During his Wednesday general audience the Pope gave this reflection on the person of the Holy Spirit.

1. Up to now we have devoted a series of reflections to the action of the Holy Spirit, considering it first of all in the light of the Old Testament and then in different times in Christ's life. Now we turn to examine the mystery of the Person of the Holy Spirit who lives in communion with the Father and the Son in the unity of the divine Trinity. We are in the loftiest phase of that which we have several times referred to as God's self-revelation: the manifestation of His own intimate essence and plan on the part of the God whom Jesus taught us to recognize and invoke as Father. This infinitely true and good God has always kept to a kind of transcendent pedagogy to teach us and draw us to Himself. This also happened in the revelation of the Holy Spirit.

2. St Gregory Nazianzen recalls this in a beautiful text which explains the main theme of God's progressive action in salvation history in relation to the mystery of the Trinity of the divine Persons in the unity of the divine substance. "In effect", says that great Father of the Church, "the Old Testament expressly told us about the Father, and less clearly, about the Son; the New Testament manifested the Son and suggested the divinity of the Holy Spirit. Now the Spirit dwells in us and manifests Himself more clearly. In fact, it was not prudent to speak openly about the Son when the divinity of the Father was not yet confessed and to impose upon us even more—here I am speaking quite boldly—the Holy Spirit, before the Son's divinity was recognized" ("Orat. XXXI, Theol. V," 26: PG 36, 161). Therefore, according to Nazianzen, it was difficult for people to accept the revelation of God as one in nature and three in person because it was greater than human intellectual concepts as they are generally understood: it is difficult, and has always remained so for many people, even those who are sincerely religious, as the history of Judaism and Islam shows us.

3. The previous reflections, in which we saw that in many ways and many places, beginning with the opening of the Book of Genesis (cf. Gn 1:2), the Old Testament speaks of the Spirit of God, show us that this pedagogical progress has taken place in divine revelation. However, we always noted that we were dealing with pre-announcements and foretastes, as it were, of the Holy Spirit's activity in man and history, and not yet with his Person, at least not directly or explicitly. In the vast range of the Old Testament one can speak of a discovery, a 'taste", a progressive understanding of the Spirit's activity, always remaining, however, in obscurity about the distinction of persons in the unity of God. Even the most ancient texts show that certain phenomena of the physical, psychological and spiritual world come from the Spirit of God: they speak of "God's breath" which gives life to the universe from the moment of creation, or of a superhuman force given to persons called to special tasks in guiding and defending the "People of God"—such as Sampson's physical strength (cf. Jgs 14:6), Gideon's investiture (cf. Jgs 6:34), Jepthah's victory in battle against the Ammonites (cf. Jgs 11:29). In other instances we find that the Spirit of God not only "invests" but also "seizes" the person (Elijah: cf. I Kgs 18:12), effects prophetic transports and ecstasy, gives the ability to interpret dreams (Joseph in Egypt: cf. Gn 41:38). In all these cases it is a matter of an action of an immediate and transitory nature—we could say a charismatic one—for the good of the people of God.

4. On the other hand, the same Old Testament gives us many instances of a constant action by the Spirit of God which, according to Biblical language, "rested upon" a person, as happened to Moses, Joshua, David Elijah and Elisha. The Prophets are especially the bearers of the Spirit of God. The connection between the prophetic word and God's Spirit is already affirmed in the story of Balaam (Nm 24:2-3) and is emphasized in an episode from the First Book of Kings (I Kgs 22:24). After the exile, Ezekiel shows that he is fully aware of the origin of his inspiration: "The Spirit of the Lord came upon me and said to me: 'Speak..."' (Ez 11:5) and Zechariah recalls that God had spoken to his people "by His Spirit through the former prophets" (Zec 7:12).

In this period effects of a moral nature were also attributed most of all to the Spirit of God and His action (for example, in Psalms 50 and 142, and in the Book of Wisdom). We have referred to these passages and analyzed them in turn.

5. However, the most significant and important texts are those which the Prophets dedicated to the Spirit of the Lord which would rest upon the Messiah, on the messianic community and its members, and especially the texts of Isaiah's messianic prophecies: here is the revelation that the Spirit of the Lord would first be upon the "shoot of Jesse", David's descendant and successor (Is 11 :1-2), then upon the "Servant of this Lord" (Is 42: 1), who will be a " covenant of the people and light for the nations" (Is 42:6), and lastly upon the evangelizer of the nations (Is 61:1; cf. Lk 4:18).

According to the ancient prophecies, the Spirit of the Lord will also renew the spiritual face of the "remnant of Israel", of the messianic community which remains faithful to the divine call, as we are told not only by the passages from Isaiah (44:3; 59:21), but also in Ezekiel (36:27; 37:14), Joel (3:1-2) and Zechariah (12: 10).

6. In such a way the Old Testament, with its abundant references to the action of the Spirit of God, prepares our understanding for what would be given in the New Testament's revelation concerning the Holy Spirit as a Person in His unity with the Father and the Son. All this develops along the line of the divine pedagogy which leads people to the knowledge and recognition of the greatest of mysteries: the Trinity, the Incarnation of the Word, the coming of the Holy Spirit. In the Old Testament everything was concentrated on the truth of monotheism entrusted to Israel which always had to be detended and consolidated in the face of the temptations to polytheism which came from all directions.

In the New Covenant we reach a new phase: greater awareness of the person in regard to man has given us a context in which the revelation of the Holy Spirit as a Person can find fertile ground. The Holy Spirit is He who dwells in the person and, living there, sanctifies him or her especially with the power of love which He Himself is. In this way the revelation of the Spirit-Person also reveals the interior depth of the human person. And, through this more profound exploration of the human spirit, we are more aware that the Holy Spirit becomes the source of communion between mankind and God, as well as of interpersonal "communion" among people. This is the synthesis of the new revelation of the Person of the Holy Spirit, which we shall reflect on in the next catechesis.