In the Audience This Wednesday, in the fourth session of the cycle of catechesis on "The Holy Spirit and the Bride," which is the Church, Pope Francis encouraged in St. Peter's Square to carry out "a true symphony of prayer" with the Psalms of the Bible. They are inspired by God and breathe God, and were the prayer of Jesus, Mary, the apostles, and all the Christians who have gone before us, the Holy Father pointed out. The basic reading for the reflection was the Letter of St. Paul to the Colossians, 3:1-17.
"The Holy Spirit is the composer of this beautiful symphony given to the Church. As in every symphony, there are various "movements" in it, that is, various types of prayer: praise, thanksgiving, supplication, lament, narration, sapiential reflection and others, both in personal form and in the choral form of the whole people. These are the songs that the Spirit Himself has placed on the lips of the Bride. All the books of the Bible, as I mentioned last time, are inspired by the Holy Spirit, but the Book of Psalms is also inspired by the Holy Spirit in the sense that it is full of poetic inspiration," the Pope pointed out.
Praying with the Psalms
The Psalms are not something of the past, but are updated with our prayer. The Pontiff recommended that if a psalm or a verse touches our hearts, we should pray with it and repeat it throughout the day. Let us ask the Holy Spirit to teach us to pray with the psalms, he said.
On a cloudy day in Rome, with a notorious presence of pilgrims from various countries whom the Pope greeted, especially Argentinians and Lebanese, the Holy Father added that "the psalms allow us not to impoverish our prayer by reducing it only to petitions, to a continuous 'give me, give us...'. We learn from the Lord's Prayer, which before asking for "our daily bread" says: "Hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done". The psalms help us to open ourselves to a less egocentric prayer: a prayer of praise, of blessing, of thanksgiving; and they also help us to become the voice of all creation, making it a sharer in our praise".
World Refugee Day
The day after tomorrow, Francis recalled, is World Refugee Day, promoted by the United Nations, and the Pope took the opportunity to recall the Church's commitment to the refugees. refugees and migrants: "welcome, protect and accompany, promote and integrate". We should also remember the World Day of Migrants and Refugees (WDMR) on Sunday, September 29, 2024, with the title "God walks with his people", chosen by Pope Francis for his Message.
Closeness to the Chinese people
The Pope greeted the Association "Friends of Cardinal Celso Costantini", accompanied by the Bishop of the Diocese of Concordia-Pordenone, Giuseppe Pellegrini, on the occasion of the centenary of Cardinal Celso Costantini's death. Shanghai Sinense Counciland also to the "dear Chinese people, as "a noble and brave people", with "such a beautiful culture", and to the "dear Chinese people, as "a noble and courageous people", with "such a beautiful culture".
He also recalled the upcoming feast day on the 21st of St. Aloysius Gonzaga, an Italian Jesuit known for his service to the sick and his dedication to the education of young students. In concluding, as usual, Pope Francis noted that "we continue to pray for peace in Ukraine, in the Holy Land, in Sudan, Myanmar and wherever there are people suffering because of war, which is always a defeat."
