LETTER OF THE
HOLY FATHER
POPE JOHN PAUL II
TO PRIESTS
FOR HOLY THURSDAY 1998
With mind and heart turned to
the Great Jubilee, the solemn celebration of the second millennium of the birth
of Christ and the beginning of the third Christian millennium, I wish to join
you in invoking the Spirit of the Lord, to whom we dedicate in a special way
the second stage of the spiritual journey of immediate preparation for the Holy
Year of 2000.
Docile to the Spirit's loving
inspirations, we prepare ourselves to share intensely in this favourable time,
imploring from the Giver of gifts the graces necessary to discern the signs of
salvation and to respond with full fidelity to the call of God.
An intimate bond unites our
priesthood to the Holy Spirit and to his mission. On the day of our priestly
ordination, by virtue of a unique outpouring of the Paraclete, the Risen One
accomplished again in each of us what he accomplished in his disciples on the
evening of Easter, and set us in the world as those who continue his mission
(cf. Jn 20:21-23). This gift of the Spirit, with its mysterious sanctifying
power, is the source and root of the special task of evangelization and of
sanctification which is entrusted to us.
On Holy Thursday, the day when
we commemorate the Lord's Supper, we contemplate Jesus, the Servant
"obedient unto death" (Phil 2:8), who institutes the Eucharist and
Holy Orders as the supreme sign of his love. He leaves us this extraordinary
testament of love, so that always and everywhere the mystery of his Body and
Blood may be perpetuated and people may approach the inexhaustible source of
grace. Is there a more appropriate and evocative moment than this for us
priests to contemplate the work of the Holy Spirit in us and to implore his
gifts in order to conform ourselves all the more to Christ, the Priest of the
New Covenant?
1. The Holy Spirit, Creator
and Sanctifier
Veni, Creator
Spiritus,
Mentes tuorum visita,
Imple superna gratia,
Quae tu creasti pectora.
Come, O Creator Spirit,
visit our minds.
Fill with your grace
the hearts you have created.
This ancient liturgical hymn
reminds every priest of his Ordination day, recalling the commitment made in
that unique moment to be completely open to the action of the Holy Spirit. It
reminds him as well of the Paraclete's special assistance and of the many
moments of grace, joy and intimacy which the Lord has granted him to enjoy on
his life's journey.
In the Creed of the Councils
of Nicaea and Constantinople the Church proclaims her faith in the Holy Spirit
as the Lord and Giver of Life, which expresses well the role he plays in the
events of human life, particularly in accompanying the Lord's disciples on the
way to salvation.
He is the Creator Spirit, whom
Scripture presents at the dawn of human history as "moving over the face
of the waters" (Gn 1:2) and, at the dawn of the work of redemption, as the
one through whom the Word of God took flesh (cf. Mt 1:20; Lk 1:35).
One in substance with the
Father and the Son, "in the absolute mystery of the Triune God, he is the
Person-love, the uncreated gift, who is the eternal source of every gift that
comes from God in the order of creation, the direct principle and, in a certain
sense, the subject of God's self-communication in the order of grace. The
mystery of the Incarnation constitutes the climax of this giving, this divine
self-communication" (Encyclical Letter, Dominum et Vivificantem, 50).
The Holy Spirit directs the
earthly life of Jesus towards the Father. Through his mysterious intervention,
the Son of God is conceived in the womb of the Virgin Mary (cf. Lk 1:35) and
becomes man. It is again the Spirit who, descending on Jesus in the form of a
dove at the baptism in the Jordan (cf. Lk 3:21-22), shows him to be Son of the
Father; and, immediately afterwards, it is the Spirit who drives him into the
desert (cf. Lk 4:1). After his victory over the temptations, Jesus begins his
mission "in the power of the Spirit" (Lk 4:14); Jesus rejoices in the
Holy Spirit and blesses the Father for his providential plan (cf. Lk 10:21);
and by the Spirit's power he drives out demons (cf. Mt 12:28, Lk 11:20). In the
drama of the Cross, Jesus offers himself "through the eternal Spirit"
(Hb 9:14), through whom he then rose (cf. Rm 8:11) and was "designated Son
of God in power" (Rm 1:4).
