VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE   
   YEAR XXII - N° 67   
   DATE 09-04-2014   
      
   Summary:   
   - FRANCIS BEGINS A NEW SERIES OF CATECHESIS ON THE HOLY SPIRIT   
   - NEW APPEAL FOR PEACE IN SYRIA, AFTER THE DEATH OF A JESUIT PRIEST   
   - TELEGRAM FOR THE DEATH OF PATRIARCH EMERITUS OF BABYLON OF THE CHALDEANS   
   - THE POPE WILL CELEBRATE MASS ?IN CENA DOMINI? AT THE DON GNOCCHI FOUNDATION   
   - AUDIENCES   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    FRANCIS BEGINS A NEW SERIES OF CATECHESIS ON THE HOLY SPIRIT   
   Vatican City, 9 April 2014 (VIS) ? In today's general audience Pope Francis   
   began a series of catechesis dedicated to the Holy Spirit, which ?constitutes   
   the soul and the vital lymph of the Church and of every Christian?. The Holy   
   Spirit is ?God's quintessential gift?, and in turn ?communicates many   
   spiritual gifts to those who welcome it?. The Church identifies seven of   
   these, a number that symbolically indicates plenitude and completeness, and   
   these are invoked in the ancient prayer, the ?Sequence to the Holy Spirit?:   
   wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, piety, and fear of the Lord.   
   Today the Holy Father spoke about the first: wisdom. ?It is not simply human   
   wisdom, the fruit of knowledge and experience?. The wisdom the Holy Spirit   
   grants is ?the grace of being able to see things through God's eyes. It seeing   
   the world, situations? problems, everything, with the eyes of God. ? And   
   obviously this derives from intimacy with God ? from the relationship of a son   
   with his Father. ? When we are in communion with the Lord, it is through the   
   Holy Spirit that our heart transforms and we are able to perceive all its   
   warmth and predilection?.   
   The Holy Spirit endows the Christian with wisdom, but ?not, however, in the   
   sense of having an answer for everything, of knowing everything, but in the   
   sense of 'knowing' God ? of knowing how God acts, knowing when something is   
   God's and when it is not. ? The heart of the man who is wise in this way has   
   the taste, the flavour of God. ? We have the Holy Spirit inside us, in our   
   heart; we can listen to it, or we can choose not to listen to it. If we listen   
   to the Holy Spirit, He will teach us this way of wisdom, and will give us the   
   wisdom to see through God's eyes, to hear with God's ears, to love with the   
   heart of God,to judge with God's judgement. This is the wisdom that the Holy   
   Spirit gives us, and all of us can have this. We need only ask the Holy   
   Spirit?.   
   As an example of wisdom in daily life, the Pope gave the example of marriage;   
   if, after an argument, a married couple ?do not look at each other, or look at   
   each other without warmth: is this the wisdom of God? No! If, instead, they   
   say, ' the trouble has passed, let's make up' and begin again in peace ? this   
   is the gift of wisdom?.   
   ?We do not learn this?, he concluded; ?it is a gift from the Holy Spirit.   
   Therefore, we must ask the Lord Who gives us the Holy Spirit, Who gives us the   
   gift ? of that wisdom of God that teaches us to look through God's eyes, to   
   feel with God's heart, to speak with God's words. And so, with this wisdom, we   
   go ahead, we create a family, build a Church, and we are all sanctified. Let   
   us ask, today, for the grace of wisdom. Andlet us ask this of Our Lady, Seat   
   of Wisdom?.   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    NEW APPEAL FOR PEACE IN SYRIA, AFTER THE DEATH OF A JESUIT PRIEST   
   Vatican City, 9 April 2014 (VIS) ? ?Last Monday Fr. Frans van der Lugt, a   
   Dutch Jesuit brother aged 75, was assassinated in Syria. Fr. Van der Lugt had   
   always been good to all, acting with love and gratuity, and was therefore   
   loved and esteemed by both Christians and Muslims?, said Pope Francis, after   
   today's catechesis. ?His brutal killing filled me with profound sadness and   
   made me think once again of the many people who suffer and die in that   
   afflicted country, which has already been too long in the throes of a bloody   
   conflict that continues to spread death and destruction. I also think of the   
   many people kidnapped, both Christians and Muslims, Syrian and from other   
   countries, among whom there are bishops and priests. I ask the Lord that they   
   may soon return to their loved ones and to their families and communities?.   
   He continued, ?I fervently imploreall to join in my prayer for peace in Syria   
   and throughout the region, and make a heartfelt appeal to the Syrian   
   authorities and to the international community: set down your weapons and   
   bring an end to the violence! No more war! No more destruction! Respect human   
   rights, take care of your people who are in need of humanitarian assistance,   
   and pursue the longed-for peace through dialogue and reconciliation?.   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    TELEGRAM FOR THE DEATH OF PATRIARCH EMERITUS OF BABYLON OF THE CHALDEANS   
   Vatican City, 9 April 2014 (VIS) ? The Holy Father has sent a telegram of   
   condolences to the Patriarch of Babylon of the Chaldeans, His Beatitude Louis   
   Raphael I Sako, for the death of His Beatitude Cardinal Emmanuel III Delly,   
   patriarch emeritus of Babylon of the Chaldeans, at the age of 87.   
   In the text, the Pope conveys to ?the faithful of the Patriarchate, both in   
   Iraq and in the diaspora, my condolences and the assurance of my prayers? and   
   recalls ?with deep gratitude the late Patriarch?s dedication to his people and   
   to the promotion of respectful, just and peaceful relations with followers of   
   other religious traditions?.   
   Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin joins with the Pope in mourning the   
   passing of the patriarch emeritus and expresses his heartfelt condolences to   
   the Church of Iraq.   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    THE POPE WILL CELEBRATE MASS ?IN CENA DOMINI? AT THE DON GNOCCHI FOUNDATION   
   Vatican City, 9 April 2014 (VIS) ? The Holy See Press Office has announced   
   that on 17 April, Holy Thursday, the Holy Father will celebrate Mass ?in Cena   
   Domini? at the Don Carlo Gnocchi Fuondation at the St. Mary of Providence   
   Centre, Via Casal del Marmo 401, in the Casalotti-Boccea quarter of Rome.   
   Guests, staff and managers will participate in the ceremony, which will take   
   place in the church at the Centre. The Foundation, created by the Italian   
   priest and blessed Carlo Gnocchi, helps people affected by all forms of   
   disability.   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    AUDIENCES   
   Vatican City, 9 April 2014 (VIS) ? Today the Holy Father received in audience   
   Dr. Juan Carlos Parodi.   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
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