Pope Francis dedicated his catechesis at the General Audience this Wednesday to reflecting on the fruits of the Holy Spirit.
Below is the catechism of Pope Francis:
Receive the main news from ACI Prensa by WhatsApp and Telegram
It is increasingly difficult to see Catholic news on social media. Subscribe to our free channels today:
Dear brothers and sisters, good morning!
After having spoken of sanctifying grace and charisms, I would like to stop today on a third reality linked to the action of the Holy Spirit: the “fruits of the Spirit.” a strange thing…what are the fruits of the spirit? Saint Paul offers a list of these in his Letter to the Galatians. He writes like this, be attentive: “the fruit of the Spirit is: love, joy and peace, magnanimity, gentleness, goodness and trust, meekness and temperance” (5:22). These are the fruits of the Spirit, but what are they?
Unlike the charismas, which the Spirit grants to whomever he wants and when he wants for the good of the Church, the fruits of the Spirit, I repeat: love, joy and peace, magnanimity, affability, goodness and trust, meekness and temperance are the result of a collaboration between grace and freedom. These fruits always express the creativity of the person, in which “faith works through charity” (Gal 5,6), sometimes in a surprising and joyful way. Not everyone in the Church can be apostles, prophets, evangelists; but everyone without distinction can and should be charitable, patient, humble, builders of peace, etc. All of us must be charitable, patient, humble, builders of peace and not wars.
Among the fruits of the Spirit indicated by the Apostle, I would like to highlight one of them, remembering the initial words of the apostolic exhortation the joy of the Gospel: “The joy of the Gospel fills the hearts and entire lives of those who encounter Jesus. Those who allow themselves to be saved by Him are freed from sin, from sadness, from inner emptiness, from isolation. With Jesus Christ joy is always born and reborn.” (no. 1). Sometimes there will be sad moments, but there is always peace. With Jesus there is joy and peace.
Joy, the fruit of the Spirit, has in common with any other human joy a certain feeling of fullness and satisfaction, which makes us wish it would last forever. However, we know from experience that this does not happen, because everything down here passes quickly, let’s think together: youth, health, strength, well-being, friendships, love… last 100 years, but no more. On the other hand, even if these things do not pass quickly, after a while they are no longer enough, or even become boring, because, as Saint Augustine said to God: “You made us, Lord, for yourself, and our hearts are restless until May I rest in you.” There is the restlessness of the heart, to seek beauty, peace, love, joy.
Evangelical joy, unlike any other joy, can be renewed every day and become contagious. “Only thanks to that encounter—or reunion—with the love of God, which becomes happy friendship, are we rescued from our isolated consciousness and self-referentiality. (…) There is the source of evangelizing action. Because, if someone has welcomed that love that gives them the meaning of life, how can they contain the desire to communicate it to others? (the joy of the Gospel8). This is the double characteristic of the joy that is the fruit of the Spirit: not only is it not subject to the inevitable wear and tear of time, but it is multiplied by sharing it with others! True joy is shared with others, it is contagious.
Five centuries ago, there lived in Rome a saint named Philip Neri. He went down in history as the saint of joy. Listen well to this, the saint of joy. To the poor and abandoned children in his Oratory he said: “Children, be happy; I don’t want scruples or melancholy; It is enough for me that they do not sin.” And still: “Be good, if you can!” Less known, however, is the source from which his joy came. Saint Philip Neri felt such a love for God that at times it seemed as if his heart was going to burst in his chest. His joy was, in the fullest sense, a fruit of the Spirit.
The saint participated in the Jubilee of 1575, which he enriched with the practice, maintained later, of visiting the Seven Churches. He was, in his time, a true evangelizer through joy. And he had this, typical of Jesus, that he always forgave, he forgave a lot. Perhaps some of us may think “I have done this sin, it will not be forgiven.” Listen well to this: God forgives everything, God always forgives. And this is the joy, being forgiven by God. To priests, to confessors, I always say: forgive everything, do not command too much. Forgive everything and always.
The word “gospel” means good news. Therefore, it cannot be communicated with long faces and a gloomy countenance, but with the joy of one who found the hidden treasure and the precious pearl. Let us remember the exhortation that Saint Paul addressed to the believers of the Church of Philippi, and that he now addresses to us: “Always be joyful in the Lord, I repeat, be joyful, and show to everyone signs of a very open spirit. The Lord is near” (Fil 4,4-5). Dear brothers and sisters, be happy, with the joy of Jesus in our hearts.
Papa Francisco
Pope Francis, born on December 17, 1936 in Buenos Aires (Argentina), is the first Latin American Pope in the history of the Catholic Church, assuming the papacy on March 13, 2013. His approachable style and his emphasis on mercy They have left a distinctive mark on his pontificate.