When you have an important decision to make, and not only then, open your heart to the Holy Spirit.
According to Vatican Radio, Pope Francis gave this recommendation during his daily morning Mass at Casa Santa Marta, saying we should constantly be engaged with Him, Who can move our hearts and inspire us.
With Pentecost Sunday approaching, the Holy Father reminded faithful of the Church’s prayer that the Holy Spirit enters into our hearts, parishes and communities.
Today’s first reading, the Jesuit Pope pointed out, could be called “the Pentecost of Ephesus” because the community in Ephesus, even though having received the faith, wasn’t aware of the Holy Spirit’s existence.
“They were good people, people of faith” the Pope said, «but they were not aware of this gift of the Father.»
Francis then reminded those gathered of the instances in the Gospels when the Holy Spirit moves hearts, such as many people who are moved to approach Jesus, including Nicodemus, the woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years, the Samaritan, and the sinners.
Can You Hear?
«What place does the Holy Spirit have in my life?,» the Pope called on all faithful to consider.
«Am I able to hear it? Am I able to ask for inspiration before making a decision or doing something? Or is my heart quiet, lacking in emotion and turmoil? … [If] an ECG [were] performed on some hearts, the result would be a flat line – totally lacking in emotion.”
Even in the Gospels, he lamented, there are “still” hearts. “We think of the doctors of the law, they believed in God, they knew all the commandments, but their hearts were closed, they were ‘still,’ they were not ‘disturbed.’”
«Let yourselves be “disturbed,”the Pope urged, «that is to ask the Holy Spirit to help them discern and not to have an ‘ideological faith.’”
Let Yourself Be ‘Disturbed’
«Let yourself be disturbed by the Holy Spirit.»
«‘Eh, I felt this… But Father, isn’t that being sentimental?’ – ‘No, it may be, but no.’ If you’re on the right track,» Francis explained, «you’re not being sentimental. You must be able to feel the urge to go and to visit that sick person or change your life.»
The master of discernment, the Pope reminded, is the Holy Spirit.
«A person who does not have this kind of turmoil in his or her heart does not discern what is happening; he or she “is a person who has a cold faith, an ideological faith.”
The “drama” of the doctors of the law who were angry with Jesus, he noted, derived from the fact that their hearts were closed to the Holy Spirit.
Ask for Guidance
“Ask the Holy Spirit to guide you on the path of life and of everyday life. Ask the Holy Spirit to give you the grace to distinguish good from less good, because it is easy to distinguish good from evil,” he encouraged.
Urging the faithful to look into their hearts and open them to the Holy Spirit, Pope Francis concluded, saying: “Let us too ask for the grace of being able to hear what the Spirit says to our Church, to our community, to our parish, to our family, and for the grace to learn the language with which to understand.”
