Vatican City, 31 October 2014 (VIS) –
“Seek the unity which is the work of the Holy Spirit and do not be
afraid of diversity”, said Pope Francis in his address to a
thousand members of the Catholic Fraternity of the Charismatic
Covenant Communities and Fellowship, who are about to begin their
Sixteenth International Conference on the theme “Praise and Worship
for a New Evangelisation”.
“Unity does not imply uniformity; it
does not necessarily mean doing everything together or thinking in
the same way”, he underlined. “Nor does it signify a loss of
identity. Unity in diversity is actually the opposite: it involves
the joyful recognition and acceptance of the various gifts which the
Holy Spirit gives to each one and the placing of these gifts at the
service of all members of the Church. It means knowing how to listen,
to accept differences, and having the freedom to think differently
and express oneself with complete respect towards the other who is my
brother or sister. Do not be afraid of differences!”.
Referring to the programme, where the
names of the Communities are mentioned, he noted that in the
introduction there is the phrase, “to share the Baptism in the Holy
Spirit with the whole Church”, and reiterated that the Church and
all Christians need to open their hearts to the sanctifying action of
the Holy Spirit. “The Spirit ... reveals Jesus Christ to us, and
leads us to a personal encounter with him. … Is this your
experience? Share it with others! In order to share this experience,
you must live it and bear witness to it!”
“Praise is the 'breath' which gives
us life, because it is intimacy with God, an intimacy that grows
through daily praise”, continued the Holy Father, explaining how
spiritual life “works” by analogy with human respiration.
“Breathing is made up of two stages: inhaling, the intake of air,
and exhaling, the letting out of this air. The spiritual life is fed,
nourished, by prayer and is expressed outwardly through mission:
inhaling and exhaling. When we inhale, by prayer, we receive the
fresh air of the Holy Spirit. When exhaling this air, we announce
Jesus Christ risen by the same Spirit. No one can live without
breathing. It is the same for the Christian: without praise and
mission there is no Christian life. And with praise, worship. We
rarely speak about worship. What do we do when we pray? We ask things
of God, we give thanks … But worshipping and adoring God is part of
breathing – praise and worship”.
The Pope emphasised that “Charismatic
Renewal has reminded the Church of the necessity and importance of
the prayer of praise”, which is “the recognition of the Lordship
of God over us and over all creation expressed through dance, music
and song. … The prayer of praise bears fruit in us. Sarah danced as
she celebrated her fertility – at the age of ninety! This
fruitfulness gives praise to God. … Together with the prayer of
praise, the prayer of intercession is, in these days, a cry to the
Father for our Christian brothers and sisters who are persecuted and
murdered, and for the cause of peace in our turbulent world”.
“Charismatic Renewal is, by its very
nature, ecumenical”, he remarked, citing the words of Blessed
Paul VI : “The power of evangelisation will find itself
considerably diminished if those who proclaim the Gospel are divided
among themselves in all sorts of ways. Is this not perhaps one of the
great sicknesses of evangelisation today? The Lord’s spiritual
testament tells us that unity among his followers is not only the
proof that we are his but also the proof that he is sent by the
Father. It is the test of the credibility of Christians and of Christ
himself. Yes, the destiny of evangelisation is certainly bound up
with the witness of unity given by the Church'”.
Spiritual ecumenism, he concluded, is
“praying and proclaiming together that Jesus is Lord, and coming
together to help the poor in all their poverty. We must not forget
that today the blood of Jesus, poured out by many Christian martyrs
in various parts of the world, calls us and compels us towards the
goal of unity. For persecutors, we are not divided: we are not
Lutherans, Orthodox, Evangelicals, Catholics. No! We are one. For
persecutors, we are Christians. It is an ecumenism of blood that we
live today!”.
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