Pope Leo XIV defined this morning in Rome, at the Holy Mass of the Solemnity of Pentecost, celebrated in St. Peter's Basilica, the identity of the “Spirit of the Risen Lord. He is ”the Spirit of peace“, whom we ask ”to save us from the evil of war, which is overcome not by a superpower, but by the omnipotence of love“.
At his Passover, “Christ reconciles God and humanity, and the Holy Spirit instills peace in hearts and spreads it in the world”.
Moreover, “the holy law of God is inscribed in our hearts, engraved by the Spirit with characters of love in the flesh of Christ and in his body, which is the Church”.
And “this law is the code of peace; it is the double commandment of love, which the Spirit reminds us of in every heartbeat”.
Spirit of mission, of truth
Secondly, the Pontiff said in the homily, The Spirit of the Risen One is the Spirit of mission: “As the Father has sent me,‘ says the Lord, ’even so I send you. We are thus sharers in the mission of Jesus; that of the One who goes out from God and returns to God with the power of the Spirit, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, with them he is adored and glorified, the only God.
The Holy Spirit is the living charity of Christ, and while he gives the apostles the power to express themselves in the variety of languages, he teaches humanity the word of salvation, Pope Leo pointed out.
Unity for his Church, which promotes the Spirit
This mission, added the Successor of Peter, “begins by affirming the truth about God and man, because the Spirit of the Risen One is the ‘Spirit of truth’ (Jn 14:17).
“The Lord himself has promised us this, asking for unity for his Church, a unity founded on the love of God, the source of our love,” Leo XIV stressed. “The Spirit, who spoke through the prophets, always promotes unity in truth, because he arouses in us understanding, concord and coherence of life.”.
In conclusion, the Pope prayed that the Spirit “may free humanity from misery, that “he may heal us from the scourge of sin, for the redemption proclaimed to all peoples in the name of Jesus. This is the grace that gave courage to the apostles; may it also be given to us, today and always, through the intercession of Mary, Mother of the Church.
Regina caeli: prayer for the Church in China, for Lebanon, for the Middle East
In the Regina caeli, After his address on the Solemnity of Pentecost, the Pope recalled that today, the Feast of Mary, Help of Christians, is a day of prayer for the Church in China.
“On the liturgical memorial of the Virgin Mary Help of Christians, venerated with great devotion at the Sheshan Shrine in Shanghai, we unite our prayers to those of the Catholics in China, as a sign of our affection for them, and of their communion with the universal Church and with the Successor of Peter.
May the intercession of the Queen of Heaven obtain for the believing community in China “the grace of unity and grant everyone the strength to bear witness to the Gospel in daily difficulties, to be a seed of hope and peace. In particular, I invoke eternal peace for the victims of the accident that occurred in recent days in a mine in northern China,” Pope Leo XIV prayed.
“To Mary Most Holy, Help of Christians, we also entrust, he concluded, the Christian communities of the Holy Land, Lebanon and the entire Middle East, which are suffering because of the war.”.
Invoking the help of the Holy Spirit to open the three gates
Before praying the Marian prayer with the Romans and pilgrims in St. Peter's Square, the Pope referred to “the doors opened by the Holy Spirit”.
The first door is that of God himself, in the sense that it opens for us access to the mystery of God as revealed in Jesus Christ. With the gift of his Spirit, God grants us true faith, and the Holy Spirit helps us to have a personal experience of God; to encounter him in Jesus and not only in the observance of a law; to recognize him in ourselves and to discover the signs of his presence in ordinary life”.
The second door “is that of the cenacle, that is, of the Church. Without the fire of the Spirit, the Church remains a prisoner of fear, fearful of the challenges of the world, closed in on herself and therefore incapable of entering into dialogue with the changing times. The Spirit opens the doors of the Church so that she can welcome and receive everyone, even those who have closed the doors to God, to others, to hope, to the joy of life”, as Pope Francis recalled.
Finally, “the Holy Spirit opens the doors of our hearts, helping us to overcome resistance, selfishness, mistrust and prejudice, and enabling us to live as children of God and brothers and sisters among ourselves”.
The Pope asked that “on this day of Pentecost, we must invoke the Holy Spirit to open all the doors that are still closed. We need to rediscover God as a Father who loves us; to build a Church where all feel at home; and to grow a fraternal world in which peace reigns among all peoples”.
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