Homily for Pentecost Sunday: full text
(Vatican Radio) Here is the
full text of Pope Francis' homily for Pentecost Sunday 2016:
Pope Francis
Homily during Mass for
Pentecost Sunday
“I will not leave you
orphans” (Jn 14:18).
The central purpose of Jesus'
mission, which culminated in the gift of the Holy Spirit, was to renew our
relationship with the Father, a relationship severed by sin, to take us from
our state of being orphaned children and to restore us as his sons and daughters.
The Apostle Paul, writing to
the Christians in Rome, says: “For all who are led by the Spirit of God are
sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into
fear, but you have received the spirit of sonship, which enables us to cry out,
‘Abba, Father’” (Rom 8:14-15). Here we see our relationship renewed: the
paternity of God is re-established in us thanks to the redemptive work of
Christ and the gift of the Holy Spirit.
The Spirit is given to us by
the Father and leads us back to the Father. The entire work of salvation is one
of “re-generation”, in which the fatherhood of God, through the gift of the Son
and the Holy Spirit, frees us from the condition of being orphans into which we
had fallen. In our own day also, we see various signs of our being orphans: in
the interior loneliness which we feel even when we are surrounded by people, a
loneliness which can become an existential sadness; in the attempt to be free
of God, even if accompanied by a desire for his presence; in the all-too-common
spiritual illiteracy which renders us incapable of prayer; in the difficulty in
grasping the truth and reality of eternal life as that fullness of communion
which begins on earth and reaches full flower after death; in the effort to see
others as “brothers” and “sisters”, since we are children of the same Father;
and other such signs.
Being children of God runs
contrary to all this and is our primordial vocation. We were made to be God’s
children, it is in our DNA. But this filial relationship was ruined and
required the sacrifice of God’s only-begotten Son in order to be restored. From
the immense gift of love which is Jesus’ death on the cross, the Holy Spirit
has been poured out upon humanity like a vast torrent of grace. Those who by faith
are immersed into this mystery of regeneration are reborn to the fullness of
filial life.
“I will not leave you
orphans”. Today, on the feast of Pentecost, Jesus’ words remind us also of the
maternal presence of Mary in the Upper Room. The Mother of Jesus is with the
community of disciples gathered in prayer: she is the living remembrance of the
Son and the living invocation of the Holy Spirit. She is the Mother of the
Church. We entrust to her intercession, in a particular way, all Christians,
families and communities that at this moment are most in need of the Spirit,
the Paraclete, the Defender and Comforter, the Spirit of truth, freedom and
peace.
The Spirit, as Saint Paul
says, unites us to Christ: “Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does
not belong to him” (Rom 8:9). Strengthening our relationship of belonging to
the Lord Jesus, the Spirit enables us to enter into a new experience of
fraternity. By means of our universal Brother – Jesus – we can relate to one
another in a new way; no longer as orphans, but rather as children of the same
good and merciful Father. And this changes everything! We can see each other as
brothers and sisters whose differences can only increase our joy and wonder at
sharing in this unique fatherhood and brotherhood.
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