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!".

___________________________________________________________

 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.

___________________________________________________________

 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.

___________________________________________________________

For more information and to search for documents refer to the site:
www.visnews.org and www.vatican.va

Copyright (VIS):  the news contained in the services of the Vatican
Information Service may be reproduced wholly or partially quoting the
source:  V. I. S. - Vatican Information Service.
http://www.vatican.va/news_services/press/vis/vis_en.html

--- MPost/386 v1.21
 * Origin: Sursum Corda! BBS=Huntsville AL=bbs.sursum-corda.com (1:396/45)