The Holy Spirit: The Giver of
Life
H. H.
John Paul II
General Audience
October 21, 1998
1. The Holy Spirit
is “the Lord, the giver of life”. With these words of the
Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed, the Church continues to profess her
faith in the Holy Spirit, whom St Paul proclaims as the “Spirit of
life” (Rom 8:2).
In the history of salvation, life always appears as linked to God’s
Spirit. At the dawn of creation, through the divine breath, like a
“breath of life”, “man became a living being” (Gn 2:7). In the
history of the chosen people, the Spirit of the Lord repeatedly
intervenes to save and guide Israel through the patriarchs, judges,
kings and prophets. Ezekiel vividly portrays the situation of the
people brought low by the exile experience as an immense valley
filled with bones to which God communicates new life (cf. Ez
37:1-14): “And the spirit came into them, and they lived, and stood
upon their feet” (Ez 37:10).
It is particularly in Jesus' history that the Holy Spirit discloses
his life-giving power: the fruit of Mary’s womb comes to life
“through the power of the Holy Spirit” (Mt 1:18; cf. Lk 1:35).
Jesus’ whole mission is enlivened and guided by the Holy Spirit; in
a special way the Resurrection bears the seal of the “Spirit of him
who raised Jesus from the dead” (Rom 8:11).
2. The Holy Spirit, equal to the Father and the Son, is the
principal agent of that “Gospel of life” which the Church never
tires of proclaiming and bearing witness to in the world.
The Gospel of life, as I explained in the Encylical Letter
Evangelium vitae, is not simply a reflection on human life, nor
merely a commandment aimed at raising awareness; it is in fact
“something concrete and personal, for it consists in the
proclamation of the very person of Jesus” (n. 29). He makes himself
known as “the way, and the truth, and the life” (Jn 14:6). And to
Martha, Lazarus’ sister, he says: “I am the resurrection and the
life” (Jn 11:25).
3. “He who follows me”, he proclaims further, “will have the light
of life” (Jn 8:12). The life that Jesus Christ gives us is a living
water which satisfies man's deepest aspirations and brings him, as a
son, into full communion with God. This living and life-giving water
is the Holy Spirit.
In his conversation with the Samaritan woman, Jesus foretells this
divine gift: “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is
saying to you, 'Give me a drink', you would have asked him, and he
would have given you living water.... Everyone who drinks of this
water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I
shall give him will never thirst; the water that I shall give him
will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (Jn
4:10, 13-14). Later, on the feast of Tabernacles, Jesus foretells
his Death and Resurrection, loudly exclaiming as if to be heard by
people of all places and times: “If anyone thirst, let him come to
me and drink. He who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, 'Out
of his heart shall flow rivers of living water'.... He said this”,
the Evangelist John notes, “about the Spirit, which those who
believed in him were to receive” (Jn 7:37-39).
In obtaining the gift of the Spirit for us by the sacrifice of his
own life, Jesus fulfils the mission he received from the Father: “I
came that they may have life, and have it abundantly” (Jn 10:10).
The Holy Spirit renews our hearts (cf. Ez 36: 25-27; Jer 31:31-34)
and conforms them to Christ’s. Thus the Christian can “appreciate
and achieve the deepest and most authentic meaning of life: namely,
that of being a gift which is fully realized in the giving of self”
(Evangelium vitae, n. 49). This is the new law, “the law of the
Spirit of life in Christ Jesus” (Rom 8:2). Its essential expression,
in imitation of the Lord who laid down his life for his friends (cf.
Jn 15:13), is the loving gift of self: “We know that we have passed
out of death into life, because we love the brethren” (1 Jn 3:14).
4. The life of Christians, who through faith and the sacraments are
inwardly united with Jesus Christ, is “life in the Spirit”. Indeed,
the Holy Spirit, poured out in our hearts (cf. Gal 4:6), becomes in
us and for us “a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (Jn
4:14).
We must therefore let ourselves be docilely guided by God’s Spirit,
to become ever more fully what we already are through grace: sons of
God in Christ (cf. Rom 8:14-16). “If we live by the Spirit”, St Paul
urges us again, “let us also walk by the Spirit” (Gal 5:25).
This principle is the foundation of Christian spirituality, which
consists in accepting all the life that the Spirit gives us. This
concept of spirituality protects us from the misunderstandings that
sometimes obscure its true nature.
Christian spirituality does not consist in an effort to perfect
oneself, as if man could further his overall personal growth and
achieve salvation by his own strength. The human heart, wounded by
sin, is healed only by the grace of the Holy Spirit, and only if
sustained by this grace can man live as a true son of God.
Nor does Christian spirituality consist in becoming “immaterial”,
disembodied as it were, without responsible involvement in human
affairs. Indeed, the Holy Spirit’s presence in us, far from urging
us to seek an alienating “escape”, penetrates and moves our entire
being: intellect, will, emotions and bodily nature, so that our “new
nature” (Eph 4:24) will imbue space and time with the newness of the
Gospel.
5. On the threshold of the third millennium, the Church is preparing
to receive the ever new gift of that Spirit, the giver of life,
which flows from the pierced side of Jesus Christ, in order to
proclaim the Gospel of life with deep joy to all.
We ask the Holy Spirit to enable the Church of our time to echo
faithfully the words of the Apostles: “That which was from the
beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes,
which we have looked upon and touched with our hands, concerning the
word of life — the life was made manifest, and we saw it, and
testify to it, and proclaim to you the eternal life which was with
the Father and was made manifest to us — that which we have seen and
heard we proclaim also to you, so that you may have fellowship with
us; and our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus
Christ” (1 Jn 1:1-3).
To the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors the Holy Father said:
I warmly welcome the Bishops of the United States, here for their ad
limina visit, Cardinal Law of Boston and all the Bishops of the
region. I warmly welcome the brothers and sisters from various
congregations, and encourage them to make this pilgrimage an
occasion for renewed fidelity to their vocation. I extend a special
greeting to the pilgrims from the Diocese of Derry in Northern
Ireland and I pray that God will bless that region with lasting
peace. I welcome the Ecoforum for Peace Group from various
countries, the Lutheran visitors from Norway and the Swedish Church
Study Group. Upon all the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors,
especially those from England, Ireland, Scandinavia, Canada and the
United States of America, I invoke the joy and peace of the Lord
Jesus Christ.
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