Here’s something interesting from the Pro-Life Action League: “On Friday, June 28, small teams of pro-life volunteers will take up stations on highway overpasses in 50 cities throughout the United States for the second annual National Pro-Life Bridges Day. These volunteers will display banners declaring “Abortion takes a human life” to commuters in both directions of highway traffic during rush hour. Over one million highway commuters are expected to be reached with this pro-life message.”
PENTECOST: THE CHURCH WAS BORN FROM THE FIRE OF GOD’S LOVE
Thousands of pilgrims flocked to St. Peter’s Square Wednesday morning for the traditional weekly general audience held by Pope Francis. As is also customary at these audiences, people arrived very early to go through the long security lines. The audience today began at 9 am, a half hour earlier than usual, given the very hot temperatures of recent days.
The Holy Father continued his catechesis on the Acts of the Apostles, noting that, “we now turn to the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles gathered in prayer with Mary, the Mother of Jesus, in the Upper Room.”
He said that, “On the day of Pentecost, the Spirit came, in fulfillment of Christ’s promise, accompanied by violent wind and tongues of fire. These signs evoke God’s majestic self-manifestation to Moses in the burning bush and the giving of the Law on Mount Sinai.”
“The Church was thus born from the fire of God’s love and the power of his word,” exclaimed Francis. “Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, immediately inaugurates the Church’s mission of evangelization, proclaiming the Risen Jesus before the crowds and calling them to faith and conversion.”
The Holy Father then described the Holy Spirit as “the creator of communion, the artist of reconciliation who knows how to remove barriers between Jews and Greeks, slaves and freedmen.”
He explained that the Holy Spirit “makes the Church grow by helping it to go beyond human limitations, sins and scandals. Only the Spirit of God has the power to humanize” and to create connections, “beginning with those who receive Him.”
Francis went on to say that, “the outpouring of the Spirit at Pentecost reveals that the heart of the new and eternal Covenant is no longer the written word of the Law, but the living presence of the Spirit, who renews all creation, dwells in our hearts, builds unity from diversity, and everywhere brings about reconciliation and communion.
“May the same Spirit,” he said in conclusion, “lead us to experience a new Pentecost and to become joyful and convincing witnesses to the Risen Christ in our world.”
(Click here to see video of Pope arriving in St. Peter’s Square and to listen to the catechesis: https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope-francis/papal-audience/2019-06/video-pope-francis-general-audience-19-june-2019.html#play
Joan's Rome 