DOMINUM ET VIVIFICANTEM: On the Holy Spirit in the Life of the Church and the World
The Church believes that the Holy Spirit is ‘the Lord and giver of life’ which is what the title of the document translates into. This belief was properly defined at the two Councils of Nicaea (325 AD) and Constantinople (381 AD).
In the New Testament we are promised the Holy Spirit who will bring us new life. Through the Holy Spirit, God communicates to human beings and leads them to eternal life. (#1)
Over the years, the Church has been reminded of the role of the Holy Spirit through the writings of the Popes: Pope Leo XIII published the encyclical Divinum Illud Munus (1897), Pope Pius XII wrote Mystici Corporis (1943), Vatican II deliberations and declarations led Pope Paul VI to declare that there needed to be “a new study and devotion to the Holy Spirit.” (#2)
The Eastern Church has preserved a more deeper heritage of the Holy Spirit. The Council of Constantinople brought out the role of the Holy Spirit as a mediator of the mystery of the Church and indicator of ways leading to Christian unity (#2).
PART 1: THE SPIRIT OF THE FATHER AND OF THE SON, GIVEN TO THE CHURCH
1. JESUS’ PROMISE AND REVELATION AT THE LAST SUPPER
Jesus promised his disciples the Paraclete – Greek, parakletos, meaning ‘counselor,’ ‘intercessor,’ or ‘advocate.’ He referred to the Paraclete as ‘another counselor’ because he himself is the first counselor and primary bearer of Good News. The Holy Spirit follows him and continues his work. (#3)
The role of the Holy Spirit as defined by Jesus will be to teach and to remind the apostles of all that Jesus had taught, and in his own way he will continue to inspire the spreading of the Gospel. This means that the Holy Spirit will preserve and ensure the continuity and identity of Christ’s message in the midst of the changing conditions and circumstances. (#4)
Jesus also spoke of the Holy Spirit as a witness. Now, the apostles had first-hand experience of Jesus and were witnesses of his life, teachings and work. Their human testimony is bolstered by the witness and testimony of the Holy Spirit. Jesus is the supreme revelation of God and the Holy Spirit ensures “the faithful transmission of this revelation in the preaching and writing of the Apostles” (#5).
The Holy Spirit is also supposed to guide the apostles ‘into all the truth’ and this connected with Jesus’ self-emptying on the cross as well as with the understanding of Jesus’ teachings and work (#6). The mystery of Christ commands faith and it requires faith in order to be understood. The Holy Spirit is a guide on this journey.
The roles of Jesus and the Holy Spirit with regard to salvation are closely connected. The Holy Spirit carries forward what Jesus began. (#7)
2. FATHER, SON AND HOLY SPIRIT
The Father, Son and Spirit are persons: distinct from each other. Jesus speaks of the Holy Spirit as a distinct other by referring to it using the pronoun, ‘he’. At other times, he speaks of the intimate unity between the Trinity. (#8)
At the farewell discourse at the Last Supper, the highest point of revelation of the Trinity is reached. This culminates with the missionary mandate of Jesus which contains the Trinitarian formula of baptism. The formula reflects the intimate mystery of God and of divine life. The sacrament of baptism makes a person share in the divine life of God through grace which is a supernatural gift. (#9)
God is love and the Holy Spirit impersonates that love between the Father and Son. In the Holy Spirit, the life of the Trinity becomes a gift – an exchange of mutual love between them. So the Holy Spirit is the expression of God’s love and self-giving. Since the Holy Spirit is the primary gift, he becomes the source of all other gifts including the gift of existence through creation, the gift of grace and the gift of salvation. (#10)
3. THE SALVIFIC SELF-GIVING OF GOD IN THE HOLY SPIRIT
John’s gospel records that according to Divine Plan, Christ’s departure is an indispensable condition for the sending and coming of the Holy Spirit. (#11) It is a new beginning connected to the first beginning of God’s salvific self-giving – Creation itself. The biblical concept of creation not only includes the call to existence of every being but also the presence of the Spirit of God in creation. (#12)
The coming of the Spirit after Christ’s ascension marks a new beginning: since the first beginning (Creation), sin has intervened and acted in contradiction to the Spirit of God in creation. The results of sin like sickness and death go against the result of the presence of the Spirit, namely, life. (#13)
The departure of Jesus brings sorrow to the disciples, a sorrow that is in keeping with his passion and death. But that sorrow will turn into joy first at the Resurrection and then at Pentecost. (#14)
4. THE MESSIAH, ANNOINTED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT
The Chosen One was foretold by Isaiah – sometimes called the Fifth Gospel or the Gospel of the Old Testament. This text has Pneumatological value: it marks a change in the understanding of Spirit from ‘wind’ or ruah to person and gift. The Messiah has the Spirit of God resting on him. (#15)
In the Old Covenant, anointing was a symbol of the gift of the Spirit. Since the Messiah is anointed by God, he possesses the fullness of the Spirit and becomes the mediator of the Spirit. “The fullness of the Spirit of God is accompanied by many different gifts, the treausres of salvation, destined in a particular way for the poor and suffering, for all those who open their hearts to these gifts-sometimes through the painful experience of their own existence-but first of all through that interior availability which comes from faith” (#16).
