It is only the Holy Spirit Who can teach us to say: “Jesus is the Lord.” That was the focus of Pope Francis’ reflections during the morning Mass at the Casa Santa Marta on Monday. The Holy Father emphasized that we must open our hearts in order to hear the Holy Spirit, and thus be able to bear witness to Christ.Listen: “Be calm, I will not leave you orphans; I will send you an advocate, the Holy Spirit, to defend you before the Father.” Pope Francis based his homily on the long discourse of Jesus to His disciples at the Last Supper. The Pope dwelt especially on the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, who accompanies us and “gives us the assurance of being saved by Jesus.”The Holy Spirit, the gift of Jesus, is the travelling companion of the Church It is only the Holy Spirit, the Pope said, Who teaches us to say, “Jesus is the Lord”:“Without the Holy Spirit, none of us is able to say it, to perceive it, to live it. Jesus, in other...
It is only the Holy Spirit Who can teach us to say: “Jesus is the Lord.” That was the focus of Pope Francis’ reflections during the morning Mass at the Casa Santa Marta on Monday. The Holy Father emphasized that we must open our hearts in order to hear the Holy Spirit, and thus be able to bear witness to Christ.
Listen:
“Be calm, I will not leave you orphans; I will send you an advocate, the Holy Spirit, to defend you before the Father.” Pope Francis based his homily on the long discourse of Jesus to His disciples at the Last Supper. The Pope dwelt especially on the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, who accompanies us and “gives us the assurance of being saved by Jesus.”
The Holy Spirit, the gift of Jesus, is the travelling companion of the Church
It is only the Holy Spirit, the Pope said, Who teaches us to say, “Jesus is the Lord”:
“Without the Holy Spirit, none of us is able to say it, to perceive it, to live it. Jesus, in other places in this long discourse, said of Him [the Holy Spirit]: ‘He will lead you into all truth,’ He will accompany you towards the full truth. ‘He will bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you; He will teach you all things.’ That is, the Holy Spirit is the travelling companion of every Christian, and also the travelling companion of the Church. And this is the gift that Jesus gives us.”
We must open our hearts to the Holy Spirit; otherwise, He cannot enter in
The Holy Spirit, he continued, is “a gift, the great gift of Jesus,” Who does not lead us astray. But where does the Spirit dwell? the Pope asked. He looked to the first reading, from the Acts of the Apostles, where we see the figure of Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth, someone who “knew how to do things.” The Lord opened her heart, so that she might follow the Word of God:
“The Lord opened her heart so that the Holy Spirit could enter, and she became a disciple. It is precisely within our hearts that we carry the Holy Spirit. The Church calls the Spirit ‘the sweet guest of the heart’: He is there. But He cannot enter a closed heart. ‘Ah, but where can one buy the keys to open the heart?’ No! That too is a gift. It is a gift of God: ‘Lord, open my heart so that the Spirit can enter it, and I can understand that Jesus is the Lord.’”
This, the Pope said, is a prayer that we should say every day: “Lord, open my heart so that I can understand what You have taught us; so that I can remember Your words; so that I can follow Your words; so that I can come to the fullness of the truth.”
Let us ask ourselves if our hearts are truly open to the Spirit
Our hearts must be open, then, so that the Holy Spirit can enter, and so that we can hear the Spirit. Pope Francis said the readings of the Mass suggest two questions we can ask ourselves:
“The first: Do I ask the Lord for the grace that my heart might be opened? The second question: Do I seek to hear the Holy Spirit, His inspirations, the things He tells my heart that I might advance in the Christian life, and that I too might bear witness that Jesus is the Lord? Think about these two things today: Is my heart open? Do I make an effort to listen to the Holy Spirit, to what He tells me? And so we advance in the Christian life, and we too bear witness to Jesus Christ.”
Ongoing construction work on St. Charbel Maronite Church in Doha, Qatar, in April 2024. / Credit: Father Charbel MhannaACI MENA, May 10, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).Construction is nearing completion on the St. Charbel Maronite Church in Doha, Qatar, with plans to open its doors to worshippers in 2025, coinciding with the Catholic Church's Jubilee Year, according to Father Charbel Mhanna from Qatar's Maronite parish.In an interview with ACI Mena, CNA's Arabic-language news partner, Mhanna explained that with a capacity of about 3,000 people, St. Charbel will be the country's largest church, open to all Catholics. Once completed, it will be Qatar's second Catholic church, joining the existing Church of Our Lady of the Rosary. While precise statistics on the Christian population in Qatar are lacking, Mhanna estimates there are close to 1 million Christians there, of which about 70% are Catholic. Approximately 12,000 belong to the Maronite rite, which is in full communion with the ...
Clockwise, from top left: Catholic actor Jonathan Roumie, Cardinal Stephen Chow of Hong Kong, Harrison Butker of the Kansas City Chiefs, and Father Mike Schmitz of Duluth, Minnesota, will address the Class of 2024. / Credits: Shane Anthony Sinclair/Getty Images; Edward Pentin/National Catholic Register; Benedictine College; and FOCUSNational Catholic Register, May 10, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).Commencement ceremonies are underway at the nation's Catholic colleges and universities, many of which are annually highlighted in the National Catholic Register's "Catholic Identity College Guide."Notable speakers include Cardinal Stephen Chow at Boston College on May 20 and "The Bible in a Year" and "The Catechism in a Year" podcast host Father Mike Schmitz, who serves as chaplain at the University of Minnesota-Duluth's Newman Center and who spoke to Ave Maria University's Class of 2024 on May 4. "Life takes courage ... because love takes courage. And every one of you is called to love, eve...
Rosary College logo. / Credit: Rosary CollegeCNA Staff, May 10, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).Author and Anglican convert Father Dwight Longenecker along with a number of Catholic scholars are launching the first Catholic college in South Carolina, a two-year liberal arts college set to open this fall.Rosary College will offer an associate of Catholic studies in integrated humanities degree, which can be transferred to a number of other universities. The college offers "an affordable, transferable credit for students who are either going on to a four-year Catholic college or those who are going into the workforce and/or trade school," Longenecker explained in a post on X. "Our focus is with our foundation on truth, beauty, and goodness, and in alignment with our primary value of Catholic identity," Mike Shick, founding president of Rosary College, told CNA in a phone call. "We want to ensure that we're in alignment with the magisterium of the holy, Catholic, and apostolic Church."...