“I do not know your face … but I know that you are the strength, that you are the light”On March 17, Pope Francis wrapped up his catechesis sessions on the Trinity in prayer, dedicating his reflection to the Holy Spirit.
Within his address, he voiced two prayers to the Holy Spirit, offering guidance for how to ask for the help we need to pray.
Come, come Holy Spirit, warm my heart. Come and teach me to pray, teach me to look to the Father, to look to the Son. Teach me the path of faith. Teach me how to love and, above all, teach me to have an attitude of hope.
He also prayed:
Holy Spirit, I do not know your face – we do not know it – but I know that you are the strength, that you are the light, that you are able to make me go forth, and to teach me how to pray. Come, Holy Spirit.
“This,” he said, “is a beautiful prayer: ‘Come, Holy Spirit.'”
The pope said that our first task as Christians is to keep the flame of the Spirit alive in our hearts:
The first task of Christians is precisely to keep alive this flame that Jesus brought to the earth (see Lk 12:49), and what is this flame? It is love, the Love of God, the Holy Spirit. Without the fire of the Spirit, His prophecies are extinguished, sorrow supplants joy, routine substitutes love, and service turns into slavery.
The image of the lighted lamp next to the Tabernacle, where the Eucharist is reserved, comes to mind. Even when the church empties and evening falls, even when the church is closed, that lamp remains lit, and continues to burn; no one sees it, yet it burns before the Lord.
This is how the Spirit is in our heart, always present like that lamp.
Read the whole text here.
Read more:
Pope Francis: Hey Christians, the Holy Spirit is more than a dove