In the Old Testament, the personality of the Holy Spirit is hidden; it comes to the fore only in the New Testament. (#17) By proclaiming that the prophecy of Isaiah was being fulfilled in himself, Jesus showed himself to be the Messiah (#18).
5. JESUS OF NAZARETH, “EXALTED” IN THE HOLY SPIRIT
John the Baptist bears witness to Jesus as the Messiah. The theophany or revelation of the Trinity at Jesus’ baptism confirms John’s witness while also revealing something intimate about the Messiah: He is the beloved son of God. (#19)
All of Jesus’ activity was inspired by the Holy Spirit (#20). In Jesus’ teaching, he speaks of the Father and the Son and the relationship between them. He hardly mentions the Holy Spirit. However, whatever is spoken of the Father and the Son is related to the Spirit since the Spirit is the personification of the relationship of the Father and the Son as well as the manifestation of God in His whole being.
6. THE RISEN CHRIST SAYS: “RECEIVE THE HOLY SPIRIT”
The Holy Spirit was first sent to the Son who became Man, in order to fulfil the prophecies, and upon the departure of the Son, He will continue the work of the Son and bring to fulfilment the work of salvation (#22).
The Paschal events – the Passion, Death and Resurrection, are the time of the new coming of the Holy Spirit and the time for the new beginning of the self-communication of the Trinity. (#23) The most powerful manifestation of the Spirit in the life of Jesus is in his resurrection. The Resurrection fulfils two things: first, God’s promise found in the prophecies of the prophets and second, Jesus’ own promise of sending the Paraclete. (#24)
7. THE HOLY SPIRIT AND THE ERA OF THE CHURCH
Vatican II indicates the birth of the Church happening on Pentecost. “This event constitutes the definitive manifestation of what had already been accomplished in the same Upper Room on Easter Sunday.” (#25) The Holy Spirit was already working before the advent of the human Christ but on the day of Pentecost, the Spirit manifested himself in a powerful way and the Church was revealed publicly to the multitude. The Church continues to pass on this experience: “the grace of the Holy Spirit which the Apostles gave to their collaborators through the imposition of hands continues to be transmitted in Episcopal Ordination. The bishops in turn by the Sacrament of Orders render the sacred ministers sharers in this spiritual gift and, through the Sacrament of Confirmation, ensure that all who are reborn of water and the Holy Spirit are strengthened by this gift” (#25).
The Holy Spirit dwells in the hearts of believers as in a temple; there he prays and bears witness to their adoptive sonship. He guides the Church into the fullness of truth and encourages unity of fellowship and service. He provides various gifts, both hierarchical and charismatic for the sake of the Gospel.
