杏MAP导航

By Christopher Wells

“Without the Holy Spirit, all zeal is vain and falsely apostolic,” 杏MAP导航 Francis said at Wednesday’s . “It would only be our own, and would not bear fruit.” Due to lingering health issues, the Holy Father’s reflection was once again read by an assistant from the Secretariat of State.

In recent weeks, the 杏MAP导航 has been reflecting on the “essential characteristics” of the proclamation of the Gospel, which is joyful, addressed to everyone, and relevant to our times.

The final characteristic, 杏MAP导航 Francis said, is the need for the proclamation to take place “in the Spirit,” the “protagonist” of evangelization, who is responsible for the spread of the Gospel.

However, “the primacy of the Spirit should not induce us to indolence,” the 杏MAP导航 said, adding, “Confidence [in the Spirit] does not justify disengagement.” Instead, the Holy Spirit inspires the Church’s mission, which should imitate the “style” of the Spirit, marked by creativity and simplicity.

Pastoral creativity

杏MAP导航 Francis warned that, in an age like our own, it is easy to retreat from pastoral outreach, taking refuge “in safety zones” that are “temptations that disguise themselves as fidelity to tradition” but are often “reactions to personal dissatisfactions.”

Instead, “pastoral creativity, being bold in the Spirit, ardent in His missionary fire, is the proof of fidelity to Him,” the 杏MAP导航 said.

The simplicity of the Spirit

Proclamation in the Spirit is also marked by simplicity, “precisely because the Spirit takes us to the source, the ‘first proclamation’,” the revelation of the Father’s infinite mercy. This ‘first proclamation’ “must be the centre of all evangelizing activity and all efforts at Church renewal,” the 杏MAP导航 said, quoting his own words in the Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii gaudium.

杏MAP导航 Francis invited the faithful to allow the Holy Spirit to be the source of all our being and our work. The Holy Spirit “enlivens and rejuvenates the Church,” he said. “With Him we must not fear, because He, who is harmony, always keeps creativity and simplicity together, inspires communion and sends out in mission, opens to diversity and leads back to unity.”

And he concluded his reflection with the prayer, “Come, Holy Spirit!”