On the evening of Easter, the
Risen Jesus said to the Apostles gathered in the Upper Room: "Receive the
Holy Spirit" (Jn 20:22); and, after promising another outpouring, he sent
them out on the roads of the world, entrusted with the salvation of their
brothers and sisters: "Go ... and make disciples of all nations, baptizing
them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching
them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to
the close of the age" (Mt 28:19-20).
The presence of Christ in the
Church of all times and all places becomes living and powerful in the hearts of
the faithful through the work of the Consoler (cf. Jn 14:26). For our time too
the Spirit is the "principal agent of the new evangelization. ... [He]
builds the Kingdom of God within the course of history and prepares its full
manifestation in Jesus Christ, stirring people's hearts and quickening in our
world the seeds of the full salvation which will come at the end of time"
(Tertio Millennio Adveniente, 45).
2. Eucharist and Orders,
Fruits of the Spirit
Qui
diceris Paraclitus,
Altissimi donum Dei,
Fons vivus, ignis, caritas
Et spiritalis unctio.
O you who are called
Paraclete,
gift of the Most High God,
living spring, fire, love,
anointing of the soul.
With these words, the Church
invokes the Holy Spirit as spiritalis unctio, anointing of the soul. Through
the anointing of the Spirit in the immaculate womb of Mary, the Father
consecrated Christ the Eternal High Priest of the New Covenant who wished to
share his priesthood with us, calling us to be his presence in history for the
salvation of our brothers and sisters.
On Holy Thursday, Feria Quinta
in Cena Domini, we priests are invited to give thanks with the whole community
of the faithful for the gift of the Eucharist and to renew our sense of the
grace of our unique vocation. We are also inspired to entrust ourselves to the
action of the Spirit with fresh heart and full receptiveness, allowing ourselves
to be conformed day by day to Christ the priest.
In tender and mysterious
language, the Gospel of John tells the story of the first Holy Thursday, when
the Lord, at table with his disciples in the Upper Room, "having loved his
own who were in the world, loved them to the end" (13:1). To the end!:
until, that is, the institution of the Eucharist, which anticipates not only
Good Friday and the sacrifice of the Cross but the entire Paschal mystery. At
the Last Supper, Jesus takes bread in his hands and for the first time utters
the words of consecration: "This is my body which will be given up for
you". Then, over the chalice filled with wine, he proclaims the words of
consecration: "This is the cup of my blood, the blood of the new and everlasting
covenant. It will be shed for you and for all so that sins may be
forgiven", and he adds: "Do this in memory of me". Thus, in the
Upper Room and without the shedding of blood, Christ completes the Sacrifice of
the New Covenant, which will be accomplished in blood on the following day,
when he will say on the Cross: "Consummatum est" - "It is
accomplished" (Jn 19:30).
By the power of the Holy
Spirit, this Sacrifice, offered once and for all on Calvary, is entrusted to
the Apostles as the Most Blessed Sacrament of the Church. Seeking the
mysterious intervention of the Spirit, the Church begs before the words of
consecration: "And so, Father, we bring you these gifts. We ask you to
make them holy by the power of your Holy Spirit, that they may become the Body
and Blood of your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, at whose command we celebrate
this Eucharist" (Eucharistic Prayer III). Without the power of God's
Spirit, how could human lips ever make of bread and wine the Body and Blood of
the Lord, even to the end of time? It is only because of the power of God's
Spirit that the Church can profess unceasingly the great mystery of faith:
"Christ has died! Christ is risen! Christ will come again!".
The Eucharist and Orders are
fruits of the same Spirit: "As in the Mass it is he who works the
transubstantiation of bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ, so in
the Sacrament of Orders it is he who works the consecration of bishop or
priest" (Gift and Mystery, p. 53).
3. The Gifts of the Holy
Spirit
Tu
septiformis munere
Digitus paternae dexterae
Tu rite promissum Patris,
Sermone ditans guttura.
Finger of God's right hand,
the Saviour's promise,
send forth your seven gifts,
stir in us the word.
How could we not reflect in a
special way upon the gifts of the Holy Spirit, which the tradition of the
Church, following the Biblical and Patristic sources, describes as the
sevenfold gift ("sacrum Septenarium")? Scholastic theology gave
thorough attention to this doctrine, amply illustrating its meaning and its
characteristics.
