John Paul II: Thanks to the Spirit’s Gifts, Every Kind of Human Sin Can be Reached by God’s Saving Power Monday, Jun 6 2011

At the climax of Jesus’ messianic mission, the Holy Spirit becomes present in the Paschal Mystery in all his divine subjectivity: as the one who is now to continue the salvific work rooted in the sacrifice of the Cross.

[...] The words of the Risen Christ on the “first day of the week” give particular emphasis to the presence of the Paraclete-Counselor as the one who “convinces the world concerning sin, righteousness and judgment.”

For it is only in this relationship that it is possible to explain the words which Jesus directly relates to the “gift” of the Holy Spirit to the Apostles.

He says: “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

Jesus confers on the Apostles the power to forgive sins, so that they may pass it on to their successors in the Church, but this power granted to men presupposes and includes the saving action of the Holy Spirit.

By becoming “the light of hearts,” that is to say the light of consciences, the Holy Spirit “convinces concerning sin,” which is to say, he makes man realize his own evil and at the same time directs him toward what is good.

Thanks to the multiplicity of the Spirit’s gifts, by reason of which he is invoked as the “sevenfold one,” every kind of human sin can be reached by God’s saving power.

In reality – as St. Bonaventure says – by virtue of the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit all evils are destroyed and all good things are produced.

Thus the conversion of the human heart, which is an indispensable condition for the forgiveness of sins, is brought about by the influence of the Counselor.

Without a true conversion, which implies inner contrition, and without a sincere and firm purpose of amendment, sins remain “unforgiven,” in the words of Jesus, and with him in the Tradition of the Old and New Covenants.

For the first words uttered by Jesus at the beginning of his ministry, according to the Gospel of Mark, are these: “Repent, and believe in the Gospel.”

A confirmation of this exhortation is the “convincing concerning sin” that the Holy Spirit undertakes in a new way by virtue of the Redemption accomplished by the Blood of the Son of Man.

Hence the Letter to the Hebrews says that this “blood purifies the conscience.”

It therefore, so to speak, opens to the Holy Spirit the door into man’s inmost being, namely into the sanctuary of human consciences.

John Paul II (1920-2005): Dominum et Vivificantem, 2,5,42.

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John Paul II: It is Love which Grants Participation in the Very Life of God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit Sunday, May 1 2011

The cross on Calvary, the cross upon which Christ conducts His final dialogue with the Father, emerges from the very heart of the love that man, created in the image and likeness of God, has been given as a gift, according to God’s eternal plan.

[...] He is also Father: He is linked to man…by a bond still more intimate than that of creation. It is love which…grants participation in the very life of God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

[...] The cross of Christ on Calvary stands beside the path of that…wonderful self-communication of God to man, which also includes the call to man to share in the divine life by giving himself, and with himself the whole visible world, to God, and like an adopted son to become a sharer in the truth and love which is in God and proceeds from God.

It is precisely beside the path of man’s eternal election to the dignity of being an adopted child of God that there stands in history the cross of Christ, the only-begotten Son, who, as “light from light, true God from true God”, came to give the final witness to the wonderful covenant of God with humanity, of God with man.

This covenant, as old as man – it goes back to the very mystery of creation – and afterwards many times renewed with one single chosen people, is equally the new and definitive covenant, which was established there on Calvary, and is not limited to a single people, to Israel, but is open to each and every individual.

[...] And yet this is not yet the word of the God of the covenant: that will be pronounced at the dawn when first the women and then the Apostles come to the tomb of the crucified Christ, see the tomb empty and for the first time hear the message: “He is risen”.

[...] Yet, even in this glorification of the Son of God, the cross remains, that cross which-through all the messianic testimony of the Man the Son, who suffered death upon it – speaks and never ceases to speak of God the Father, who is absolutely faithful to His eternal love for man.

[...] Believing in the crucified Son means “seeing the Father”, means believing that love is present in the world and that this love is more powerful than any kind of evil in which individuals, humanity, or the world are involved.

Believing in this love means believing in mercy. For mercy is an indispensable dimension of love; it is as it were love’s second name.

John Paul II (1920-2005): Dives et Misericordia, 5,7.

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John Paul II: The Spirit of Truth, the Paraclete, Sent by the Risen Christ to Transform Us into His Own Risen Image Tuesday, Apr 26 2011

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.

[...] On the day of the Resurrection…Jesus of Nazareth “descended from David according to the flesh”, as the Apostle Paul writes, is “designated Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his Resurrection from the dead” (Rom. 1:3f).

It can be said therefore that the messianic “raising up” of Christ in the Holy Spirit reaches its zenith in the Resurrection, in which he reveals himself also as the Son of God, “full of power”.

And this power, the sources of which gush forth in the inscrutable Trinitarian communion, is manifested, first of all, in the fact that the Risen Christ does two things:

On the one hand he fulfills God’s promise already expressed through the Prophet’s words: “A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you,…my spirit” (Ez 36:26f);

And on the other hand he fulfills his own promise made to the Apostles with the words: “If I go, I will send him to you” (Jn 16:7).

It is he: the Spirit of truth, the Paraclete sent by the Risen Christ to transform us into his own risen image.

