On Wednesday, 22 November, John Paul II continued his reflections on Pentecost and the coming of the Holy Spirit. The present reflection is the twenty-second in the current series. 

1. As we have seen in the progressive unfolding of the pneumatological reflections, the Holy Spirit reveals himself in his salvitic power on the day of Pentecost. He is revealed as "another Counsellor" (cf. Jn 14:16), who "proceeds from the Father" (Jn 15:26), whom "the Father sends in the Son’s name" (cf. Jn 14:26). He is revealed as "Someone" distinct from the Father and the Son, and at the same time consubstantial with them. He is revealed through the Son, even though he remains invisible. He is revealed through the power and action attributed to him, distinct from that of the Son, and at the same time intimately united to him. Such is the Holy Spirit according to Christ’s statement on the day before his passion: "He will glorify me, for he will take what is mineand declare it to you (Jn 16:14); "He will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come" (Jn 16:13).

The Paraclete-Counsellor does not replace Christ; he comes after him in virtue of Christ’s redemptive sacrifice. He comes so that Christ can remain in the Church and work in her as Redeemer and Lord.

2. I wrote in the Encyclical Dominum et Vivificantem: "Between the Holy Spirit and Christ there thus subsists, in the economy of salvation, an intimate bond, whereby the Spirit works in human history as ‘another Counsellor’, permanently ensuring the transmission and spreading of the Good News revealed by Jesus of Nazareth. Thus in the Holy Spirit-Paraclete, who in the mystery and action of the Church unceasingly continues the historical presence on earth of the Redeemer and his saving work, the glory of Christ shines forth as the following words attest: ‘He (the Spirit of truth) will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you’ " (n. 7).

3. The truth contained in this promise of Jesus becomes evident at Pentecost: the Holy Spirit fully "reveals" the mystery of Christ, his messianic and redemptive mission. The primitive Church is aware of this fact, as is clear from Peter’s first preaching and from many later episodes recorded in the Acts of the Apostles.

It is significant that Peter, in replying on Pentecost to his hearers’ question "What shall we do?", exhorts them: "Repent andbe baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ" (Acts 2:38). It is known that Jesus, in sending his apostles into the whole world, had ordered them to administer baptism "in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" (Mt 28:19). Peter echoed faithfully the Master’s word and the result was that, on that occasion, "about three thousand persons" (Acts 2:41) were baptized "in the name of Jesus Christ" (Acts 2:38). This expression, " in the name of Jesus Christ", represents the key for entering with faith into the fullness of the trinitarian mystery and thus becoming Christ’s possession as persons consecrated to him. In this sense the Acts speak of the invocation of the name of Jesus in order to be saved (cf. 2:21 3:16; 4:10-12; 8:16; 10:48; 19:5; 22:16), and in his Letters St Paul insists on the same requirement in the order of salvation (cf. Rom 6:3; 1 Cor 6:11; Gal 3:27; see also James 2:7). The trinitarian gift promised by Jesus during the Last Supper when he said to the apostles: "The Spirit of truth... will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said he will take what is mine and declare it to you" (Jn 16:13-15)—this trinitarian gift becomes a reality through baptism "in the Holy Spirit", conferred "in the name of Christ".

4. The apostles, in all their activities carried out after Pentecost under the influence of the Holy Spirit, refer to Christ as the reason, the principle, and the operative power. Thus in the cure of the lame man "near the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful" (Acts 3:2), Peter says to him: "I have no silver and gold, but I give you what I have; in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk!" (Acts 3:6). This miracle draws many people to Solomon's portico, and Peter speaks to them, as on Pentecost day, of Christ crucified "whom God raised from the dead, and to this we are witnesses" (Acts 3:15). It is faith in Christ that cured the lame man: "And his name, by faith in his name, has made this man strong whom you see and know; and the faith which is through Jesus has given the man this perfect health in the presence of you all " (Acts 3: 16).

5. When the apostles were summoned for the first time before the Sanhedrin, "Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit", in the presence of the "rulers of the people and elders" (Acts 4:8) bore witness yet again to Christ crucified and risen, and he concluded his reply to the Sanhedrin as follows: "There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12). When they were released, the author of Acts tell us, "they went to their friends" and with them praised the Lord (Acts 4:23-24). Then there was a kind of minor Pentecost: "When they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God with boldness" (Acts 4:31). And later, in the first Christian community and before the people, "with great power the apostles gave their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all" (Acts 4:33).

