Holy Spirit is God's gift to help faithful pray, persevere, pope says

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The Holy Spirit helps the faithful understand that praying to God is praying to a loving and merciful father, Pope Francis said.

"The Holy Spirit comes to aid us in our weakness" and "testifies to us that we are children of God," the pope said Nov. 6 at his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square.

"We cannot say, 'Father, Abba,' without the strength of the Holy Spirit. Christian prayer is not a person at one end of the telephone, speaking to God on the other; no, it is God who prays in us! We pray to God through God," he said.

Continuing a series of audience talks about the Holy Spirit in the life of the church, the pope spoke about the role of the Spirit in prayer and how Jesus taught his followers to pray for the gift of the Spirit, who dwells in the hearts of the faithful.

The Holy Spirit is also "our advocate and defender. He does not accuse us before the Father, but defends us," he said. "He convinces us of the fact that we are sinners, but he does so in order to make us able to savor the joy of the Father's mercy, not to destroy us with fruitless feelings of guilt."

"We are all sinners," he said, but "God is greater than our sins."

People who are afraid of divine retribution for something they have done and cannot find peace should pray for the Holy Spirit "and he will teach you how to ask for forgiveness," the pope said. "God always forgives us, he is always by our side in order to forgive us."

"We pray to receive the Holy Spirit, and we receive the Holy Spirit in order to truly pray, that is, as children of God, not as slaves," he said. That means being able to pray spontaneously, from the heart, when they feel like it and not out of obligation or fear of damnation, he said.

"You pray when the Spirit helps you pray. You pray when you feel in your heart the need to pray and if you don't feel anything, take a moment and ask, 'Why don't I feel the desire to pray? What is happening in my life?'" the pope said.

"We must pray to receive the Holy Spirit," which is a gift from God who "wants to give us courage" to persevere, he added.

"The Holy Spirit always descends during prayer," he said. "It is the only 'power' we have over the Holy Spirit, the power of prayer, and he cannot resist prayer. We pray and he comes."

The Holy Spirit is also the one "who gives us true prayer" because many times "we do not know how to pray as we ought," Pope Francis said.

"Please do not pray like parrots," mindlessly repeating a string of words, he said. "And when we pray the Our Father, pray: 'Father, you are my father…' Pray with your heart, not your lips."

Not only does the Holy Spirit intercede for the faithful, "he also teaches us how to intercede, in turn, for our brothers and sisters," by praying for the sick, those in prison and others, he said.

"This prayer is particularly pleasing to God because it is the most gratuitous and altruistic," he said. "This is a task that is so precious and necessary in the church, particularly during this time of preparation for the Jubilee."