Holy Spirit Encyclical (cont'd) - Part III -Section 5, paragraph 63

[MariaChristi]

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

The Catholic Church has been given so much by God! But have we been good stewards of His Grace? We need to thank Him for the grace of bringing us into existence and then for His great gift of Supernatural Life by water and the Holy Sprit in Baptism. Being baptized into the Church, becoming members of His Body, we are called to grow in holiness and by continuing grace given in the sacraments, especially Eucharist, we are to be Christ’s Light bringing God’s Love into the world where evil seeks to bring sin and darkness.

1. Christ’s Eucharistic presence, his sacramental “I am with you,” enables the Church to discover ever more deeply her own mystery, as shown by the whole ecclesiology of the Second Vatican Council, whereby "the Church is in Christ as a sacrament or sign and instrument of the intimate union with God and of the unity of the whole human race."277 As a sacrament, the Church is a development from the Paschal Mystery of Christ’s “departure,” living by his ever new “coming” by the power of the Holy Spirit, within the same mission of the Paraclete- Spirit of truth. Precisely this is the essential mystery of the Church, as the Council professes.

While it is through creation that God is He in whom we all "live and move and have our being, "278 in its turn the power of the Redemption endures and develops in the history of man and the world in a double “rhythm” as it were, the source of which is found in the Eternal Father. On the one hand there is the rhythm of the mission of the Son, who came into the world and was born of the Virgin Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit; and on the other hand there is also the rhythm of the mission of the Holy Spirit, as he was revealed definitively by Christ. Through the “departure” of the Son, the Holy Spirit came and continues to come as Counselor and Spirit of truth. And in the context of his mission, as it were within the indivisible presence of the Holy Spirit, the Son, who “had gone away” in the Paschal Mystery, “comes” and is continuously present in the mystery of the Church, at times concealing himself and at times revealing himself in her history, and always directing her steps. All of this happens in a sacramental way, through the power of the Holy Spirit, who, “drawing from the wealth of Christ’s Redemption,” constantly gives life. As the Church becomes ever more aware of this mystery, she sees herself more clearly, above all as a sacrament.

This also happens because, by the will of her Lord, through the individual sacraments the Church fulfills her salvific ministry to man. This sacramental ministry, every time it is accomplished, brings with it the mystery of the “departure” of Christ through the Cross and the Resurrection, by virtue of which the Holy Spirit comes. He comes and works: “He gives life.” For the sacraments signify grace and confer grace: they signify life and give life. The Church is the visible dispenser of the sacred signs, while the Holy Spirit acts in them as the invisible dispenser of the life which they signify. Together with the Spirit, Christ Jesus is present and acting.

Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Your Faithful. Kindle in us the Fire of Your Love.
Mary, Mother of the Church, you who first carried Jesus into this world, pray with us and for us.