Below, we offer the complete catechesis of Pope Francis in the General Audience this Wednesday, October 16, on the Holy Spirit in the faith of the Church, ninth of a cycle dedicated to the third person of the Holy Trinity.
Dear brothers and sisters, good morning!
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With today’s catechesis we move from what has been revealed to us about the Holy Spirit in the Holy Scriptures to how he is present and acts in the life of the Church. The Holy Spirit is present and acts in our Christian life.
In the first three centuries, the Church did not feel the need to give an explicit formulation of its faith in the Holy Spirit. In the oldest Creed of the Church, the so-called Apostles’ Creed, after proclaiming: “I believe in God the Father, creator of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, who was born, died, descended into hell, resurrected and ascended.” to the heavens”, it is added: “(I believe) in the Holy Spirit”, without any specification.
It was heresy that prompted the Church to specify this faith. When this process began – with Saint Athanasius, in the 4th century – it was the experience lived by the Church of the sanctifying and divinizing action of the Holy Spirit that led it to the certainty of its full divinity. This occurred at the Ecumenical Council of Constantinople in the year 381, which defined the divinity of the Holy Spirit with these well-known words that we still repeat today: “I believe in the Holy Spirit, Lord and giver of life, who proceeds from the Father (and the Son) , who with the Father and the Son receives the same adoration and glory, and who spoke through the prophets.
Saying that the Holy Spirit is “Lord” was like saying that he shares the “lordship” of God, that he belongs to the world of the Creator, not that of creatures. The strongest claim is that he is due the same glory and worship as the Father and the Son. It is the argument of equality in honor, very dear to Saint Basil the Great, who was the main architect of that formula. The Holy Spirit is Lord.
The conciliar definition was not a point of arrival, but rather a point of departure. And, in fact, once the historical reasons that had prevented a more explicit affirmation of the divinity of the Holy Spirit were overcome, it would be quietly proclaimed in the worship of the Church and in its theology. Saint Gregory of Nazianzus, after that Council, will affirm without further hesitation: «Is God then the Holy Spirit? Certainly. Is He consubstantial? Yes, if it is true God” (Oratio 31, 5.10).
What does the article of faith that we proclaim every Sunday at Mass say to us, believers today? In the past, we were primarily concerned with the statement that the Holy Spirit “proceeds from the Father.” The Latin Church soon completed this statement by adding, in the Creed of the Mass, that the Holy Spirit proceeds “also from the Son.” Since in Latin the expression “and of the Son” is said “Filioque”, this gave rise to the dispute known by this name, which was the reason (or the pretext) of many disputes and divisions between the Church of the East and that of West. Certainly, it is not the case to deal with this issue here, which, moreover, in the climate of dialogue established between the two Churches, has lost the harshness of the past and allows us to hope for full mutual acceptance, as one of the main “differences.” reconciled.”
I like to say this: differences reconciled. Among Christians there are so many differences because this one is from this school, this one is from the other school, this one is Protestant… But the important thing is that all these differences are reconciled in the love of walking together.
Once this obstacle has been overcome, today we can value the most important prerogative for us that is proclaimed in the article of the Creed, that is, that the Holy Spirit is ‘life-giving’, that is, he gives life. We ask ourselves: what life does the Holy Spirit give? At the beginning, in creation, the breath of God gives Adam natural life; from a clay statue, turns it into “a living being” (cf. Gen 2:7). Now, in the new creation, the Holy Spirit is the one who gives believers new life, the life of Christ, supernatural life , of children of God. Paul can exclaim: “The law of the Spirit, which gives life in Christ Jesus, has freed you from the law of sin and death” (Rom 8:2).
Where, in all this, is the great and consoling news for us? In that the life that the Holy Spirit gives us is eternal life. Faith frees us from the horror of having to admit that everything ends here, that there is no redemption for the suffering and injustice that reign supreme on earth. Another word of the Apostle assures us: «If the Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, dwells in you, the same one who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit. , who dwells in you” (Rom 8:11). The Spirit dwells in us, it is within us.
Let us cultivate this faith also for those who, often through no fault of their own, are deprived of it and cannot give meaning to life. And let us not forget to give thanks to Him who, with His death, obtained this priceless gift for us!
Papa Francisco
Pope Francis, born on December 17, 1936 in Buenos Aires (Argentina), is the first Latin American Pope in the history of the Catholic Church, assuming the papacy on March 13, 2013. His approachable style and his emphasis on mercy They have left a distinctive mark on his pontificate.