VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE   
   YEAR XXIV - # 83   
   DATE 07-05-2014   
      
   Summary:   
   - GENERAL AUDIENCE: THE GIFT OF COUNSEL   
   - MAY, MONTH OF THE ROSARY   
   - CARDINAL BALDISSERI TO TAKE POSSESSION OF HIS DIACONATE   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    GENERAL AUDIENCE: THE GIFT OF COUNSEL   
    Vatican City, 7 May 2014 (VIS) - Counsel, that gift by which the Holy Spirit   
   enables us to make concrete decisions according to the logic of Jesus and the   
   Gospel was the theme of Pope Francis' catechesis during this Wednesday's   
   general audience.   
    The Holy Spirit "helps us to grow positively both inwardly and in the   
   community, and helps us not to fall prey to selfishness or to our way of   
   seeing things". "The essential condition for conserving this gift is prayer",   
   said the Holy Father, explaining that "we can all say the prayers we learnt as   
   children, but we can also approach God in our own words: Lord, help me, advise   
   me. What should I do now? And with prayer, we make space for the Holy Spirit   
   to come and help us in this moment, to advise us on what we should do. We must   
   never forget to pray. No-one knows if we pray on the bus or walking along the   
   street: we can pray in silence. Let us take advantage of these moments to pray   
   ... so that the Holy Spirit may grant us the gift of counsel".   
    In our intimacy with God, and listening His Word, we gradually leave aside   
   our personal logic ... and within us there matures a profound harmony with the   
   Lord which leads us, in turn, to ask ourselves what His will is. It is the   
   Spirit who advises us, but we must make space for this to happen. It is   
   necessary to give space and pray to so that [the Holy Spirit] may always help   
   us".   
    And, like the other gifts of the Holy Spirit, counsel is "a treasure for the   
   entire Christian community", since the Lord does not speak to us only in the   
   intimacy of the heart, but also through the voice and the witness of our   
   brothers ... who help us to shed light on our lives and to recognise the   
   Lord's will". In this respect, Francis mentioned that once, in the Argentine   
   diocese of Lujan, a young man with "tattoos and earrings and all those things"   
   recounted a very serious situation to him in confession, and said that his   
   mother had advised him to turn to the Virgin Mary. "She was a woman with the   
   gift of counsel. This mother did not know how to solve her son's problem but   
   she indicated a sure path to him. ... And effectively the boy said to me that:   
   'I looked to Our Lady and I felt that I should do this, this and this...'. And   
   I didn't have to speak", he recalled, "as the mother and the boy himself had   
   already said everything. This is the gift of counsel. You, mothers who have   
   this gift, ask for it for your children. Being able to give advice to one's   
   children is a gift from God".   
    The Holy Father concluded by citing Psalm 16, which says: "I will praise the   
   Lord, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me. I keep my eyes   
   always on the Lord. With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken". "May the   
   Spirit always instil in our hearts that certainty, and in this way fill us   
   with peace, and may we always ask for the gift of counsel!".   
      
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    MAY, MONTH OF THE ROSARY   
    Vatican City, 7 May 2014 (VIS) - At the end of today's general audience, in   
   the greetings in different languages, the Pope addressed in German the   
   relatives and friends of the new Swiss Guards who yesterday swore their   
   allegiance and assured them that "the Holy Spirit will drive out all fear". He   
   went on to speak about the World Youth Day to be celebrated in Poland in 2016.   
   "Let us begin our path towards the meeting in Poland", he said; "Let us walk   
   together, united in love and prayer, following St. John Paul II's invitation   
   to be always young in the Holy Spirit".   
    In Italian, he greeted the Red Cross volunteers who are celebrating 150 years   
   since the foundation of this organisation; the families of the young people of   
   the San Patrignano House, to whom he confirmed his support "against any type   
   of drug abuse", and the Italian Confcommercio Ascom Group from Padua, to whom   
   he gave encouragement in this moment of economic difficulty.   
    The Pontiff also invited pilgrims to visit the tombs of the apostles so that   
   "there might grow the Paschal joy of the Resurrection, which is also made   
   manifest in certain charitable works".Tomorrow, Thursday, the Church will   
   recite the Supplication to Our Lady of Pompeii, the Blessed Virgin Mary of the   
   Holy Rosary, and Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin will be present.   
   Therefore, he urged the faithful to invoke Mary's intercession "so that the   
   Lord may grant mercy and peace to the Church and to all the world", and   
   encouraged them to take special care to pray the rosary during this month of   
   May.   
      
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    CARDINAL BALDISSERI TO TAKE POSSESSION OF HIS DIACONATE   
    Vatican City, 7 May 2014 (VIS) - The Office of Liturgical Celebrations of the   
   Supreme Pontiff today announced that this coming Sunday, 11 May, at 10:30   
   a.m., Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri, secretary general of the Synod of Bishops,   
   will take possession of the diaconate of Sant'Anselmo all'Aventino, Piazza dei   
   Cavalieri di Malta, 5.   
      
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   For more information and to search for documents refer to the site:   
   www.visnews.org and www.vatican.va   
      
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