[...] There is no sending of the Holy Spirit (after original sin) without the Cross and the Resurrection: “If I do not go away, the Counselor will not come to you” (Jn 16:7).

There is also established a close link between the mission of the Holy Spirit and that of the Son in the Redemption.

The mission of the Son, in a certain sense, finds its “fulfillment” in the Redemption. The mission of the Holy Spirit “draws from” the Redemption: “He will take what is mine and declare it to you” (Jn 16:15).

The Redemption is totally carried out by the Son as the Anointed One, who came and acted in the power of the Holy Spirit, offering himself finally in sacrifice on the wood of the Cross.

And this Redemption is, at the same time, constantly carried out in human hearts and minds – in the history of the world – by the Holy Spirit, who is the “other Counselor”.

John Paul II (1920-2005): Dominum et Vivificantem, 1,6,23-24.

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John Paul II: Salvation, Eucharist, Divinization, Communion with the Mystery of the Trinity Tuesday, Oct 5 2010

“Everyone knows with what love the Eastern Christians celebrate the sacred liturgy, especially the Eucharistic mystery, source of the Church’s life and pledge of future glory.

“In this mystery the faithful, united with their bishops, have access to God the Father through the Son, the Word made flesh who suffered and was glorified, in the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

“And so, made ‘sharers of the divine nature’ (2 Peter 1:4) they enter into communion with the most holy Trinity” (Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Decree on Ecumenism Unitatis Redintegratio, 15).

These features describe the Eastern outlook of the Christian. His or her goal is participation in the divine nature through communion with the mystery of the Holy Trinity.

In this view the Father’s “monarchy” is outlined as well as the concept of salvation according to the divine plan, as it is presented by Eastern theology after Saint Irenaeus of Lyons and which spread among the Cappadocian Fathers.

Participation in Trinitarian life takes place through the liturgy and in a special way through the Eucharist, the mystery of communion with the glorified body of Christ, the seed of immortality.

In divinization and particularly in the sacraments, Eastern theology attributes a very special role to the Holy Spirit:

through the power of the Spirit who dwells in man deification already begins on earth; the creature is transfigured and God’s kingdom inaugurated.

The teaching of the Cappadocian Fathers on divinization passed into the tradition of all the Eastern Churches and is part of their common heritage.

This can be summarized in the thought already expressed by Saint Irenaeus at the end of the second century: God passed into man so that man might pass over to God.

This theology of divinization remains one of the achievements particularly dear to Eastern Christian thought.

On this path of divinization, those who have been made “most Christ-like” by grace and by commitment to the way of goodness go before us: the martyrs and the saints.

And the Virgin Mary occupies an altogether special place among them. From her the shoot of Jesse sprang (cf. Isaiah 11:1).

Her figure is not only the Mother who waits for us, but the Most Pure, who – the fulfillment of so many Old Testament prefigurations – is an icon of the Church, the symbol and anticipation of humanity transfigured by grace, the model and the unfailing hope for all those who direct their steps towards the heavenly Jerusalem.

John Paul II (1920-2005): Apostolic Letter Orientale Lumen, 6.

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John Paul II: Divine Mercy Reaches Human Beings through the Heart of Christ Crucified Tuesday, Oct 5 2010

“Confitemini Domino quoniam bonus, quoniam in saeculum misericordia eius”;

“Give thanks to the Lord for he is good; his steadfast love endures for ever” (Ps 118: 1).

So the Church sings on the Octave of Easter, as if receiving from Christ’s lips these words of the Psalm;

from the lips of the risen Christ, who bears the great message of divine mercy and entrusts its ministry to the Apostles in the Upper Room:

“Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I send you…. Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained” (Jn 20: 21-23).

Before speaking these words, Jesus shows his hands and his side. He points, that is, to the wounds of the Passion, especially the wound in his heart, the source from which flows the great wave of mercy poured out on humanity.

From that heart Sr Faustina Kowalska, the blessed whom from now on we will call a saint, will see two rays of light shining from that heart and illuminating the world:

“The two rays”, Jesus himself explained to her one day, “represent blood and water”.

Blood and water! We immediately think of the testimony given by the Evangelist John, who, when a soldier on Calvary pierced Christ’s side with his spear, sees blood and water flowing from it (cf. Jn 19: 34).

Moreover, if the blood recalls the sacrifice of the Cross and the gift of the Eucharist, the water, in Johannine symbolism, represents not only Baptism but also the gift of the Holy Spirit (cf. Jn 3: 5; 4: 14; 7: 37-39).

Divine Mercy reaches human beings through the heart of Christ crucified:  “My daughter, say that I am love and mercy personified”, Jesus will ask Sr Faustina.

Christ pours out this mercy on humanity though the sending of the Spirit who, in the Trinity, is the Person-Love.

And is not mercy love’s “second name” (cf. Dives in misericordia, n. 7), understood in its deepest and most tender aspect, in its ability to take upon itself the burden of any need and, especially, in its immense capacity for forgiveness?

John Paul II (1920-2005): Homily at Mass for the Canonization of Sr Mary Faustina Kowalska.

