Pope Francis dedicated his catechesis to the General Audience this Wednesday to reflect on the fruits of the Holy Spirit.
Below is Pope Francis’ catechesis:
Dear brothers and sisters, good morning!
After having spoken of sanctifying grace and of the charisms, I would like to dwell today on a third reality linked to the action of the Holy Spirit: the “fruits of the Spirit.” A strange thing… what are the fruits of the Spirit? St. Paul gives a list of these in his Letter to the Galatians. He writes, “Be careful: the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy and peace, kindness, gentleness, goodness and trust, meekness and self-control” (5:22). These are the fruits of the Spirit, but what are they?
Unlike the charisms, which the Spirit grants to whomever he wants and whenever he wants for the good of the Church, the fruits of the Spirit, I repeat: love, joy and peace, magnanimity, affability, goodness and trust, gentleness and temperance are the result of a collaboration between grace and freedom. These fruits always express the creativity of the person, in whom “faith works through love” ( Gal 5:6), sometimes in a surprising and joyful way. Not everyone in the Church can be an apostle, a prophet, an evangelist; but everyone can and should be charitable, patient, humble, peacemakers, etc. We should all be charitable, patient, humble, peacemakers and not warmakers.
Among the fruits of the Spirit mentioned by the Apostle, I would like to highlight one of them, recalling the opening words of the Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium : “The joy of the Gospel fills the hearts and lives of all who encounter Jesus. Those who allow themselves to be saved by him are freed from sin, from sadness, from inner emptiness, from isolation. With Jesus Christ, joy is always born and reborn” (n. 1). Sometimes there will be sad moments, but there is always peace. With Jesus there is joy and peace.
Joy, the fruit of the Spirit, has in common with every other human joy a certain feeling of plenitude and satisfaction, which makes us wish it would last forever. However, we know from experience that this does not happen, because everything here on earth passes quickly. Let us think together: youth, health, strength, well-being, friendships, love… last 100 years, but no more. On the other hand, even if these things do not pass quickly, after a time they are no longer enough, or even become boring, because, as St. Augustine said to God: “You made us, Lord, for yourself, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.” There is the restlessness of the heart, to seek beauty, peace, love, joy.
Evangelical joy, unlike any other joy, can be renewed every day and become contagious. “It is only through this encounter – or re-encounter – with the love of God, which becomes a happy friendship, that we are rescued from our isolated conscience and self-referentiality. […] Therein lies the source of evangelizing action. For if someone has welcomed this love which gives him back the meaning of life, how can he contain the desire to communicate it to others?” ( Evangelii Gaudium , 8). This is the double characteristic of the joy which is the fruit of the Spirit: not only is it not subject to the inevitable wear and tear of time, but it is multiplied by sharing it with others! A true joy is shared with others, it is contagious.
Five centuries ago, there lived in Rome a saint named Philip Neri. He went down in history as the saint of joy. Listen carefully to this, the saint of joy. He would say to the poor and abandoned children of his Oratory: “Children, be joyful. I do not want scruples or melancholy; it is enough for me that you do not sin.” And again: “Be good, if you can!” Less well known, however, is the source from which his joy came. Saint Philip Neri felt such love for God that at times it seemed as if his heart would burst from his chest. His joy was, in the fullest sense, a fruit of the Spirit.
The saint participated in the Jubilee of 1575, which he enriched with the practice, which was maintained later, of visiting the Seven Churches. He was, in his time, a true evangelizer through joy. And he had this characteristic of Jesus, who always forgave, forgave a lot. Perhaps some of us may think: “I have committed this sin, it will not be forgiven.” Listen carefully to this: God forgives everything, God always forgives. And this is the joy, to be forgiven by God. To priests, to confessors, I always say: forgive everything, do not command too much. Forgive everything and always.
The word “gospel” means good news. Therefore, it cannot be communicated with long faces and gloomy faces, but with the joy of one who has found the hidden treasure and the precious pearl. Let us recall the exhortation that St. Paul addressed to the believers of the Church of Philippi, and which he now addresses to us: “Rejoice in the Lord always, and I repeat, rejoice, and show everyone a very open spirit. The Lord is near” ( Phil 4:4-5). Dear brothers and sisters, be joyful, with the joy of Jesus in our hearts.