The deacon Stephen will be a special example of this fearless witness to Christ. He was the first martyr, and we read in the accountof his death: "Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God; and he said, ‘Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing at the right hand of God’. But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together upon him" (Acts 7:55-59).

Reference point and keystone

6. From these and other accounts in Acts it is clear that the apostles’ teaching under the influence of the Holy Spirit has its reference point and keystone in Christ. The Holy Spirit enables the apostles and their disciples to penetrate the truth of the Gospel proclaimed by Christ, and particularly his paschal mystery. He enkindles in them love for Christ to the point of sacrificing their lives. He ensures that the Church brings into being, from the very beginning, the kingdom brought by Christ. This kingdom, under the action of the Holy Spirit and with the collaboration of the apostles, of their successors and of the entire Church, will develop in history until the end of time. There is no trace in the Gospels, in Acts or in the Letters of the apostles of any kind of pneumatological utopianism whereby the kingdom of the Father (Old Testament) and of Christ (New Testament) should be succeeded by the kingdom of the Holy Spirit, represented by the "spirituals’ " claims, exempt from all law, even from the evangelic law preached by Jesus. As St Thomas Aquinas writes, "the old law was not only of the Father, but also of the Son, since the old law prefigures Christ.... So likewise the new law is not only of Christ, but also of the Holy Spirit, according to the words of St Paul: ‘The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus...’ (Rom 8:2). Therefore we are not to expect another law which would be that of the Holy Spirit" (I, II, q. 106, a. 4, ad 3). During the Middle Ages there were some who dreamt up and predicted, under the influence of the apocalyptic speculations of the pious Calabrian monk Joachim of Fiore († 1202), the coming of a "third kingdom" in which would be verified the universal renewal in preparation for the end of the world foretold by Jesus (cf. Mt 24:14). But St Thomas further notes that "from the very beginning of the Gospel preaching Christ has stated: ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand’ (Mt 4:17). Hence it is very stupid to say that Christ’s Gospel is not the Gospel of the Kingdom" (I II, q. 106, a. 4, ad 4). It is one of the very few cases in which the Holy Doctor used harsh words in judging an erroneous opinion, because in the thirteenth century the controversy engendered by the ravings of the "spirituals" was very much alive. They distorted Joachim's teaching, and St Thomas saw the danger of the claims of independence and innovation founded on the presumption of "charisms", to the detriment of the cause of the Gospel and of the true "Kingdom of God". Therefore he harked back to the necessity of the "fully successful preaching of the Gospel in the whole world, that is to say, with the foundation of the Church in every nation. And in this sense... the Gospel has not been preached in the whole world; the end of the world will come after this preaching" (I II, q. 106, a. 4 ad 4).

This has been the Church’s line of thought from the very beginning, on the basis of the preaching of Peter and the other apostles. There one finds not even the shadow of a dichotomy between Christ and the Holy Spirit; rather, their preaching confirms what Jesus had said of the Paraclete during the Last Supper: "He will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you" (Jn 16:13-14).

7. At this point we cannot but rejoice at the amount of space devoted by the theology of our Eastern brothers to reflection on the relation between Christ and the Holy Spirit, a relation that finds its most intimate expression in the ChristPneuma after the resurrection and Pentecost, in line with the words of St Paul, "the last Adam became a life-giving spirit" (1 Cor 15:45). It is an open field for the study and contemplation of the mystery which is both Christological and Trinitarian. In the Encyclical Dominum et Vivificantem it is stated: "The supreme and complete self-revelation of God, accomplished in Christ and witnessed to by the preaching of the apostles, continues to be manifested in the Church through the mission of the invisible Counsellor, the Spirit of truth. How intimately this mission is linked with the mission of Christ, how fully it draws from this mission of Christ, consolidating and developing in history its salvific results, is expressed by the verb ‘take’: ‘he will take what is mine and declare it to you’. As if to explain the words ‘he will take’ by clearly expressing the divine and trinitarian unity of the source, Jesus adds: ‘All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you’. By the very fact of taking what is ‘mine’ he will draw from ‘what is the Father’s’ " (n. 7).

Let us recognize it frankly: this mystery of the trinitarian presence in humanity through the kingdom of Christ and of the Holy Spirit is the most beautiful and joyous truth that the Church could give to the world.