Pope Francis: Gift of Counsel helps us overcome self-centredness

(CNA/EWTN News) During his General Audience on Wednesday May 7, Pope Francis reflected on the Holy Spirit's gift of counsel, explaining that through it we learn to be docile to the Lord rather than attached to our own ideas.

“It illuminates our heart and makes us more sensitive to the voice of the Spirit, so that we do not get carried away in our thoughts, feelings and intentions by selfishness or our own way of looking at things, but by the will of God,” the Pope observed.

Counsel "is the gift with which the Holy Spirit helps us to make decisions in our concrete lives, following the logic of Jesus and his Gospel” he noted, adding that through it “God enlightens our hearts and directs our thoughts, words and actions in accordance with his saving will.”

In leading us toward Jesus, and through him to God the Father, “the Holy Spirit guides us in our daily interaction with others and enables us to make right decisions in the light of faith” the Pope continued.

By the gift of counsel we “grow in the virtue of prudence, learning to overcome our self-centeredness and to see all things with the eyes of Christ,” the Bishop of Rome stated, and at the same time it “leads us to conform more and more to Jesus, as a model of our actions and our relation with God, and with our brothers.”

“What can we do to be more docile to this gift of Counsel?” he asked, observing that “the essential condition is prayer.”

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