Pope Francis: Wisdom is born out of intimacy with God

by FLL Editorial Team
2014-04-09

(CNA/EWTN News) During his general audience on April 9, Pope Francis began a new catechesis on the gifts of the Holy Spirit, drawing specific attention to wisdom and noting that it illuminates our actions and draws us closer to God.

Observing how “The Spirit is himself the ‘gift of God,$0"2$ the Pope emphasized that he is also “the presence of God's love in the Church and in our hearts.”

“Based on a messianic prophecy of Isaiah, the Church has traditionally distinguished seven gifts of the Spirit: wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety and fear of the Lord,” he continued, noting that “the first of these is wisdom.”

Highlighting how “This is not the fruit of knowledge and human experience,” the Roman Pontiff explained that it “consists of an interior light that only the Holy Spirit can give and that enables us to recognize the imprint of God in our lives and history.”

It is a grace, he said, “enabling us to contemplate all things with the eyes of God and a heart docile to the promptings of the Spirit.”

Born out of “intimacy with God” and a closeness to him “in prayer and loving communion,” this gift “makes a Christian contemplative” and “helps us to recognize with joyful gratitude his providential plan for all things,” the Pope went on to say.

“Everything speaks of God and everything is seen as a sign of his love and a reason to give thanks.”

“How much our world needs the witness of such wisdom today!” the pontiff expressed, insisting that “What is important is that our communities have Christians that, docile to the Holy Spirit, have experienced the things of God and communicated his tenderness and love to others.”

“Let us pray for this gift,” the Pope concluded, “so that, rejoicing in the Holy Spirit, we can be true men and women of God, transparently open to his own wisdom and the power of his saving love.”

Read full text: Our lives should have the flavor of the Gospel, Pope observes

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