In the last days – the Lord declares – I shall pour out my Spirit on all humanity. Your sons and daughters shall prophesy, your young people shall see visions, your old people dream dreams. Even on the slaves, men and women, shall I pour out my Spirit. Acts 2:17-18

Springtime of the Spirit 

Welcome the new springtime which the Spirit is now bringing about in the Church, not least through the ecclesial movements and the new communities. “In his gifts the Spirit is multifaceted… He breathes where he wills. He does so unexpectedly, in unexpected places, and in ways previously unheard of… but he also shows us that he works with a view to the one body and in the unity of the one body”. (Letter of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI on the 150th Anniversary of ‘Dies Natalis’ of the Cure of Ars)

The essential things in history begin always with the small, more convinced communities. So, the Church begins with the twelve Apostles. And even the Church of St. Paul diffused in the Mediterranean are little communities, but this community in itself is the future of the world, because we have the truth and the force of conviction. This is springtime — a new life in very convinced persons with joy of the faith. But from these small numbers we will have a radiation of joy in the world. And so, it’s an attraction, as it was in the old Church. And so, I would say, if we have young people really with the joy of the faith and this radiation of this joy of the faith, this will show to the world, “Even if I cannot share it, even if I cannot convert it at this moment, here is the way to live for tomorrow.” (Pope Benedict XVI, 2003)