"God has sent the Spirit
of his Son into our hearts, crying, 'Abba! Father!'" (Gal 4:6). "All
who are led by the Spirit are children of God... It is that very Spirit bearing
witness to our spirit that we are children of God" (Rm 8:14, 16). The words
of the Apostle Paul remind us that the fundamental gift of the Spirit is
sanctifying grace (gratia gratum faciens), with which we receive the
theological virtues—faith, hope and charity—and all the infused virtues
(virtutes infusae), which enable us to act under the influence of the Holy
Spirit. Unlike the charisms, which are bestowed for the service of others,
these gifts are offered to all, because they are intended to lead the person to
sanctity and perfection.
The names of the gifts are
familiar. The Prophet Isaiah mentions them in sketching the figure of the
future Messiah: "The spirit of the Lord shall rest on him, the spirit of
wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of
knowledge and fear of the Lord. His delight shall be in the fear of the
Lord" (11:2-3). The number will become seven in the translation of the
Septuagint and the Vulgate, which add piety and eliminate from Isaiah's text
the repetition of fear of the Lord.
Saint Irenaeus also makes
mention of the sevenfold gift and adds: "God gave this same Spirit to the
Church [...] sending the Consoler upon the earth" (Adversus Haereses, III,
17, 3). Saint Gregory the Great in turn illustrates the supernatural dynamic
which the Spirit imparts to the soul, listing the gifts in inverse order:
"Through the fear of the Lord we rise to piety, from piety then to
knowledge, from knowledge we derive strength, from strength counsel, with
counsel we move towards understanding and with intelligence towards wisdom and
thus, by the sevenfold grace of the Spirit, there opens to us at the end of the
ascent the entrance to the life of heaven" (Hom. In Hezech., II, 7, 7).
The Catechism of the Catholic
Church regards the gifts of the Holy Spirit as a special awakening of the human
soul and its faculties to the action of the Paraclete, and as such "they
complete and perfect the virtues of those who receive them. They make the
faithful docile in readily obeying divine inspirations" (No. 1831). This
means that the moral life of Christians is sustained by these "permanent
dispositions which make man docile in following the promptings of the Holy
Spirit" (ibid. No. 1830). These bring to maturity the supernatural life
which grace works in every human being. Indeed, the gifts are wonderfully well
adapted to our spiritual dispositions, perfecting them and opening them in a
special way to the action of God.
4. The Influence of the Gifts
of the Holy Spirit upon Man
Accende lumen sensibus
Infunde amorem cordibus
Infirma nostri corporis
Virtute firmas perpeti.
Be light to the mind,
burning love in the heart.
Heal our wounds
with the balm of your love.
Through the Spirit, God comes
intimately to the person and penetrates the human world more and more:
"The Triune God who 'exists' in himself as a transcendent reality of interpersonal
gift, giving himself in the Holy Spirit as gift to man, transforms the human
world from within, from inside hearts and minds" (Dominum et Vivificantem,
59).
This truth leads the great
Scholastic tradition to give a privileged place to the action of the Spirit in
human affairs and to stress God's saving initiative in the moral life. Neither
negating our personality nor depriving us of freedom, God saves us in a way
which surpasses all our plans and expectations. A logic such as this reveals the
gifts of the Holy Spirit as "perfections of man which dispose him to
follow readily the promptings of God" (Saint Thomas, Summa Theologiae
I-II, q. 68, a. 2).
With the seven gifts, the
believer can enter into a personal and intimate relationship with the Father,
with the freedom proper to the children of God. This is what Saint Thomas
underscores in noting how the Holy Spirit leads us to act not because we are
compelled but because we love. "The Holy Spirit", he writes,
"leads the children of God in freedom, through love, not by compulsion,
through fear" (Contra Gentiles, Book IV, 22). The Spirit renders Christian
action God-like, in harmony, that is, with God's way of thinking, loving and
acting, so that the believer becomes a visible sign of the Blessed Trinity in
the world. Sustained by the friendship of the Paraclete, by the light of the
Word and by the love of the Father, the believer can boldly set out to imitate
the perfection of God (cf. Mt 5:48).
