Pope Francis 31 May 2017
General Audience (In anticipation of the celebration of Pentecost)
This “invincible hope” that the Holy Spirit gives us can also be shared with our brothers and sisters so that we may be “sowers of hope.
“It’s not Christian to sow bitterness and doubt,” the pope said in an impromptu remark. “Sow the oil of hope, sow the perfume of hope and not the vinegar of bitterness and despair.”
The pope quoted Cardinal John Henry Newman, who said that filled with this hope we can become “consolers in the image of the Paraclete… advocates, helpers and bringers of comfort to others.”
The poor, the marginalized, the unloved are the ones who need someone to be their consoler and defender the most, the pope said. This world we live in also needs the Holy Spirit and St. Paul wrote that it also “ardently awaits” the liberation.
Pope Francis compared the Holy Spirit to the wind that leads us “towards the safe harbour of eternal life” and called us to defend and care for creation.
“The Spirit is the wind pushing us forward, keeping us going,that makes us feel like pilgrims and foreigners and doesn’t allow us to get comfortable and become sedentary.
The pope said that hope is both an anchor (cf Heb 6:18–19) that keeps us safe in turbulent waves and a sail that allows us to glide above the water. Hope “collects the wind of the Spirit and transforms it into energy that pushes the boat toward the open sea or the shore,” he added.
St. Paul’s Letter to the Romans concludes by praying that “the God of hope” will make us “abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” The pope said that this hope is not only for the eternal life after death, but also for our life on earth.
“As long as there is life, there is hope,” Pope Francis said quoting a popular Italian saying. “The opposite is also true: As long as there is hope there is life. We need hope in order to live and we all need the Holy Spirit in order to hope.”