The teaching of Vatican II is essentially Pneumatological: it contains the truth about the Holy Spirit as the soul of the Church as well as offering the inspiration of the Spirit for the Church in the contemporary world. (#26)
PART 2: THE SPIRIT WHO CONVINCES THE WORLD CONCERNING SIN
1. SIN, RIGHTEOUSNESS AND JUDGMENT
The Spirit will convince the world about sin and righteousness and judgment. These words of Jesus make sense given the context: Sin because the world does not believe in him, Righteousness because he is returning to the Father and Judgment because he himself is the ruler of the world who will be judged by human beings. Hence we see that these words have a different meaning than their common meaning. The reason why this convincing is important is because it has salvific value. (#27)
2. THE TESTIMONY OF THE DAY OF PENTECOST
Christ’s prophecy about the Spirit convincing the world about sin is clearly seen on the day of Pentecost when Peter filled with the Holy Spirit preached about Jesus and how the world rejected him and had him killed. (#30) But Jesus did not come to judge and condemn the world but to save it. That is why Peter urges the people to repent from their sins and be saved. The convincing about sin is a twofold gift: gift of the truth of conscience and the gift of the certainty of redemption. (#31) No one but the Spirit can convince a person of this truth. The Spirit does so in relation to the Cross of Christ. Apart from the cross, human beings remain ignorant of sin. They fail to understand the meaning of evil and what it is capable of doing.
3. THE WITNESS CONCERNING THE BEGINNING: THE ORIGINAL REALITY OF SIN
The failure to recognize and understand evil is seen in the Creation story of Genesis. This sin is what Paul calls the ‘disobedience of the first Adam’. “Sin in its original reality takes place in man’s will-and conscience-first of all as ‘disobedience’”. (#33) This implies a turning away from the Word of God, the same Word through whom all things were made and in whom rests the eternal law that governs the world.
God has made human beings in His own image and likeness and has given them the gift of the Holy Spirit which is a “call to friendship.” (#34) The Spirit is fully aware of all things even sin and therefore constantly guides the world toward righteousness. Human beings are mere creatures even though endowed with freedom and rationality. Therefore, they cannot decide by themselves what is good and evil and cannot know them like God. However, the Holy Spirit gives them the gift of conscience to discern good from evil. The original disobedience results in the rejection of this gift fuelled by the belief that one is capable of making independent moral judgments. (#36)
When God created, he revealed himself as Love and called human beings to participate in His Love but they separated themselves from him while under the influence of the ‘father of lies.’ (#37) Satan tries to pit God against His creation or better creation against God. He does so by beguiling human beings to believe that God opposes their freedom with His demands. This belief leads human beings to see God as a limitation to their freedom and not as the fullness of the Good and the source of their freedom. This gives rise to the ‘death of God’ philosophy; but such a philosophy is not only poor in content but also poor in its representation of human beings. Without God, human beings do not have a foundation. So a ‘death of God’ philosophy naturally leads to the ‘death of humankind.’ (#38)
4. THE SPIRIT WHO TRANSFORMS SUFFERING INTO SALVIFIC LOVE
Sin appeared as an act of the will of creatures against the will of God. It is opposed to goodness and truth. The Holy Spirit enters humanity’s and the cosmos’ suffering and through a fresh outpouring of love redeems them. (#39) Jesus Christ, through his Passion, allowed the Holy Spirit to transform his humanity into a perfect sacrifice. (#40)
In the Old Testament, we have several references to the sacrifice being consumed by fire from heaven. The Holy Spirit acts like that fire from heaven consuming the sacrifice of the Son on the cross. (#41) When John the Baptist says that Jesus will come and baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire, we have to understand it in these terms.
5. THE BLOOD THAT PURIFIES THE CONSCIENCE
Jesus gives his apostles the power to forgive sins. This power presupposes and includes the saving action of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit convinces persons of sin thus helping them realize their own evil and choose the good over it. In this way, conversion of heart is brought about by the Holy Spirit. This is how we ought to understand the title of this section which is taken from Hebrews 9:14.
Conscience holds the dignity of the person. Since it can lead a person to the good while shunning evil, it becomes the main characteristic of the person. But conscience is not arbitrary, it answers to a law that is not personally constructed but in some way given. This is the divine law or God’s voice and is accessible to all including those who might not acknowledge the existence of God. “It is precisely in reference to this that the conscience always finds its foundation and justification.” (#43)
The battle between good and evil has raged since creation and will continue till the Last Day. Human beings need not become fatalistic about their sinful condition but can claim the hope that Christ offers. (#44) The Holy Spirit makes conversion possible through a deep remorse for sin and this makes a person open to forgiveness. (#45)
6. THE SIN AGAINST THE HOLY SPIRIT
By rejecting the Holy Spirit one sins against him. Doing so, closes a person to the salvific power of the Cross as well as the Spirit’s ability to inspire repentance. (#46) Such an attitude leads to a hardness of heart. Pope Pius XII said that “the sin of the century is the loss of the sense of sin.” This goes along with the ‘loss of the sense of God’. The Church constantly beseeches God that human consciences may never grow complacent, lull or hard and that they may always remain open to the working of the Spirit. (#47)
Conversion from sin implies a breaking of every chain that binds humanity. Conversion allows the Holy Spirit to lead a person out of judgment and into the righteousness that comes from a life set on God.
