Holy Spirit guides faithful to be synodal, correct others, cardinal says

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The faithful will know how to avoid being swayed by worldly standards and concerns when they believe and trust more deeply that Jesus and the Holy Spirit will always help and guide them, Cardinal Carlos Aguiar Retes of Mexico City told participants at the Synod of Bishops.

Humanity's "selfish disorder is the cause of evil actions. But how can this tendency be overcome? By learning to let ourselves be guided by the Holy Spirit," by getting to know Jesus Christ and by living daily "the testimony of his life and teachings," he said in his homily during a Mass in St. Peter's Basilica with synod participants Oct. 16.

By following the Spirit, the faithful will obtain the gifts of "love, joy, peace, generosity, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control," the cardinal said.

The faithful will also acquire, "as Jesus puts it in the Gospel, the freedom to intervene and correct those who have gone astray, the misguided or the pretentious, who hold themselves up as models for others or make requirements that they themselves do not uphold," he said.

It is opportune, the cardinal said, "to strengthen our confidence in divine help so that we may face with hope the different presences and behaviors, that, both inside and outside the church, criticize and hinder the application of the synodal life in our ecclesial communities," he told the participants, who are attending the second session of the synod on synodality Oct. 2-27.

In fact, he added, it is worth asking "how committed we are to living and promoting synodality in our own areas of ecclesial and social responsibility."

"Let us not waver, brothers and sisters, let us act coherently, and we will obtain the fruits of the Holy Spirit," he said. Through obedience to the Spirit's call, the faithful will perceive "the divine intervention, which will often surprise us, achieving much more than what we humanly expected."

By learning to recognize divine assistance as one carries out one's own daily responsibilities, the faithful will also be able to "recognize the benefits of the Holy Spirit in others and to encourage the members of our communities, in the face of the usual difficulties, as good disciples, not to lose heart along the way," Cardinal Aguiar said.

"We will also gain the spiritual freedom to intervene through fraternal correction, solidarity and earnest help for our neighbors in need," he said, and "we will develop as people who trust in the Lord Jesus, who know how to avoid being guided by worldly criteria, and we will be happy."

"May we all experience the joy and happiness of always trusting in the Lord Jesus, the way, the truth and the life," he said.