Is the Sacred Chrism the Holy Spirit?

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SiempreFiel

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The following quote attributed to Saint Cyril of Jerusalem seems to suggest that the Sacred Chrism is the Holy Spirit and that the Chrism mysteriously contains the Holy Spirit as the Holy Eucharist contain Jesus Christ. Is this teaching correct?

“But beware of supposing this to be plain myrrh. For as the Bread of the Eucharist, after the invocation of the Holy Spirit, is not Bread, but the Body of Christ, so this holy myrrh is no longer simple, as one might say, after the invocation, but a gift of Christ and capable by the presence of the Holy Ghost of giving His divinity”

Mystagogical Catechesis, chapter 3
 
Hi SF,

No, the two situations are not the same. First of all Jesus is the only Person of the Blessed Trinity to take on physical form. In the Eucharist the bread and wine become, in a miraculous way, His body and blood. The myrrh or chrism, which is a mixture of oil and ground tree sap (incense) do not become the Holy Spirit who is pure spirit and not incarnate. If they did, they would become invisible to us.

The “divinity” that St. Cyril speaks of is the sanctifying grace that the Holy Spirit gives us through all the sacraments. Sanctifying grace does give us a share in God’s divinity.

Fr. Vincent Serpa, O.P.
 
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