Holy Spirit Encyclical (cont'd) - Part I -paragraph 23

[MariaChristi]

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Today’s paragraph 23 is short but so full and so worth prayerful time to ponder:

1. We find ourselves on the threshold of the Paschal events. The new, definitive revelation of the Holy Spirit as a Person who is the gift is accomplished at this precise moment. The Paschal events-the Passion, Death and Resurrection- of Christ-are also the time of the new coming of the Holy Spirit, as the Paraclete and the Spirit of truth. They are the time of the “new beginning” of the self- communication of the Triune God to humanity in the Holy Spirit through the work of Christ the Redeemer. This new beginning is the Redemption of the world: "God so loved the world that he gave his only Son."81 Already the “giving” of the Son, the gift of the Son, expresses the most profound essence of God who, as Love, is the inexhaustible source of the giving of gifts. The gift made by the Son completes the revelation and giving of the eternal love: the Holy Spirit, who in the inscrutable depths of the divinity is a Person-Gift, through the work of the Son, that is to say by means of the Paschal Mystery, is given to the Apostles and to the Church in a new way, and through them is given to humanity and the whole world.

So much is shared by St. John Paul II in this short paragraph, I almost underlined every sentence! The Paschal events of the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Christ are presented as the the new definitive revelation of the Holy Spirit as a Person who is Gift of Eternal Love: God so loved the world, He gave His only Son. The gift made by the Son completes the revelation and giving of eternal love: the Holy Spirit, who in the inscrutable depths of the divinity is a Person-Gift, through the work of the Son, that is to say by means of the Pascal Mystery, is given to the Apostles and to the Church in a new way, and through them is given to humanity and the whole world

Come Holy Spirt, fill the hearts of Your Faithful. Kindle in us the Fire of Your Love that we may share Your Love with others.