1. In preparation
for the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000, the current year is
particularly to the Holy Spirit. Continuing on the path marked out
for the whole Church, and afterconcluding the Christological theme,
today we begin a systematic reflection on the One who is “the Lord
and Giver of life”. I have spoken extensively about the Third Person
of the Blessed Trinity on various occasions. I recall in particular
the Encyclical Dominum et Vivificantem and the catechesis on the
Creed. The imminent prospect of the Jubilee gives me the opportunity
to reflect once again on the Holy Spirit, to examine with an adoring
heart his action in the flow of time and history.
2. In fact, reflection is not easy, unless the Spirit himself comes
to aid us in our weakness (cf. Rom 8:26). How, in fact, can we
discern the presence of God’s Spirit in history? We can answer this
question only by turning to the Holy Scriptures, which, being
inspired by the Paraclete, gradually reveal his action and identity
to us. They express to us, in a certain way, the Spirit’s
“language”, “style” and “logic”. It is also possible to interpret
the reality in which he works with eyes that penetrate beyond mere
external observation to discern traces of his presence behind things
and events. Scripture itself, beginning with the Old Testament,
helps us understand that nothing of what is good, true and holy in
the world can be explained without reference to the Spirit of God.
3. A first, veiled allusion to the Spirit is found in the very first
lines of the Bible, in the hymn to God the Creator which opens the
Book of Genesis: “The Spirit of God was moving over the face of the
waters” (Gn 1:2). Here the Hebrew word ruach is used for “spirit”,
which means “breath” and can designate either the wind or the
breath. As we know, this text belongs to the so called “priestly
source” that dates back to the period of the Babylonian exile (6th
century B.C.), when Israel’s faith had explicitly reached a
monotheistic conception of God. As Israel became aware of the
creative power of the one God through the light of Revelation, it
came to realize that God created the universe by the power of his
Word. The role of the Spirit appears in conjuction with the latter.
This perception is encouraged by the very analogy of language,
which, by association, combines the word with the breath of the
lips: “By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and all their
host by the breath (ruach) of his mouth” (Ps 33 [32]:6). God’s vital
and life-giving breath is not limited to the initial moment of
creation, but keeps all creation in existence and gives it life by
continuously renewing it: “When you send forth your Spirit, they are
created; and you renew the face of the earth” (Ps 104 [103]:30).
4. The most original feature of biblical revelation is to have
recognized history as the privileged realm for the action of God’s
Spirit. In about 100 passages of the Old Testament, the ruach YHWH
indicates the action of the Lord's Spirit guiding his people,
especially at important turning points in their journey. Thus in the
period of the judges, God sent his Spirit upon frail men and changed
them into charismatic leaders invested with divine energy; this is
what happened to Gideon, to Jephthah and in particular to Samson
(cf. Jgs 6:34; 11:29; 13:25; 14:6, 19). With the arrival of the
Davidic monarchy this divine force, which until then had been
manifested unpredictably and sporadically, acquired a certain
stability. This can be clearly seen in the royal consecration of
David, of which Scripture says: “The Spirit of the Lord came
mightily upon David from that day forward” (1 Sm 16:13). During and
after the Babylonian exile, Israel’s whole history is reread as a
long dialogue between God and the people chosen “by his Spirit
through the former prophets” (Zec 7:12). The prophet Ezekiel
explains the link between the Spirit and prophecy when he says, for
example: “And the Spirit of the Lord fell upon me, and he said to
me, ‘Say, Thus says the Lord...’” (Ez 11:5). But the prophetic
vision looks above all to that privileged time in the future when
the promises will be fulfilled under the sign of the divine ruach.
Isaiah foretells the birth of a descendant on whom “the Spirit of
the Lord shall rest ... the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the
spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of
the Lord” (Is 11:2-3). “This text”, as I wrote in the Encyclical
Dominum et Vivificantem, “is important for the whole pneumatology of
the Old Testament, because it constitutes a kind of bridge between
the ancient biblical concept of ‘spirit’, understood primarily as a
‘charismatic breath of wind’, and the ‘Spirit’ as a person and as a
gift, a gift for the person. The Messiah of the lineage of David
(‘from the stump of Jesse’) is precisely that person on whom the
Spirit ‘shall rest’” (Dominum et Vivificantem, n. 15).
5. Two marks of the mysterious identity of the Holy Spirit can
already be seen in the Old Testament and are then amply confirmed by
the revelation of the New Testament. The first mark is the absolute
transcendence of the Spirit, who is therefore called “holy” (Is
63:10, 11; Ps 51[50]:13). The Spirit of God is in every respect
“divine”. He is not a reality which man can acquire with his
strength, but a gift which comes from on high: he can only be
invoked and received. Infinitely “other” with regard to man, the
Spirit is communicated with total gratuitousness to those who are
called to co-operate with him in the history of salvation. And when
this divine energy finds humble and ready acceptance, man is
stripped of his selfishness and freed from his fears; truth and
love, freedom and peace flourish in the world. Another mark of God’s
Spirit is the dynamic power he reveals when intervening in history.
At times there is a risk of projecting onto the biblical image of
the Spirit concepts tied to other cultures, for example, the concept
of “spirit” as something evanescent, static and inert. The biblical
concept of ruach, however, indicates a supremely active, powerful
and irresistible energy: the Spirit of the Lord, we read in Isaiah,
“is like an overflowing stream” (Is 30:28). Therefore, when the
Father intervenes with his Spirit, chaos is transformed into cosmos,
the world comes alive and history is set in motion.
To the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors, the Holy Father said:
I warmly welcome to this audience the ecumenical groups from England
and Wales and the Lutheran visitors from Denmark. I extend a special
greeting to the priests and laity from the Diocese of Thamarasserry
and to the Brothers of St Gabriel from India.
Upon all the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors, especially
those from England, Wales, Denmark, India, the Philippines,
Australia, Thailand, Canada and the United States of America, I
invoke the abundant blessings of almighty God.
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