The Holy Spirit: Life Giving Breath of God

The Holy Spirit: Life-Giving Breath of God
Fr. John Corapi, SOLT 2/9/2004
"No one can say 'Jesus is Lord' except by the Holy Spirit" (1 Cor 12:3). As the Catechism reminds us, "To be in touch with Christ, we must first have been touched by the Holy Spirit...He comes to meet us and kindles faith in us" (#683). The great father of the church, St. Irenaeus, beautifully expresses the work of the blessed Trinity in our lives: "Baptism gives us the grace of new birth in God the Father, through his Son, in the Holy Spirit. For those who bear God's Spirit are led to the Word, that is, to the Son, and the Son presents them to the Father, and the Father confers incorruptibility on them. And it is impossible to see God's Son without the Spirit, and no one can approach the Father without the Son, for the knowledge of the Father is the Son, and the knowledge of God's Son is obtained through the Holy Spirit" (#683).
The Catechism reminds us that "The Church, a communion living in the faith of the apostles which she transmits, is the place where we know the Holy Spirit." At times persons, claiming to be led by the Holy Spirit, walk down spiritual roads which prove to be dead ends. The Holy Spirit works within the church and for the church, never opposed to the church's teaching and authentic life. We know the Holy Spirit: "In the Scriptures which He inspired; in the Tradition, to which the Church Fathers are always timely witnesses; in the Church's Magisterium, which He assists; in the sacramental liturgy, through its words and symbols, in which the Holy Spirit puts us into communion with Christ; in prayer, wherein He intercedes for us; in the charisms and ministries by which the Church is built up; in the signs of apostolic and missionary life; and in the witness of saints through whom He manifests his holiness and continues the work of salvation" (#688).
The heavenly Father sends his Son and the Holy Spirit on a joint mission (#689) to gather all of his children into one in his church, the mystical Body of Christ, which has the Holy Spirit, the sanctifier, as her very soul. The soul is the principle of life, the animating force, of a body, so too with the church: the very life of the church is the Holy Spirit. The same Spirit or breath of God (Ruah Hakodesh) that moved over the waters at creation, manifested himself at the waters of the Jordan, when life himself was baptized by St. John the Baptist, thus baptizing the waters of baptism. This same Spirit of life, through Jesus, gives new life to all who accept baptism and then strive to live it.
The Father anoints his only Son with the anointing who is the Holy Spirit.The members of Christ's body, the church, are likewise in Christ anointed with the Holy Spirit through the sacraments. Anointing with oil is the sense perceptible sign of this anointing with the Holy Spirit, especially in baptism, confirmation, and holy orders. Likewise, in serious illness the "anointing of the sick" is given to strengthen us. It is the Holy Spirit who strengthens the members of Christ's body.
The "Lord and Giver of Life," as the Nicene Creed refers to the Holy Spirit, overshadowed Mary, the all-holy ever-virgin mother of God, and "the Word became flesh and dwelt among us." Through the fiat of Mary and the action of the "Lord and Giver of Life", the Father's Son, was conceived and brought forth in time and space. "Mary...is the masterwork of the mission of the Son and the Spirit in the fullness of time" (#721).
"In Mary, the Holy Spirit fulfills the plan of the Father's loving goodness" (#723). "The Holy Spirit prepared Mary by his grace. It was fitting that the mother of him in whom 'the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily' should herself be 'full of grace (#722).'" As the Catechism goes on to tell us, "With and through the Holy Spirit, the Virgin conceives and gives birth to the Son of God. By the Holy Spirit's power and her faith, her virginity became uniquely fruitful" (#723). Mary's fruitful virginity is the exemplar and prototype of the spiritual fruitfulness of consecrated virginity and celibacy in the church. It is a charism that begets spiritual life in the Body of Christ, given by the "Lord and Giver of Life;" something to be treasured, nurtured, and safeguarded in and by the same church.
The sending of the Holy Spirit takes place only after the "going forth" of Jesus via the cross. Only when the time for his glorification has arrived does the eternal Word promise this Spirit of truth, this new paraclete. As the Catechism beautifully summarizes for us: "The Spirit of Truth, the other Paraclete, will be given by the Father in answer to Jesus' prayer; he will be sent by the Father in Jesus' name; and Jesus will send him from the Father's side, since he comes from the Father. The Holy Spirit will come and we shall know him; he will be with us forever; he will remain with us. Spirit will teach us everything, remind us of all that Christ said to us and bear witness to him.The Holy Spirit will lead us into all truth and will glorify Christ. He will prove the world wrong about sin, righteousness, and judgment" (#729).
The Holy Spirit, the third person of the blessed Trinity, carries on the mission of the Father's Son in the church. As the very soul of the church, the Spirit breathes life into the church and each of her members. We should strive to enter into a real relationship with each of the persons of the Trinity. Invoking the Holy Spirit, asking for his guidance, before doing just about anything of importance is the spiritually intelligent thing to do. Praying for the gifts of wisdom, knowledge, understanding, counsel, fortitude, piety and fear of the Lord is something that will prove fruitful for us, in order that we then may bear fruit that endures.