In a video message released on the eve of Pentecost, May 30, Pope Francis urged Catholics to seize the opportunity for change presented by the pandemic.
“Our suffering during the coronavirus crisis will have been in vain if we fail to build a more just, more equitable, more Christian society.”
The pope said, everything will be different after coronavirus crisis.
“When we come out of this pandemic, we will no longer be able to do what we have been doing, and how we have been doing it.”
Pope Francis emphasized that if we do not come out and work together to end the pandemic of poverty in the world, in the city where each of us lives, this time of suffering would be useless.
The pope made the comments in a message to members of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal International Service (CHARIS).
He told CHARIS members who were taking part in an online Pentecost vigil, “Today more than ever we need the Father to send us the Holy Spirit.”
The world is suffering, the pope said, and it needs the witness of Catholics to the Gospel of Jesus, which can only be given through the power of the Holy Spirit.
“We need the Spirit to give us new eyes, open our minds and hearts to face this moment and the future with the lesson we have learned – We are one humanity, we are not saved alone,” the pope explained speaking in his native Spanish.
He added that we have before us “the duty to build a new reality,” that the Lord will do it and we can collaborate.
He continued,
“From the great trials of humanity, and among them the pandemic, one comes out either better or worse. It is not the same. I ask you: How do you want to come out? Better or worse? And that’s why today we open ourselves up to the Holy Spirit so that He may change our hearts and help us to come out better.”
The Pope urged members of CHARIS to be guided by a text called by the Belgian Cardinal Leo Joseph Suenens and the Brazilian Archbishop Hélder Câmara.
He also encouraged them to reflect on the prophetic words of St. John XXIII announcing the Second Vatican Council, in which he spoke of a “new Pentecost.”
Pope Francis concluded,
“To all of you, I wish on this vigil the consolation of the Holy Spirit. And the strength of the Holy Spirit to come out of this moment of pain, sadness and trial that is the pandemic; to come out better. May the Lord bless you and may the Virgin Mother take care of you.”
Source: Catholic News Agency