PART 3: THE SPIRIT WHO GIVES LIFE
The Church confesses the mystery of the Incarnation by making reference to the Holy Spirit. (#49) “The conception and birth of Jesus Christ are in fact the greatest work accomplished by the Holy Spirit in the history of creation and salvation.” (#50) “Mary entered the history of the salvation of the world through the obedience of faith. And faith, in its deepest essence, is the openness of the human heart to the gift: to God’s self-communication in the Holy Spirit.” (#51)
The resistance to the Holy Spirit takes “concrete form as a content of culture and civilization, as a philosophical system, an ideology, a program for action and for the shaping of human behaviour. It reaches its clearest expression in materialism…” (#56) Materialism, “understood as a theory which explains reality and accepted as the key-principle of personal and social action, is characteristically atheistic.” (#56) Any manifestation of the spirit that it might mention is qualified as mere epiphenomena (derived from matter itself). According to this ideology, religion is pure illusion. Materialism therefore, directly militates against the Holy Spirit and closes the horizon of the spirit to persons. Death becomes “an impassable frontier and limit” (#57) beyond which human life has no meaning or value. This gives rise to practices like euthanasia which militate against life and against the Holy Spirit, who is the giver of life.
“Man’s intimate relationship with God in the Holy Spirit also enables him to understand himself, his own humanity, in a new way.” (#59) In this way, one can realize the image and likeness of God in oneself. In the light of Christ and in the relationship with God, one discovers the intimate truth of oneself, one realizes one’s inviolable dignity.
Through the action of the Holy Spirit humanity can grow and progress. Under the influence of the Holy Spirit, people can discover the divine dimension of their being and life both as individuals and as community, and they are made capable of breaking the shackles of materialistic attitudes. The progress of humankind is hindered by “conditionings and pressures exerted upon him by dominating structures and mechanisms in the various spheres of society.” (#60) Christians, by their obedience to the Holy Spirit can and do contribute to the development of the world in the fields of civilization, culture, science, technology and other areas of thought and activity. They do this as disciples of Christ and empowered by the Spirit.
Sacramentally, the departure of Christ is enshrined in the celebration of the Holy Eucharist. “In every celebration of the Eucharist his coming, his salvific presence, is sacramentally realized: in the Sacrifice and in Communion.” (#62) The Eucharist also helps the believer see and live the intimate relationship among the persons of the Trinity as well as their love for creation. The believer is led to grow in communion with God and with others. For this reason, the early Church kept the ‘breaking of the bread’ at the heart of their fellowship and worship.
Christ’s Eucharistic presence urges the Church to enter deeply into her own mystery, for she herself is a sacrament to the world of the Paschal Mystery and of the Holy Spirit. (#63, 64) The power of the Redemption is displayed in history in two ways: the historical figure of Jesus and the mission of the Holy Spirit. The former revealed the latter and the latter continues to reveal the mystery of the former.
The sacraments of the Church serve as reminders of Christ’s departure on the Cross and the resurrection which brought forth the Spirit. The sacraments are life giving in as much as they invoke the Spirit, the giver of 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.” (#63)
Wherever people pray, there the Spirit is present (#65). It is the Spirit who breathes prayer in the heart of human beings. Prayer reveals the depths of the human soul – a depth which comes from God and which only He can fill. The strength we receive when we pray is the Spirit himself. There are many things, situations and attitudes that threaten the very humanity of humankind, above all there is a threat to the spiritual dimension of humanity but there is also a rediscovery that is taking place of the power of prayer and spirituality.










