“No one can say Jesus is Lord except under the action of the Holy Spirit”, says Paul in 1 Cor 12; to the Romans he remembers that in the Spirit we cry out: «Abbà! Father!” (cf. Rom 8:15). The Spirit bestows on us many and varied gifts, but the main, the most necessary and essential gifts are precisely these: allowing us to recognize God as Father and Jesus as Lord. This implies recognizing that we are children and we are free, no longer slaves, having no other lords other than Jesus Christ. The Spirit first of all frees us from that inner slavery that deludes us that we belong only to ourselves. On the contrary, it persuades us that we belong to a larger body, that we are members of each other, that our life is not a possession, but an unceasing gift. We receive it from God, as his children, but also from each other, in one body. And every body has not only limbs, but a heart that unifies them. According to John, in giving the Spirit Jesus shows his pierced side, his heart open in love. Here is the source of the Spirit, which imprints this pierced heart in our personal and ecclesial body. What the Spirit gives us is the freedom of compassion. Passing through walls and closed doors, the Risen One breaks our closures forcing us to leave ourselves; he sends us to others, without limits and without borders, in forgiveness and compassion, with the new languages of communion.

Commentary by Comunità di Dumenza

Translation by f. Mark Hargreaves, Prinknash Abbey