In the previous
reflection on the Holy Spirit we began with John's text of Jesus'
farewell discourse. In a certain way this is the principal gospel
source of pneumatology. Jesus announced the coming of the Holy
Spirit, the Spirit of truth, who "proceeds from the Father" (Jn
15:26). He will be sent by the Father to the apostles and the Church
in Christ's name, by virtue of the redemption effected in the
sacrifice of the cross, according to the eternal plan of salvation.
In the power of this sacrifice the Son also "sends" the Spirit, for
he announced that the spirit will come as a consequence, and at the
price of his own departure (cf. Jn 16:7). There is a connection
stated by Jesus himself between his death-resurrection-ascension and
the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, between the Pasch and Pentecost.
Indeed, according to the fourth Gospel, the giving of the Holy
Spirit took place on the very evening of Easter Sunday (cf. Jn
20:22-25). It may be said that the wound in Christ's side on the
cross opened the way for the outpouring of the Spirit, which will be
a sign and a fruit of the glory obtained though the passion and
death.
We learn from Jesus' discourse in the upper room that he called the
Holy Spirit the "Paraclete": "I will pray the Father, and he will
send you another Paraclete, to be with you forever" (Jn 14:16).
Similarly we read in other texts: "the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit"
(cf. Jn 14:16; 15:26; 16:7). Instead of "Paraclete" many
translations use the word "Counselor." That term is acceptable,
though it is necessary to have recourse to the original Greek word
Parakletos to grasp the full meaning of what Jesus says about the
Holy Spirit.
Parakletos means literally, "one who is called or appealed to" (from
para-kalein, "to call to one's assistance"). He is therefore the
defender," "the advocate," as well as the "mediator" who fulfills
the function of intercessor. It is this meaning of
"advocate-defender" that now interests us, while not forgetting that
some Fathers of the Church use Parakletos in the sense of
"Counselor" particularly in reference to the Holy Spirit's action in
regard to the Church. For the present we shall speak of the Holy
Spirit as the Paraclete-Advocate-Defender. This term enables us to
grasp the close relationship between Christ's action and that of the
Holy Spirit, as can be seen from a further analysis of John's text.
1.Christ himself is the first Paraclete
When Jesus in the upper room, on the eve of his passion, announced
the coming of the Holy Spirit, he did so in the following terms:
"The Father will give you another Paraclete." These words indicate
that Christ himself is the first Paraclete, and that the Holy
Spirit's action will be like that of Christ and in a sense prolong
it.
Jesus Christ, indeed, was the "defender" and remains such. John
himself will say so in his First Letter: "If anyone does sin, we
have an advocate (parakletos) with the Father, Jesus Christ the
righteous" (1 Jn 2:1).
The advocate (defender) is he who, taking the part of those who are
guilty because of sin committed, defends them from the penalty due
to their sins, and saves them from the danger of losing eternal life
and salvation. This is precisely what Jesus Christ did. The Holy
Spirit is called the Paraclete because he continues Christ's
redemptive work which freed us from sin and eternal death.
The Paraclete will be "another advocate-defender" also for a second
reason. Remaining with Christ's disciples, he will watch over them
with his omnipotent power. "I will pray the Father," Jesus said,
"and he will give you another Paraclete to be with you forever" (Jn
14:16). "He dwells in you, and will be in you" (Jn 14:16). This
promise must be taken together with the others made by Jesus when
going to the Father: "I am with you always, to the close of the age"
(Mt 28:20). We know that Christ is the Word who "became flesh and
dwelt among us" (Jn 1:14). When going to the Father he said: "I am
with you always, to the close of the age" (Mt 28:20). It follows
that the apostles and the Church must continually find, by means of
the Holy Spirit, that presence of the Word-Son which, during his
earthly mission, was physical and visible in his incarnate humanity,
but which, after his ascension to the Father, is completely immersed
in mystery. The Holy Spirit's presence which, as Jesus said, is
interior to souls and to the Church ("He dwells with you, and will
be in you": Jn 14:17), will make the invisible Christ present in a
lasting manner "until the end of the world." The transcendent unity
of the Son and the Holy Spirit will ensure that Christ's humanity,
assumed by the Word, will be present at work wherever the
trinitarian plan of salvation is being put into effect through the
power of the Father.
