During the general audience with the faithful, Pope Francis continued his reflection on the Holy Spirit, and today he stopped at the sacrament of marriage and how the Holy Spirit illuminates it.
In his general audience with the faithful today, Wednesday, October 23, His Holiness Pope Francis continued his weekly teaching based on the Holy Spirit. He first announced that last week we stopped at our faith in the Holy Spirit, which was confirmed in the Law of Faith, and he said that the Church’s reflection did not stop at the short revelation this of faith in the Holy Spirit, but that it continued, both in the West and in the East, at the hands of the fathers and priests. His Holiness then explained that today he wants us to learn a little about the teaching of the Holy Spirit according to the Latin tradition, to understand how this teaching illuminates the whole Christian life, especially the sacrament of marriage.
His Holiness the Pope began the conversation, returning to the first person who spread this teaching, that is Saint Augustine, who started from the revelation that God is love (see 1 John 4:8). Pope Francis continued that love means that there is someone who loves and someone who is loved, that is, two people who are united by love in and of themselves. In the Trinity, continued the Holy Father, the Father is the one who loves, the origin and beginning of everything, the Son is the love, and the Holy Spirit is the love that unites them, as St. Augustine wrote. So the God of the Christians is one God, but he is not alone, because he has unity in the fellowship of love, Pope Francis said and he said that there are those who suggested, from this point of view, that right to refer to the Holy Spirit using not the third person singular pronoun, but the first person plural noun, which means that “He” means the Holy Spirit means the “we” , “we” the Father and the Son, that is, a bond of unity that is the principle of the unity of the Church, which is one group of many persons.
Speaking on the topic he chose for today’s teaching, which is what the Holy Spirit says to the family, Pope Francis began by asking what binds the Holy Spirit and marriage. He replied that there is a strong connection, perhaps even a basic connection. He went on to explain the reason for this, saying that Christian marriage is the secret of a man and a woman giving themselves to each other, and this is what the Creator thought of when he created man in his image, male and female he created them (Genesis 1:27). Therefore the human couple is the first and the main achievement of the fellowship of love which is the Trinity.
The Holy Father continued that the spouses also have the right to form a plural representative, that is, we must be one in front of the other person like you and me, and in front of the world, my children among, like us. His Holiness added how beautiful it is to hear a mother say to her son: Your father and I, just as Mary said to Jesus, when they found him in the temple among the students, when he was twelve years old. Pope Francis continued: How beautiful it is to hear a father say, “Your mother and I” as if they were one. His Holiness mentioned here the children’s need for this unity between the parents and the suffering they would suffer if they were not present.
Pope Francis continued to respond to this call, that marriage needs the help of a man who is a gift, rather than a man who is a gift to yourself par excellence of today’s world, but that this the reality of things as the Creator intended them to be. Pope Francis said that it may seem easier and faster to build on sand than on rock, but the parable that Jesus spoke informed us about the result (see Matthew 7:24-27). However, in this case, we do not need an example, said His Holiness the Pope, because unfortunately everyone sees the effect of a marriage built on sand, and their effect is carried mainly by the children, who suffer if that happens. the separation of the parents or the absence of the loved one.
It must be said about many married couples what Mary said at the wedding in Cana Galilee: “They have no wine” (John 2:3). in order to do the miracle that Jesus did at that time, that is, that changing waters is always a new joy in being together. The Holy Father wanted to confirm that this is not an illusion, because this is what the Holy Spirit did in many marriages when married couples decided to call him.
At the end of his teaching about the Holy Spirit during his general audience with the faithful today, Wednesday, October 23, Pope Francis emphasized that it is good, as well as the legal, psychological and moral information that is provided to prepare engaged couples for. marriage, to go deeper into this spiritual preparation. His Holiness concluded by recalling an Italian proverb that advises not to insert even a finger between a man and his wife.
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2024-10-23 08:42:00