The Holy Spirit moves on two
fronts, as my revered Predecessor, the Servant of God Paul VI, recalled:
"The first of these fronts is the individual soul..., that point where I
am "I". Into this depth of our existence, mysterious even to
ourselves, there comes the breath of the Holy Spirit; in the soul it spreads
with this first and greatest charism, which we call grace and which is like new
life, at once empowering the soul to act in ways which surpass its natural
capacity". "The power of Pentecost moves" on a second front
which is "the visible body of the Church... Of course 'Spiritus ubi vult
spirat' (Jn 3:8); but, in the economy decreed by Christ, it is through the
apostolic ministry that the Spirit moves". In virtue of this ministry,
priests receive power to impart the Spirit to the faithful "as those
authorized to proclaim the Word of God with authority, as those who guide the
Christian People and offer them the sacraments (cf. 1 Cor 4:1), which are
simply springs of grace, sources that is of the Paraclete's sanctifying
power" (Homily at Pentecost, 25 May 1969).
5. The Gifts of the Spirit in
the Life of the Priest
Hostem repellas longius
Pacemque dones protinus;
Ductore sic te praevio
Vitemus omne noxium.
From the enemy defend us,
bring forth the gift of peace.
With your invincible hand
keep us from all harm.
The Holy Spirit re-establishes
in the human heart full harmony with God and, assuring man of victory over the
Evil One, opens him to the boundless measure of divine love. Thus the Spirit
draws man from love of self to love of the Trinity, leading him into the
experience of inner freedom and peace, and prompting him to make his own life a
gift. And so, by means of the sevenfold gift, the Spirit guides the baptized to
the point where they are wholly configured to Christ and are in complete
harmony with the horizon of the Kingdom of God.
This is the path along which
the Spirit gently urges each of the baptized; but, in order that they may
exercise their demanding ministry with profit, the Spirit reserves a special
attention for those who have received Holy Orders. With the gift of wisdom,
therefore, the Spirit leads the priest to evaluate all things in the light of
the Gospel, helping him to read in his own experience and the experience of the
Church the mysterious and loving plan of the Father. With the gift of
understanding, the Spirit fosters in the priest a deeper insight into revealed
truth, pressing him to proclaim with conviction and power the Good News of
salvation. With the gift of counsel, the Spirit illuminates the ministry of
Christ so that the priest may direct his activities according to the
perspectives of Providence, never allowing himself to be swayed by the
judgements of the world. With the gift of strength, the priest is sustained in
the hardships of his ministry and provided with the boldness (parresia)
required for the proclamation of the Gospel (cf. Acts 4:29, 31). With the gift
of knowledge, the priest is able to understand and accept the sometimes
mysterious interweaving of secondary causes with the First Cause in the turn of
events in the universe. With the gift of piety, the Spirit revives in the
priest the relationship of intimate communion with God and of trusting
surrender to his Providence. Finally, with the gift of fear of the Lord, last
in the hierarchy of gifts, the Spirit gives the priest a stronger sense of his
own human weakness and of the indispensable role of divine grace, since
"neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only
God who gives the growth" (1 Cor 3:7).
6. The Spirit Leads Us into
the Life of the Trinity
Per te sciamus da Patrem
Noscamus atque Filium
Teque utriusque Spiritum
Credamus omni tempore.
Light of eternal wisdom,
unveil to us the great mystery
of God the Father and the Son
united in one single Love.
How evocative it is to imagine
these words on the lips of the priest who, together with the faithful entrusted
to his pastoral care, walks the path which leads to Christ! The priest yearns
to come with them to a true knowledge of the Father and the Son, and so to pass
from the experience of the Paraclete's action in history "per speculum in
aenigmate" (1 Cor 13:12) to the contemplation of the living and pulsating
reality of the Trinity "facie ad faciem" (ibid.). He is well aware
that he faces "a long crossing on little boats" and that he soars
heavenwards "on little wings" (Saint Gregory of Nazianzus,
Theological Poems, 1). But he can also count on the One who set himself to
teach the disciples everything (cf. Jn 14:26).
Once he has learnt to read the
signs of God's love in his personal story, the priest, as he comes closer to
the moment of his final encounter with the Lord, prays with ever greater
urgency and intensity. This is the sign of a mature faith which wants to obey
the will of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
The Paraclete, "stairway
of our ascent to God" (Saint Irenaeus, Adversus Haereses, III, 24, 1)
draws the priest to the Father, stirring in his heart a burning desire to see
God's face. The Paraclete makes known to him everything concerning the Son,
drawing him to Christ with a deepening nostalgia; and the Paraclete illumines
the priest about his own Person, that the priest may come to see the Spirit in
his own heart and in history.