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John Paul II: “Man Has Access to the Father in the Holy Spirit” Friday, May 21 2010

As St. Paul teaches, “all who are led by the Spirit of God” are “children of God” (Rom 8:14).

The filiation of divine adoption is born in man on the basis of the mystery of the Incarnation, therefore through Christ the eternal Son.

But the birth, or rebirth. happens when God the Father “sends the Spirit of his Son into our hearts” (Gal 4:6; Rom 5:5; 2 Cor 1:22).

Then “we receive a spirit of adopted sons by which we cry ‘Abba, Father!’” (Rom 8:15).

Hence the divine filiation planted in the human soul through sanctifying grace is the work of the Holy Spirit.

“It is the Spirit himself bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ” (Rom 8:16f).

Sanctifying grace is the principle and source of man’s new life: divine, supernatural life.

The giving of this new life is as it were God’s definitive answer to the Psalmist’s words, which in a way echo the voice of all creatures: “When you send forth your Spirit, they shall be created; and you shall renew the face of the earth” (Ps 104/103:30).

He who in the mystery of creation gives life to man and the cosmos in its many different forms, visible and invisible, again renews this life through the mystery of the Incarnation.

Creation is thus completed by the Incarnation and since that moment is permeated by the powers of the Redemption, powers which fill humanity and all creation.

This is what we are told by St. Paul, whose cosmic and theological vision seems to repeat the words of the ancient Psalm: creation “waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God” (Rom 8:19), that is, those whom God has “foreknown” and whom he “has predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son” (Rom 8:29).

Thus there is a supernatural “adoption”, of which the source is the Holy Spirit, love and gift. As such he is given to man.

And in the superabundance of the uncreated gift there begins in the heart of all human beings that particular created gift whereby they “become partakers of the divine nature” (2 Pet 1:4).

Thus human life becomes permeated, through participation, by the divine life, and itself acquires a divine, supernatural dimension.

There is granted the new life, in which as a sharer in the mystery of Incarnation “man has access to the Father in the Holy Spirit” (Eph 2:18).

John Paul II (1920-2005): Dominum et Vivificantem, 3,2,52.

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John Paul II: Trinitarian Doctrine of St Thérèse Friday, Nov 6 2009

Even though Thérèse does not have a true and proper doctrinal corpus, nevertheless a particular radiance of doctrine shines forth from her writings which, as if by a charism of the Holy Spirit, grasp the very heart of the message of Revelation in a fresh and original vision, presenting a teaching of eminent quality.

The core of her message is actually the mystery itself of God-Love, of the Triune God, infinitely perfect in himself.

If genuine Christian spiritual experience should conform to the revealed truths in which God communicates himself and the mystery of his will (cf. Dei Verbum, n. 2), it must be said that Thérèse experienced divine revelation, going so far as to contemplate the fundamental truths of our faith united in the mystery of Trinitarian life.

At the summit, as the source and goal, is the merciful love of the three Divine Persons, as she expresses it, especially in her Act of Oblation to Merciful Love.

At the root, on the subject’s part, is the experience of being the Father’s adoptive children in Jesus; this is the most authentic meaning of spiritual childhood, that is, the experience of divine filiation, under the movement of the Holy Spirit.

At the root again, and standing before us, is our neighbour, others, for whose salvation we must collaborate with and in Jesus, with the same merciful love as his.

Through spiritual childhood one experiences that everything comes from God, returns to him and abides in him, for the salvation of all, in a mystery of merciful love. Such is the doctrinal message taught and lived by this Saint.

John Paul II (1920-2005): Divini Amoris Scientia, 8 (on the declaration of St Thérèse of the Child Jesus [1873-1897] as a Doctor of the Church).

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John Paul II: The Meaning of Liturgy Wednesday, Oct 14 2009

In the liturgical experience, Christ the Lord is the light which illumines the way and reveals the transparency of the cosmos, precisely as in Scripture.

The events of the past find in Christ their meaning and fullness, and creation is revealed for what it is: a complex whole which finds its perfection, its purpose in the liturgy alone.

This is why the liturgy is heaven on earth, and in it the Word who became flesh imbues matter with a saving potential which is fully manifest in the sacraments:

there, creation communicates to each individual the power conferred on it by Christ.

Thus the Lord, immersed in the Jordan, transmits to the waters a power which enables them to become the bath of baptismal rebirth.

Within this framework, liturgical prayer in the East shows a great aptitude for involving the human person in his or her totality:

the mystery is sung in the loftiness of its content, but also in the warmth of the sentiments it awakens in the heart of redeemed humanity.

In the sacred act, even bodiliness is summoned to praise, and beauty, which in the East is one of the best loved names expressing the divine harmony and the model of humanity transfigured, appears everywhere: in the shape of the church, in the sounds, in the colors, in the lights, in the scents.

The lengthy duration of the celebrations, the repeated invocations, everything expresses gradual identification with the mystery celebrated with one’s whole person.

Thus the prayer of the Church already becomes participation in the heavenly liturgy, an anticipation of the final beatitude.

John Paul II (1920-2005): Apostolic Letter Orientale Lumen; H/T Byzantine Ramblings

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