Theme of Pope’s general audience: ‘The fruit of the Spirit’
October 27, 2021
Continuing his Wednesday general audience series on St. Paul’s Letter to the Galatians, Pope Francis spoke on October 27 about the fruit of the Spirit.
Previous addresses in the series were entitled “Introduction to the Letter to the Galatians“ (June 23), “Paul, the true apostle“ (June 30), “There is just one Gospel“ (August 4), “The Mosaic Law“ (August 11), “The propaedeutic value of the Law“ (August 18), “The dangers of the Law“ (August 25), “Foolish Galatians“ (September 1), “We are children of God“ (September 8), “Life of faith“ (September 29), “Christ has set us free“ (October 6), “Christian freedom, universal leaven of liberation” (October 13), and “Freedom is realized in love“ (October 20).
“In our catechesis on Saint Paul’s Letter to the Galatians, we have seen that, for the Apostle, the heart of the Gospel is the proclamation of the mystery of Christ’s cross and its revelation of God’s reconciling love,” the Pope said, in the words of the official Vatican summary of his remarks. “By his passion, death and resurrection, Jesus has brought us redemption and new life through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Paul can thus say to the Galatians: ‘It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.’“
The summary continued:
Our prayerful contemplation of the crucified Lord, or our silent adoration before his Eucharistic presence, help[s] us to appreciate the grandeur of our call to share in the mystery of God’s own life and love.
The Christian life, lived in obedience to the promptings of the Spirit, includes what is traditionally called “spiritual combat”. We struggle to overcome what Paul calls “the works of the flesh”, in order to live in accordance with “the fruits of the Spirit”, which are “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control” (Gal 5:22).
In our spiritual lives, and in the life of our communities, we are called to cultivate these fruits as a witness to the new life and freedom we have received in Christ through the gift of his Holy Spirit.
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