from Pope Francis (Pentecost, 5/23/21)

The Spirit affirms the primacy of today, against the temptation to let ourselves be paralyzed by rancor or memories of the past, or by uncertainty or fear about the future.  Let us live in the present!

Only by emptying ourselves do we leave room for the Lord.  If we give priority to our own projects, our structures, our plans for reform, we will be concerned only about effectiveness.  We will think in horizontal terms.  The Church is human, but it is not merely a human organization.

If we listen to the Spirit, we will not be concerned with conservatives and progressives, traditionalists and innovators, right and left.  When those become our criteria, then the Church has forgotten the Spirit.