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The
Holy Spirit and the Incarnation of the Word
16. Under
the Spirit's guidance, the history of salvation unfolds on the stage of the
world, indeed of the cosmos, according to the Father's eternal plan. That plan,
initiated by the Spirit at the very beginning of creation, is revealed in the
Old Testament, is brought to fulfilment through the grace of Jesus Christ, and
is carried on in the new creation by the same Spirit until the Lord comes again
in glory at the end of time. 56 The Incarnation of the Son of God is
the supreme work of the Holy Spirit: "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: the supreme grace—‘the grace of union',
source of every other grace".57 The Incarnation is the event in
which God gathers into a new and definitive union with himself not only man but
the whole of creation and all of history. 58
Having
been conceived in the womb of the Virgin Mary by the Spirit's power (cf. Lk 1:35;
Mt 1:20), Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah and only Saviour, was filled
with the Holy Spirit. The Spirit descended upon him at his baptism (cf. Mk 1:10)
and led him into the wilderness to be strengthened before his public ministry
(cf. Mk 1:12; Lk 4:1; Mt 4:1). In the synagogue at
Nazareth he began his prophetic ministry by applying to himself Isaiah's vision
of the Spirit's anointing which leads to the preaching of good news to the
poor, freedom to captives and a time acceptable to the Lord (cf. Lk 4:18-19).
By the power of the Spirit, Jesus healed the sick and cast out demons as a sign
that the Kingdom of God had come (cf. Mt 12:28). After rising from the
dead, he imparted to the disciples the Holy Spirit whom he had promised to pour
out on the Church when he returned to the Father (cf. Jn 20:22-23).
All of
this shows how Jesus' saving mission bears the unmistakable mark of the
Spirit's presence: life, new life. Between the sending of the Son from
the Father and the sending of the Spirit from the Father and the Son,
there is a close and vital link. 59 The action of the Spirit in
creation and human history acquires an altogether new significance in his
action in the life and mission of Jesus. The "seeds of the Word" sown
by the Spirit prepare the whole of creation, history and man for full maturity
in Christ. 60
The Synod
Fathers expressed concern about the tendency to separate the activity of the
Holy Spirit from that of Jesus the Saviour. Responding to their concern, I
repeat here what I wrote in Redemptoris Missio: "[The Spirit] is
... not an alternative to Christ, nor does he fill a sort of void which is
sometimes suggested as existing between Christ and the Logos. Whatever the
Spirit brings about in human hearts and in the history of peoples, in cultures
and religions serves as a preparation for the Gospel and can only be understood
in reference to Christ, the Word who took flesh by the power of the Spirit ‘so
that as perfectly human he would save all human beings and sum up all
things'".61
The
universal presence of the Holy Spirit therefore cannot serve as an excuse for a
failure to proclaim Jesus Christ explicitly as the one and only Saviour. On the
contrary, the universal presence of the Holy Spirit is inseparable from
universal salvation in Jesus. The presence of the Spirit in creation and
history points to Jesus Christ in whom creation and history are redeemed and
fulfilled. The presence and action of the Spirit both before the Incarnation
and in the climactic moment of Pentecost point always to Jesus and to the
salvation he brings. So too the Holy Spirit's universal presence can never be
separated from his activity within the Body of Christ, the Church. 62
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