Pope Francis celebrated Pentecost Mass inside St. Peter's Basilica. In keeping with the still-standing safety restrictions, the few people present wore face masks and sat a good distance apart from one another.
Despite this physical separation, Pope Francis during his homily spoke of the intrinsic unity of all men and women, saying there is “union in diversity.” He invited the faithful to see the Church with the eyes of the Holy Spirit, not with the eyes of the world.
POPE FRANCIS
The world sees conservatives and progressives; the Spirit sees children of God. A worldly gaze sees structures to be made more efficient; a spiritual gaze sees brothers and sisters pleading for mercy. The Spirit loves us and knows everyone’s place in the grand scheme of things.
Pope Francis also explained that a Christian's way of living out the faith depends on his or her perception of God.
POPE FRANCIS
If we have in mind a God who takes away and who imposes Himself, we too will want to take away and impose ourselves: occupying spaces, demanding recognition, seeking power. But if we have in our hearts a God who is gift, everything changes.
He warned against three things that destroy the gift of the Spirit: narcissism, victimhood and pessimism.
POPE FRANCIS
In this time of pandemic, how wrong narcissism is: the tendency to think only of our own needs, to be indifferent to those of others, and not to admit our own frailties and mistakes.
That's why on this solemnity marking the end of the Easter season, Pope Francis invited Christians to ask the Holy Spirit for “the courage to go out of [themselves], to love and help each other.”
CT
