. With his words, he communicates to us the Holy Spirit, who gives us the strength to accept the mission and carry it forward".
"The main objective of proclamation is to foster the encounter of people with Christ. Therefore, so that our evangelizing action may always foster this encounter, it is necessary for all of us - each one personally and as an ecclesial community - to listen to the Spirit, who is the protagonist," the Pope stressed.
Francis immediately warned that if we do not turn to the Holy Spirit, the mission is diluted. "The Church invokes the Holy Spirit to guide her, to help her discern her pastoral projects and to impel her to go out into the world joyfully transmitting the proclamation of the faith. But if she does not invoke the Spirit, she becomes closed in on herself, creating divisions, sterile debates and, as a consequence, the mission fades away".
The episode of the Council of Jerusalem
On every page of the Acts of the Apostles we see that "the protagonist of the proclamation is not Peter, Paul, Stephen or Philip, but the Holy Spirit". The Pope then recounted and commented on "a neuralgic moment of the beginnings of the Church, which can also say a lot to us. Then, as today, along with consolations, there was no lack of tribulations, joys were accompanied by worries. One in particular: how to behave with the pagans who came to faith, with those who did not belong to the Jewish people. Were they or were they not obliged to observe the prescriptions of the Mosaic Law? It was not a minor matter".
"Thus two groups were formed, between those who believed that the observance of the Law could not be renounced and those who did not. In order to discern, the Apostles met in what is called the 'Council of Jerusalem', the first in history. How to resolve the dilemma, the Holy Father asked.
"One could have sought a good agreement between tradition and innovation: some norms are observed, others are ignored. However, the Apostles do not follow this human wisdom, but adapt themselves to the work of the Spirit who had anticipated them, descending on the pagans as well as on them," he continued in his meditation.
"And so, removing almost every obligation tied to the Law, they communicate the final decisions, taken," they write, "by the Holy Spirit and by us" (cf. Acts 15:28). Together, without being divided, despite having different sensibilities and opinions, they listen to the Spirit".
When is "any religious tradition" useful?
Pope Francis pointed out in his catechesis on this episode that "He teaches one thing, which is also valid today: every religious tradition is useful if it facilitates the encounter with Jesus. We could say that the historic decision of the first Council, from which we too benefit, was moved by a principle, the principle of proclamation: in the Church everything must conform to the demands of the proclamation of the Gospel; not to the opinions of conservatives or progressives, but to the fact that Jesus comes into people's lives. Therefore, every choice, use, structure and tradition must be evaluated insofar as it favors the proclamation of Christ".
In this way, Francis added, "the Spirit illumines the path of the Church. Indeed, it is not only the light of hearts, it is the light that guides the Church: it enlightens, helps to distinguish, to discern. This is why it is necessary to invoke it often; let us do so today too, at the beginning of Lent. Because as a Church we can have well-defined times and spaces, well-organized communities, institutes and movements, but without the Spirit everything remains soulless".
"The Church, if she does not pray to him and invoke him, closes in on herself, in sterile and exhausting debates, in tiresome polarizations, while the flame of mission is extinguished," the Holy Father affirmed. "The Spirit, instead, makes us go out, pushes us to proclaim the faith in order to confirm us in the faith, to go on mission to find who we are. This is why the Apostle Paul recommends: 'Do not quench the Spirit' (1 Thess 5:19). Let us pray often to the Spirit, let us invoke him, let us ask him every day to enkindle in us his light. Let us do this before every encounter, so that we can become apostles of Jesus with the people we meet.
The experiences of the Spirit, before surveys
"It is certainly important that in our pastoral planning we start from sociological surveys, from analyses, from the list of difficulties, from the list of expectations and complaints. However, it is much more important to start from the experiences of the Spirit: this is the true starting point," said the Pope in the final part of his catechesis.
"It is a fundamental principle that, in the spiritual life, is called the primacy of consolation over desolation. First there is the Spirit who consoles, revives, enlightens, moves; then there will also come desolation, suffering, darkness, but the principle for regulating oneself in the darkness is the light of the Spirit (C.M. Martini, Evangelizing in the Consolation of the Spirit, September 25, 1997)" (C.M. Martini, Evangelizing in the Consolation of the Spirit, September 25, 1997)".
The Pontiff concluded his catechesis by raising a couple of questions for reflection: "Let us try to ask ourselves if we open ourselves to this light, if we give it space: do I invoke the Spirit? Do I allow myself to be guided by Him, who invites me not to close myself but to carry Jesus, to witness to the primacy of God's consolation over the desolation of the world?"
