Pope Francis drew attention to the presence of the Holy Spirit in married life and the family in his general audience on Wednesday.
vatican city
On the occasion of his general audience on Wednesday, Pope Francis addressed all the faithful and pilgrims gathered in the courtyard of St. Peter’s Basilica, saying: Dear brothers and sisters, good morning.
In our last catechism we talked about the Holy Spirit in the Essence of the Dharma. The church’s brainstorming, however, was not limited to that brief statement of faith. It spread through the works of great priests and acharyas, both in the East and the West. Today we will specifically consider some doctrines about the Holy Spirit that have been developed in various ways in the Latin tradition to help us understand how he illuminates the entire Christian life and especially the sacrament of marriage.
doctrine of the holy spirit
The initiator of this doctrine is Saint Augustine, he developed the doctrine about the Holy Spirit. They begin with the revelation of the mystery that “God is love.” It refers to our need to love, to be loved and to the love itself that unites them. In the Trinitarian God, the Father who is the source of all things loves, God the Son (the Lover) is loved and the Holy Spirit is love which is the connective nature. In Christianity, God is “one” but he is not alone, we find unity and love in this God. In this context, some people declare that the Holy Spirit is the “third person” who is alone, but we do not find him in the “first person plural.” In other words, they are the basis of divinity in the Father and the Son, the means of unity in the different persons, the fundamental principle of the unity of the Church, which, in fact, is composed of many persons and constitutes “ one body.”
Marriage: surrender
Pope Francis said, as I said, today we will reflect especially on the Holy Spirit and what he does for our families. What can we say about the Holy Spirit in relation to marriage? Many things, probably very important things, and I will try to explain them. Christian marriage is a sacrament of self-giving, in which the man and the woman give themselves for each other. The Creator intended it to be this way: “When he created man in his own image… male and female he made them.” The human couple is, therefore, the first and most fundamental manifestation of the loving divine unity in which we find the Triune God.
“We” are important in married life
Pope Francis said couples should see themselves as “we.” They present themselves to each other and to the world as “I” and “you,” including children as “we.” Hearing a mother say: “Your Father and I…”, as Mary says to Jesus when she meets him in the temple at the age of twelve. Similarly, a father says, “Your mother and I” as if we were one. How important this parental unity is for their children and how much pain they experience due to its lack.
rebirth in the holy spirit
However, to live out this calling, marriage needs the support of the One who is the gift itself, indeed, the giver par excellence. The Holy Father said that where the Holy Spirit enters there is rebirth of self-giving. Some Fathers of the Latin Church have declared that it is an exchange of the gift of the Father with the Son in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit being the cause of the joy that prevails between them, and they are not afraid to talk about it, in married life. To express the relationship in some signs such as kisses and hugs.
The work of the Holy Spirit on the spiritual level
Such unity may not be natural today, but it is the truth of things as God created them and as such is in their nature. It is certainly easier for us to build a house on sand than on rock, but Jesus tells us the result of this. In this situation we don’t even need an example, because everyone is aware that the foundations of married life are buried in the sand and children have to suffer the consequences of it. Many children have to face heartbreak due to separation. In the case of many couples we can repeat what Mary said to Jesus at the wedding at Cana: “They have no wine left.” Although it is the Holy Spirit who constantly does his work on a spiritual level, in the miracle of Jesus we find the transformation of the use of water into the joy of mutual union. This is not a sacred illusion. The Holy Spirit does this in many marriages, especially when the couple considers calling on Him.
Therefore, it would not be a bad thing if, in addition to the legal, psychological and ethical information provided in the preparation of the bride and groom for marriage, this “spiritual” preparation was also more deeply emphasized. There is an Italian saying that goes: “Never put a finger between husband and wife, never interfere.” In fact, between husband and wife we must put a “finger”, “the finger of God”: the Holy Spirit.