Therefore, among the joys and
anxieties, the sufferings and hopes of the ministry, the priest learns to put
his trust in the final victory of love, thanks to the unfailing action of the
Spirit who, despite the limitations of men and institutions, leads the Church
to live the mystery of unity and truth in its fulness. This enables the priest to
trust in the power of God's word, which surpasses every human word, and in the
power of grace, which overcomes human sins and shortcomings. In time of trial,
this makes the priest strong, despite his human weakness, and makes him ready
to return with all his heart to the Upper Room where, persevering in prayer
with Mary and the disciples, he can rekindle the enthusiasm he needs in order
to resume the toil of apostolic service.
7. Prostrate in the Presence
of the Spirit
Deo Patri sit gloria
Et Filio, qui a mortuis
Surrexit, ac Paraclito
In saeculorum saecula.
Amen.
To God the Father be glory,
to the Son who is risen
and to the Spirit, the Paraclete,
For ages unending.
Amen.
As we ponder the birth of our
Priesthood on this Holy Thursday, each of us recalls that most evocative moment
when, on the day of our priestly Ordination, we prostrated ourselves on the
sanctuary floor. This gesture of deep humility and obedient openness was
splendidly designed to ready our soul for the sacramental imposition of hands,
through which the Holy Spirit entered us to accomplish his work. Once we had
risen from the floor, we knelt before the Bishop to be ordained priests and our
hands were anointed by him for the celebration of the Holy Sacrifice, while the
congregation chanted: "living spring, fire, love, anointing of the
soul".
These symbolic gestures, which
point to the presence and action of the Holy Spirit, invite us to renew this
experience day by day in order to strengthen in ourselves the gifts of the
Spirit. It is important that he should continue to work in us and that his
influence should guide our way, but more important still that it should be the
Spirit who acts through us. When temptation sets its trap and human strength
grows weak, then is the moment to invoke the Spirit more urgently, that he come
to help us in our weakness and grant us the strength and prudence which God
wills. Our heart must always be open to this action of the Spirit which exalts
and ennobles human efforts and leads to that spiritual depth where we find
knowledge and love of the ineffable mystery of God.
Dearest Brothers in the
Priesthood! Since the solemn invocation of the Holy Spirit and the eloquent
gesture of humility during our priestly Ordination, the fiat of the
Annunciation has resounded through our life. In the silence of Nazareth, Mary
became ever more open to the will of the Lord and, by the power of the Holy
Spirit, she conceived Christ, the salvation of the world. This first obedience
pervades her entire life on earth and reaches its climax at the foot of the
Cross.
The priest is called to match
the fiat of Mary at all times, allowing himself to be led by the Spirit as she
was. The Virgin will support him in his choice of evangelical poverty and will
prepare him to listen humbly and sincerely to his brothers and sisters, that he
may recognize in the drama of their lives and in their aspirations the
"groans of the Spirit" (cf. Rm 8:26). She will enable the priest to
serve them with enlightened discretion, that he may teach them the values of
the Gospel. She will make him diligent in searching for "the things that
are above" (Col 3:1), that he may witness convincingly to the primacy of
God. The Virgin will help the priest to welcome the gift of chastity as the
expression of a greater love which the Spirit awakens so that the love of God
may come to birth in a host of brothers and sisters. She will lead him down the
ways of evangelical obedience, that the Paraclete may draw him, beyond all his
own plans, towards total acceptance of the mind of God.
Accompanied by Mary, the
priest will be able to renew his consecration day after day; and the time will
come when, trusting the guidance of the Spirit whom he has invoked on his
journey as man and as priest, he will set forth upon the ocean of light which
is the Trinity.
Through the intercession of
Mary, Mother of Priests, I invoke upon you all a special outpouring of the
Spirit of love.
Come, Holy Spirit! Come, that
our service of God and our brothers and sisters may yield a rich harvest!
Assuring you once more of my
affection and wishing you the consolations of God in your ministry, I impart to
you with all my heart a special Apostolic Blessing.
From the Vatican, on 25 March,
Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord in the year 1998, the twentieth of my
Pontificate.