Holy Spirit Encyclical (cont'd) - Part I -paragraphs 17 & 18

[MariaChristi]

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Today we conclude section 4 of Part 1 with paragraphs 17 and 18 of the Encyclical on the Holy Spirit by St. John Paul II:

1. Here it must be emphasized that clearly the “spirit of the Lord” who rests upon the future Messiah is above all a gift of God for the person of that Servant of the Lord. But the latter is not an isolated and independent person, because he acts in accordance with the will of the Lord, by virtue of the Lord’s decision or choice. Even though in the light of the texts of Isaiah the salvific work of the Messiah, the Servant of the Lord, includes the action of the Spirit which is carried out through himself, nevertheless in the Old Testament context there is no suggestion of a distinction of subjects, or of the Divine Persons as they subsist in the mystery of the Trinity, and as they are later revealed in the New Testament.** Both in Isaiah and in the whole of the Old Testament the personality of the Holy Spirit is completely hidden: in the revelation of the one God, as also in the foretelling of the future Messiah.**

1. Jesus Christ will make reference to this prediction contained in the words of Isaiah at the beginning of his messianic activity. This will happen in the same Nazareth where he had lived for thirty years in the house of Joseph the carpenter, with Mary, his Virgin Mother. When he had occasion to speak in the Synagogue, he opened the Book of Isaiah and found the passage where it was written: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me”; and having read this passage he said to those present: "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing."64 In this way he confessed and proclaimed that he was the Messiah, the one in whom the Holy Spirit dwells as the gift of God himself, the one who possesses the fullness of this Spirit, the one who marks the “new beginning” of the gift which God makes to humanity in the Spirit.

Because I grew up with knowledge of the Three in One, Holy Trinity, I think my reading of the Old Testament always was with the knowledge of the Three distinct Persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. I so easily can forget that the Old Testament does not make that distinction, but that Jesus reveals in the New Testament what is hidden in the Old Testament prophecies. How good it is for us to be learning anew through this encyclical more about the “personality of the Holy Spirit”! Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Your faithful. Kindle in us, the Fire of Your Love.