Pope to his Augustinian confreres: Listen, be humble, promote unity

ROME (CNS) -- Twelve years after ending two terms as prior general of the Augustinian order, Pope Leo XIV encouraged his confreres in the order to pray to the Holy Spirit for the gifts of listening, being humble and promoting unity.

Presiding at a Mass of the Holy Spirit Sept. 1 to open the order's general chapter meeting, the pope had a prepared homily in Italian but chose to speak first in English.

"For those of you who understand English but don't understand Italian," he said, "pray for a gift of the Holy Spirit."

After some laughter, he prayed that members of the general chapter would not necessarily receive the spiritual gift of speaking and understanding all languages but "the gift to listen and the gift to be humble and the gift to promote unity within the order and through the order, throughout the church and the world."

Pope Leo, the former Father Robert F. Prevost, served two six-year terms as prior general of the order, leading the Augustinians from 2001 to 2013.

He was succeeded by Spanish Father Alejandro Moral Antón, who was to finish his second term during the general chapter meeting.

After the Mass, Pope Leo joined the chapter members for dinner in a large hall in the Italian attorney general's office, which is housed in a building next to the basilica that formerly belonged to the Augustinian order.

In his homily in Italian, the pope spoke more in-depth about his prayer that the Holy Spirit would bless the general chapter members with the ability to listen, to be humble and to promote unity.

"The Holy Spirit speaks today as in the past," the pope said. "He does so in the 'penetralia cordis' (the depth of the heart) and through brothers and sisters and the circumstances of life. This is why it is important for the atmosphere of the chapter, in harmony with the centuries-long tradition of the church, to be an atmosphere of listening: of listening to God and to others."

St. Augustine, the pope said, taught that the multiplicity of the gifts of the Holy Spirit was "an invitation to us to make ourselves small in the face of the freedom and inscrutability of God's action."

"Let no one think they have all the answers. May each person openly share what they have. May everyone welcome with faith that which the Lord inspires," the pope told the friars.

The first reading at the Mass was from 1 Corinthians 12:4-13, which explains how the Spirit gives people different gifts but gives them all to build up the one body of Christ.

"Let unity be an indispensable goal of your efforts, but not only that: may it also be the criterion for evaluating your actions and your work together, because what unites is from him, but what divides cannot be," Pope Leo told his confreres.