“I too kneel on the streets of Myanmar and say: stop the violence! I too stretch out my arms and say: may dialogue prevail! ”. “Blood solves nothing. Let dialogue prevail”.
Vatican City (AsiaNews) - The Holy Spirit "reminds us of Jesus and makes him present to us, so that he does not become a historical figure", he gives us the opportunity to meet him and turn to God calling him 'Abbà', Father . Prayer as a relationship with the Holy Spirit was the theme of Pope Francis general audience today, concluding the cycle of catechesis on prayer.
At the end of the audience, Francis again spoke about Myanmar " Once again and with great sadness I feel the urgency to evoke the dramatic situation in Myanmar, where so many people, especially young people, are losing their lives to offer hope to their country,” Pope Francis said at the end of his weekly general audience. “I too kneel on the streets of Myanmar and say: stop the violence! I too extend my arms and say: let dialogue prevail!” the Holy Father said.
Previously, in the audience, still streamed from the library of the Apostolic Palace, Francis had said that the Holy Spirit "is the Gift" that Jesus promised to send us. "It is not one of the many gifts, but the fundamental Gift".
"Without the Spirit - he added - there is no relationship with Christ and with the Father. Because the Spirit opens our heart to the presence of God and draws it into that 'whirlwind' of love which is the very heart of God. We are not only guests and pilgrims on the journey on this earth, we are also guests and pilgrims in the mystery of Trinity. We are like Abraham, who one day, welcoming three travelers into his tent, met God. If we can truly invoke God by calling him 'Abbà - Papa', it is because the Holy Spirit dwells in us; it is he who transforms us profoundly and makes us experience the moving joy of being loved by God as true children”.
The Holy Spirit makes Jesus present to us. “In the Spirit everything takes on life: the possibility of encountering Christ is open to Christians of every time and place. Not just to remember him as a historical figure. He is not far away, he is with us: he still educates his disciples by transforming their hearts, as he did with Peter, with Paul, with Mary of Magdalen”. And "the first task of Christians" is to keep alive the "fire that Jesus brought to earth (cf. Lk 12:49), that is, the Love of God, the Holy Spirit".
"Without the fire of the Spirit, prophecies are quenched, sadness supplants joy, habit replaces love, service turns into slavery. The image of the lighted lamp next to the tabernacle comes to mind, where the Eucharist is kept. Even when the church is empty and evening falls, even when the church is closed, that lamp remains lit, continues to burn: no one sees it, yet it burns before the Lord. So the Spirit in our heart”.
The Pope concluded: “Often we do not pray, we do not want to pray or we do not know or often we pray like parrots with our mouth but our heart is far away. This is the time to say to the Spirit: 'Come, come Holy Spirit, warm my heart. Come and teach me to pray, teach me to look at the father, to look at the Son. Teach me what the path of faith is like. Teach me how to love and above all teach me to have an attitude of hope'. Calling the Spirit continuously to be present in our lives”.