Dear sisters and brothers,

The Creator Spirit, whom we invoked in the hymn – Veni Creator Spiritus – is the Spirit who descended upon Jesus as the quiet driving force of his mission: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me” (Lk 4:18). When we ask the Spirit to enlighten our minds, to multiply our languages, to awaken our senses, to instill love, to strengthen our bodies and to grant us peace, we become open to God’s Kingdom. This is, according to the Gospel, the meaning of conversion. It is a “turning toward” the Kingdom already close at hand.

In Jesus we see, and from Jesus we hear, how everything changes because God is king, God is close to us. On this vigil of Pentecost, we are deeply aware of this closeness of God, of his Spirit who joins our lives to that of Jesus. We are caught up in the new things that God brings about, so that his desire for the fullness of life will prevail over the power of death.

“He has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord” (Lk 4:18-19). Here tonight, we sense the fragrance of the chrism with which our foreheads have been anointed. Dear brothers and sisters, Baptism and Confirmation united us to Jesus’ mission of making all things new, to the Kingdom of God. Just as love enables us to sense the presence of a loved one, so tonight we sense in one another the fragrance of Christ. This is a mystery; it amazes us and it leads us to reflect.

At Pentecost, Mary, the Apostles, and the disciples with them received a Spirit of unity, which forever grounded in the one Lord Jesus Christ all their diversity. Theirs were not multiple missions, but a single mission. They were no longer introverted and quarrelling with one another, but outgoing and radiant with joy. Saint Peter’s Square, with its wide-open and welcoming embrace, magnificently expresses the communion of the Church that each of you has experienced in your various associations and communities, many of which are the fruit of the Second Vatican Council.

On the evening of my election, moved as I looked out at the people of God gathered here, I spoke of “synodality,” a word that aptly expresses how the Spirit shapes the Church. That word begins with the Greek word syn – meaning “with” – which speaks of the secret of God’s life. God is not solitary. God, as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, is a “with” in himself, and God with us. At the same time, the word “synodality” speaks to us of a road ahead – hodós – for where there is the Spirit, there is movement, a journey to be made. We are a people on the move. This does not set us apart but unites us to humanity like the yeast in a mass of dough, which causes it to rise. The year of the Lord’s grace, reflected in the current Jubilee, has this fermentation within it. In a divided and troubled world, the Holy Spirit teaches us to walk together in unity. The earth will rest, justice will prevail, the poor will rejoice and peace will return, once we no longer act as predators but as pilgrims. No longer each of us for ourselves, but walking alongside one another. Not greedily exploiting this world, but cultivating it and protecting it, as the Encyclical Laudato Si’ has taught us.

Dear friends, God created the world so that we might all live as one. “Synodality” is the ecclesial name for this. It demands that we each recognize our own poverty and our riches, that we feel part of a greater whole, apart from which everything withers, even the most original and unique of charisms. Think about it. All creation exists solely in the form of coexistence, sometimes dangerous, yet always interconnected (cf. Laudato Si’, 16; 117). And what we call “history” only takes place as coexistence, living together, however contentiously, but always together. The opposite is lethal, but sadly, we are witnessing this daily. May your meetings and your communities, then, be training grounds of fraternity and sharing, not merely meeting places, but centres of spirituality. The Spirit of Jesus changes the world because he changes hearts. The Spirit inspires the contemplative dimension of life that rejects self-assertion, complaining, rivalry and the temptation to control consciences and resources. The Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom (cf. 2 Cor 3:17). An authentic spirituality thus commits us to integral human development, to making Jesus’ words a reality in our lives. When this happens, there is always joy: joy and hope.

Evangelization, dear brothers and sisters, is not our attempt to conquer the world, but the infinite grace that radiates from lives transformed by the Kingdom of God. It is the way of the Beatitudes, a path that we tread together, between the “already” and the “not yet,” hungering and thirsting for justice, poor in spirit, merciful, meek, pure of heart, men and women of peace. Jesus himself chose this path: to follow it, we have no need of powerful patrons, worldly compromises, or emotional strategies. Evangelization is always God’s work. If at times it takes place through us, it is thanks to the bonds that it makes possible. So be deeply attached to each of the particular Churches and parish communities in which you cultivate and exercise your charisms. Together with the bishops and in cooperation with all the other members of the Body of Christ, all of us will then work together harmoniously as one. The challenges facing humanity will be less frightening, the future will be less dark and discernment will be less complicated… if together we obey the Holy Spirit!

May Mary, Queen of the Apostles and Mother of the Church, intercede for us.