Do not resist the Holy Spirit, but accept the Word with docility.
According to Vatican Radio, during his daily morning Mass at Casa Santa Marta this morning, Pope Francis noted that this is how a Christian ought to conduct himself.
The Pope’s homily focused on today’s readings discussing the Christian, who is “docile to the Holy Ghost,”as opposed to the readings of the past days telling of resisting the Holy Spirit.
Goodness, peace and self-control are the fruit of those who receive the Word, know it and are familiar with it.
At the beginning of his homily, Francis noted that today’s Mass was offered to Sisters of the same Casa Santa Marta who “celebrate the day of their founder, Santa Luisa of Marillac.”
In the first chapter of his Letter, the Apostle James calls for the Word to be accepted with docility, which he underscored requires being open and “not rigid.”
With this background, Francis said the first step is “welcoming the Word,” that is to say “open[ing] one’s heart.”
The second, the Pope continued, is to “know the Word,” “to know Jesus,” and what He means when it was said: “My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me.”
The third step, he concluded, is “familiarity with the Word.”
“Always carry the Word with us, read it, open the heart to the Word, open the heart to the Spirit, which is what makes us understand the Word,” he encouraged, saying, “And the fruit of this being to receive the Word, to know the Word, to bring it to us, to this familiarity with the Word, is a great fruit: it is the fruit … the attitude of a person who does this is goodness, goodwill, joy, peace, self-mastery, mildness.”
This, the Holy Father highlighted, is the style that gives docility to the Spirit.
“But I must receive the Spirit that leads me to the Word with docility, and this docility, not to resist the Spirit, will lead me to this way of life, in this way of acting. To receive the Word with discretion, to know the Word, and to ask the Spirit for grace to make it known, and then to give space for this seed to sprout and grow in those attitudes of goodness, mildness, benevolence, peace, charity, mastery of self: all that does The Christian style.”
“There is the Spirit guiding us not to err, to receive the Spirit with docility, to know the Spirit in the Word and to live according to the Spirit,” Francis stressed, calling on faithful to ask themselves: Do we resist the Spirit? Or do we welcome him?
Pope Francis concluded, urging faithful to consider whether they welcome the Spirit with docility, and to pray for this grace.
