ABy Father Bernard Holzer, aa
At the end of the Easter Season and the Pentecost, we enter in the Ordinary Time until the Advent Season. But this time is not ordinary: it’s the time of the Holy Spirit! But how do recognize him?
Last Sunday, on the Solemnity of Pentecost, Pope Francis offered advice on how to distinguish the voice of the Holy Spirit from “the voice of the spirit of evil.” The Pope provided several examples on how to recognize the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, who “at every crossroads in our lives suggests to us the best path to follow.”
- “The Holy Spirit will never tell you that on your journey everything is going just fine. … No, he corrects you; he makes you weep for your sins; he pushes you to change, to fight against your lies and deceptions, even when that calls for hard work, interior struggle and sacrifice.”
- “The Holy Spirit, correcting you along the way, never leaves you lying on the ground, never. He takes you by the hand, comforts you and constantly encourages you.”
- Feelings of “bitterness, pessimism and negativity” never come from the Holy Spirit, but come from evil, which “stokes impatience and self-pity … complaints and criticism, the tendency to blame others for all our problems.”
- “The Holy Spirit on the other hand urges us never to lose heart and always to start over again. … by spreading hope and joy, not complaints; never envying others, never – envy is the door through which the evil spirit enters — but the Holy Spirit ... leads you to rejoice in the successes of others.”
- The Holy Spirit is “practical” and “wants us to concentrate on the here and now, because the time and place in which we find ourselves are themselves grace-filled… The Spirit leads us to love, here and now.”
As St. Paul tells us, the twelve fruits of the Holy Spirit are “charity, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, generosity, gentleness, faithfulness, modesty, self-control, and chastity.”
Let us be children of the Spirit!
Comments