At the General Audience on Wednesday, Pope Francis reflected on the Holy Spirit’s evangelizing work and his role in the preaching of the Church.
Below is Pope Francis’ catechesis:
Dear brothers and sisters, good morning!
After having reflected on the sanctifying and charismatic action of the Spirit, we dedicate this catechesis to the evangelizing work of the Holy Spirit, that is, to his role in the preaching of the Church.
The First Letter of Peter defines the apostles as “those who proclaimed the Gospel through the Holy Spirit” (cf. 1:12). In this expression we find the two constitutive elements of Christian preaching: its content, which is the Gospel, and its medium, which is the Holy Spirit. Let us say something about each of them.
In the New Testament, the word “gospel” has two main meanings. It can refer to any of the four canonical Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and in this sense the Gospel means the good news proclaimed by Jesus during his earthly life. After Easter, the word “gospel” takes on the new meaning of good news about Jesus, that is, the Paschal Mystery of Christ’s death and resurrection. This is what the apostle calls “gospel” when he writes: “I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes” (Rom 1:16).
The preaching of Jesus, and later that of the apostles, also contains all the moral duties that flow from the Gospel, beginning with the Ten Commandments and ending with the “new” commandment of love. But if we do not want to fall back into the error denounced by the apostle Paul of putting law before grace and works before faith, we must always begin by proclaiming what Christ has done for us. That is why, in the apostolic exhortation Evangelii gaudium, I insisted so much on the first of the two, that is, on the kerygma or “announcement,” on which all moral application depends.
In fact, “in catechesis, the first proclamation or kerygma plays a fundamental role ; it must be at the centre of evangelising activity and of every attempt at ecclesial renewal. […] When this first proclamation is called ‘first’, this does not mean that it is at the beginning and is then forgotten or replaced by other contents that surpass it. It is the first in a qualitative sense, because it is the principal proclamation, the one that must always be heard again in different ways and the one that must always be proclaimed again in one way or another throughout catechesis, at all its stages and moments. […] We must not think that in catechesis the kerygma is abandoned in favour of a supposedly more ‘solid’ formation. There is nothing more solid, deeper, more certain, denser and wiser than this proclamation” (nn. 164-165).
So far we have seen the content of Christian preaching. However, we must also consider the means of proclamation. The Gospel must be preached “through the Holy Spirit” (1 Pet 1:12). The Church must do precisely what Jesus said at the beginning of his public ministry: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me; he has anointed me and sent me to preach the gospel to the poor” (Lk 4:18). Preaching with the anointing of the Holy Spirit means transmitting, along with ideas and doctrine, life and deep conviction. It means trusting not in “persuasive speeches of wisdom, but in the manifestation of the Spirit and his power” (1 Cor 2:4), as St. Paul wrote.
It is easy to say – one might object – but how can we put it into practice if it does not depend on us, but on the coming of the Holy Spirit? In reality, there is one thing that depends on us, or rather two, and I will mention them briefly. The first is prayer. The Holy Spirit comes upon those who pray, because the heavenly Father – it is written – “gives the Holy Spirit to those who ask him” (Lk 11:13), especially if they ask him to proclaim the Gospel of his Son. Woe to preaching without praying! One becomes what the Apostle calls “sounding brass and clanging cymbals” (cf. 1 Cor 13:1).
Therefore, the first thing that depends on us is to pray, so that the Holy Spirit may come. The second is not to preach ourselves, but Jesus the Lord (cf. 2 Cor 4:5). Often these sermons are long, 20 minutes or 30 minutes. Please, preachers must preach an idea, an affection, and an invitation to do. More than 8 minutes, the sermon disappears, it is not understood. And I say this to preachers. I see that you like to hear this, eh. Also many times we see men who, when the sermon begins, go outside to smoke a cigarette, and then come back in. Please, the sermon must be an idea, an affection and a proposal to do. And do not go beyond 10 minutes, no, never. This is very important.
There is no need to dwell on this, for anyone who is dedicated to evangelization knows well what it means in practice not to preach to ourselves. I will limit myself to a particular application of this requirement. Not wanting to preach to ourselves also implies not always giving priority to pastoral initiatives promoted by us and linked to our own name, but rather willingly collaborating, if asked, in community initiatives, or those entrusted to us out of obedience. May the Holy Spirit teach the Bride to preach the Gospel in this way to the men and women of today.