The Holy Spirit-Paraclete will be the advocate-defender of the
apostles, and of all those down through the centuries in the Church
who will be the heirs of their witness and apostolate. This is
especially so in difficult moments when they are tested to the point
of heroism. This was Jesus' prophecy and promise: "They will deliver
you up to councils...you will be dragged before governors and
kings.... When they deliver you up, do not be anxious how you are to
speak or what you are to say...for it is not you who speak, but the
Spirit of your Father speaking through you" (Mt 10:17-20; likewise
Mk 13:11; Lk 12:12 says: "for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that
hour what you ought to say").
Even in this very practical sense the Holy Spirit is the Paraclete-Advocate.
He is close and even present to the apostles when they must profess
the truth, justify it and defend it. He himself then inspires them.
He himself speaks through their words, and together with them and
through them he bears witness to Christ and his Gospel. Before their
accusers he becomes the invisible advocate of the accused, by the
fact that he acts as their counselor, defender and supporter.
Especially during persecutions in all ages, those words of Jesus in
the upper room are verified: "When the Paraclete comes, whom I shall
send to you from the Father...he will bear witness to me; and you
also are witnesses, because you have been with me from the
beginning" (Jn 15:26-27).
The action of the Holy Spirit is that of "bearing witness." It is an
interior, "immanent" action in the hearts of the disciples, who then
bear witness to Christ externally. Through that immanent presence
and action, the transcendent power of the truth of Christ who is the
Word-Truth and Wisdom, is manifested and advances in the world. From
him, through the Spirit, the apostles obtained the power to bear
witness according to his promise: "I will give you a mouth of
wisdom, which none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or
contradict" (Lk 21:15). This happened already in the case of the
first martyr Stephen, of whom we read in the Acts of the Apostles
that he was "full of the Holy Spirit" (6:5). His adversaries "could
not withstand the wisdom and the spirit with which he spoke" (Acts
6:10). Also in the following centuries the opponents of the
Christians continued to rage against the heralds of the Gospel. At
times they stifled the Christians' voice in their blood, but without
succeeding in suffocating the truth of which they were the
messengers. That truth continued to flourish in the world through
the power of the Spirit.
The Holy Spirit—the Spirit of truth, the Paraclete—is he who
according to the words of Christ, "will convince the world of sin
and of righteousness and of judgment" (Jn 16:8). Jesus' own
explanation of these terms is significant: "Sin" signifies the lack
of faith that Jesus met with among "his own," those of his own
people who arrived at the point of condemning him to death on a
cross. In speaking of "righteousness," Jesus seems to have in mind
that definitive righteousness which the Father will confer upon him
("...because I go to the Father") in the resurrection and ascension
into heaven. In this context "judgment" means that the Spirit of
truth will demonstrate the guilt of the world in rejecting Christ,
or more generally, in turning its back upon God. Because Christ did
not come into the world to judge and condemn it but to save it, then
in actual fact that "convincing the world of sin" on the part of the
Spirit of truth must be understood as an intervention directed to
the salvation of the world, to the ultimate good of humanity.
"Judgment" refers particularly to the "prince of this world,"
namely, Satan. From the very beginning he tried to turn the work of
creation against the covenant and union of man with God: knowingly
he opposes salvation. Therefore, he "is already judged" from the
beginning, as I explained in the encyclical Dominum et Vivificantem
(n. 27).
If the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, is to convince the world
precisely of this "judgment," undoubtedly he does so to continue
Christ's work aimed at universal salvation.
We can therefore conclude that in bearing witness to Christ, the
Paraclete is an assiduous (though invisible) advocate and defender
of the work of salvation, and of all those engaged in this work. He
is also the guarantor of the definitive triumph over sin and over
the world subjected to sin, in order to free it from sin and
introduce it into the way of salvation.
Return to General Audiences on
the Holy Spirit...
