Pope, at general audience, reflects on the Holy Spirit and Scripture

June 12, 2024

At his June 12 general audience, held in St. Peter’s Square, Pope Francis reflected on the Holy Spirit and Sacred Scripture, in the third talk in a series of Wednesday general audiences devoted to the theme of “The Spirit and the Bride: The Holy Spirit guides the people of God towards Jesus our hope.”

In an extemporaneous aside, not included in the official transcript of the address, the Pope also cautioned priests against lengthy homilies. He said that a homily “should not go beyond eight minutes because after that you lose attention and people fall asleep.”

“Today, in our continuing catechesis on the Holy Spirit and the Bride, we reflect on the action of the Holy Spirit in Divine Revelation, specifically in Sacred Scripture,” the Pontiff stated, in the words of the Vatican’s summary of his remarks. “God, who inspired Scripture, in turn inspires the Church, the Bride of Christ, through his holy word, making of her its authoritative interpreter.”

The summary continued:

The Spirit also communicates with us personally within this ecclesial reality, whether through lectio divina, which is a meditative reading of a Scripture passage, or above all, in the Liturgy. In whatever the setting, there is always one word that is meant especially for us.

Like a musical composition, Sacred Scripture carries throughout an underlying theme, which Saint Augustine and Saint Gregory the Great call God’s love. May we “learn to know the heart of God through the words of God” and allow them to breathe that love into our daily lives.

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Previous audiences in series:

• The Spirit of God was hovering over the waters (May 29, 2024)
• “The wind blows where it wishes”: Where there is the Spirit of God, there is freedom (June 5, 2024)

 

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Further information:

• General Audience (June 12, 2024)