“You don’t have to carry yourself, but preach the Gospel.” For this reason, Pope Francis, in his Wednesday catechesis, reminds us that homilies must be short, no more than eight to ten minutes. Also to prevent anyone from going out to smoke a cigarette. Bergoglio explains the evangelizing action of the Holy Spirit and underlines that it is entrusted to two actions that depend on us. First of all, prayer because the Holy Spirit is given to those who invoke it. And then preaching which must always be about bringing the Word of God and not ours.
For the first time, this Wednesday, the catechesis is also translated into Chinese. The Pap affectionately greets the community present and the one that follows through the media, particularly happy with this introduction already announced last Wednesday.
On the action of the Spirit he explains that, “after having reflected on the sanctifying and charismatic action”, it is worth reflecting “on the evangelizing work of the Holy Spirit, that is, on his role in the preaching of the Church”. It recalls the first Letter of Peter which «defines the apostles as “those who announced the Gospel through the Holy Spirit”» and underlines that «in this expression we find the two constitutive elements of Christian preaching: its content, which is the Gospel, and its means, which is the Holy Spirit.” Remember the two meanings of the word “Gospel” which “can indicate each of the four canonical Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, and in this sense the Gospel means the good news proclaimed by Jesus during his earthly life”. BUT, after Easter, «the word “Gospel” takes on the new meaning of good news about Jesus, that is, the paschal mystery of Christ’s death and resurrection. This is what the Apostle calls “Gospel”, when he writes: “I am not ashamed of the Gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes”.
Pope Francis insists on prayer and the commandment of love. «on the kerygma, or “proclamation”, on which every moral application depends».
Finally Francis remembers the wars. “Please,” he says, “let us continue to pray for peace. War is a human defeat. War does not solve problems. War is bad. War destroys. We pray for countries at war. Let’s not forget the tormented Ukraine, let’s not forget Palestine, Israel, Myanmar. So many dead children, so many dead innocents. Let us pray for the Lord to bring us to peace. We always pray for peace.”
