During his Thursday morning Mass, Pope Francis explained that Jesus left his disciples three words before going to Heaven: peace, love and joy. He then added that only the Holy Spirit grants them.
POPE FRANCIS
'The great forgotten in our lives! I would like to ask you, but I will not, eh, to ask you: how many of you pray to the Holy Spirit? Don't raise your hands... He is the great forgotten, the great forgotten. And He is the gift, the gift that gives us peace, that teaches us to love and fills us with joy.â?
The Pope concluded that joy is 'the seal of a Christian, even in pain, tribulations and during persecutions,â? and recalled that 'a Christian without joy is either not a Christian or is sick.â?
EXCEPRT OF THE POPE'S HOMILY
Source: Vatican Radio
'The Christian vocation is this: to remain in the love of God, that is, to breathe, to live of that oxygen, to live of that air. Remain in the love of God. And with this He encapsulates the depth of His discourse on love and moves on. And what is His love like? 'As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you'. It is a love that comes from the Father. The loving relationship between Him and the Father is also a relationship of love between Him and us. He asks us to remain in this love, which comes from the Father'.
'Joy, which is like the sign of a Christian. A Christian without joy is either not a Christian or he is sick. There's no other type! He is not doing well health-wise! A healthy Christian is a joyful Christian. I once said that there are Christians with faces like pickled peppers [sour faces â?? ed] ... Always with these [long] faces! Some souls are also like this, this is bad! These are not Christians. A Christian without joy is not Christian. Joy is like the seal of a Christian. Even in pain, tribulations, even in persecutions'.
'The great forgotten in our lives! I would like to ask you - but I will not, eh! - To ask you: how many of you pray to the Holy Spirit? Don't raise your hand ... He is the great forgotten, the great forgotten! And He is the gift, the gift that gives us peace, that teaches us to love and fills us with joy. In prayer we asked the Lord: 'Guard your gift'. We asked for the grace that the Lord guard the Holy Spirit in us. May the Lord give us this grace to always guard the Holy Spirit in us, the Spirit who teaches us to love, fills us with joy, and gives us peace'.
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