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Jesus’
act of "breathing" on the Apostles, which communicated the Holy
Spirit to them, recalls the creation of man, described by Genesis as the
communication of the "breath of life" (Gn
2:7). The Holy Spirit is the "breath" as it were of the Risen One,
who instills new life in the Church represented by the first disciples. The
most obvious sign of a new life is the power to forgive sins. Jesus in fact
says: "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are
forgiven" (Jn 20:22-23). Wherever "the
Spirit of holiness" (Rom 1:4) is poured out, whatever is opposed to
holiness, i.e., sin, is destroyed. According to Jesus’ word, the Holy Spirit
is the one who "will convince
the world of sin" (Jn 16:8).
He makes us aware of sin, but at the same time it is he himself who forgives
sin. St. Thomas
comments in this regard: "Since it is the Holy Spirit who establishes
our friendship with God, it is normal for God to forgive sins through
him" (Contr. Gent., IV, 21, 11). The Spirit of the Lord not only
destroys sin, but also accomplishes the
sanctification and divinization of man. "God chose us," Paul says,
"from the beginning to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit
and belief in the truth" (2 Thes 2:13).
Let us look more closely at what this "sanctification-divinization"
consists of. The Holy Spirit is "Person-Love; he is Person-Gift" (Dominum et Vivificantem, n.
10). This love given by the Father, received and reciprocated by the Son, is
communicated to the one redeemed, who thus becomes a "new man" (Eph
4:24), a "new creation" (Gal
6:15). We Christians are not only purified from sin, but are also reborn and
sanctified. We receive a new life, since we have become "partakers of
the divine nature" (2 Pt 1:4); we are "called children of God; and
so we are!"
(I Jn 3: 1). It is the life of grace: the free gift
by which God makes us partakers of his Trinitarian life.
The Holy Spirit’s grace sanctifies and divinizes us. In their relationship
with the baptized, the three divine Persons should be neither separated -
because each always acts in communion with the others - nor confused, because
each Person is communicated as a Person.
In reflecting on grace it is important not to think of it as a
"thing". It is "first and foremost the gift of the Spirit who
justifies and sanctifies us" (CCC, n. 2003). It is the gift of the Holy
Spirit who makes us like the Son and puts us in a filial relationship with
the Father: in the one Spirit through Christ we have access to the Father
(cf. Eph 2:18).
The Holy Spirit’s presence truly and inwardly transforms man: it is
sanctifying or deifying grace, which elevates our being and our acting,
enabling us to live in relationship with the Holy Trinity. This takes place
through the theological virtues of faith, hope and charity, "which adapt
man’s faculties for participation in the divine nature" (CCC, n. 1812).
Thus, by faith the believer considers God, his brethren and history not
merely from the standpoint of reason, but from the viewpoint of divine
Revelation. By hope man looks at the future with trusting, vigorous
certitude, hoping against hope (cf. Rom 4:18), with his gaze fixed on the
goal of eternal happiness and
the full achievement of God’s kingdom. By charity the disciple is obliged to
love God with his whole heart and to love others as Jesus loved them, that
is, to the total giving of self.
The sanctification of the individual believer always takes place through
incorporation into the Church. The life of the individual child of God is
joined in Christ and through Christ by a wonderful link to the life of all
his other Christian brethren. Together they form the supernatural unity of
Christ’s Mystical Body so that, as it were a single
mystical person is formed" (Paul VI, Apostolic Constitution Indulgentiarum doctrina, n. 5).
This is the mystery of the communion of saints. An everlasting bond of
charity joins all the "saints", those who have already reached the
heavenly homeland or are being purified in purgatory, as well as those who
are still pilgrims on earth. There is also an abundant exchange of gifts
among them, to the point that the holiness of one helps all the others. St Thomas states:
"Whoever lives in charity participates in all the good that is done in
the
world" (In Symb. Apost.);
and again: "The act of one is accomplished through the charity of
another, that charity by which we are all one in Christ" (In IV Sent.,
d. 20, a.2; q. 3 ad).
The Council recalled that "all the faithful in any state or walk of life
are called to the fullness of Christian fife and to the perfection of
charity" (Lumen gentium, n. 40). Concretely,
the way for the faithful to become saints is that of fidelity to God’s will,
as it is expressed to us in his Word, the commandments and the inspirations
of the Holy
Spirit. As it was for Mary and for all the saints, so for us too, the
perfection of charity consists in trusting abandonment into the Father’s
hands, following Jesus" example. Once again this is possible because of
the Holy Spirit, who, even in the most difficult moments, enables us to
repeat with Jesus: Lo, I have come to do your will (cf. Heb 10:7).
Daily
Christian living is significant witness to Christ. This holiness is reflected
in a special way in religious life; in which one’s baptismal consecration is
lived by the
commitment radically follow the Lord through the evangelical counsels of
chastity, poverty and obedience. "Like the whole of Christian life, the
call to the consecrated life is closely linked to the working of the Holy
Spirit. In every age, the Spirit enables new men and women to recognize the
appeal of such a demanding choice.... "It is the Spirit who awakens the
desire to respond fully; it is he who guides the growth of this desire,
helping it to mature into a positive response and sustaining it as it is
faithfully translated into action; it is he who shapes and moulds the hearts
of those who are called, configuring them to Christ, the chaste, poor and
obedient One, and prompting them to make his mission their own"
(Apostolic Exhortation, Vita consecrate, n. 19).
An
eminent expression of holiness, made possible by the power of the Holy
Spirit, is martyrdom, the supreme witness given in blood to the Lord Jesus.
But the Christian commitment is already a significant and fruitful form of witness,
when it is lived - day by day, in the various states of life--in radical
fidelity to the commandment of
love.
Condensed
from "Man is sanctified by the Holy Spirit" reported in l’Osservatore Romano, English Edition from the Holy
Father’s General Audience of 22 July 1998.
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