At his General Audience (18 April) the Holy Father continued his series of instruction on Holy Spirit.

1. We have already seen that a correct and careful reading of the "Incarnation event" reveals truths about the Holy Spirit as well as truths about Christ the God-Man. The truths about Christ and the truths about the Holy Spirit make up the single mystery of the Incarnation which is revealed to us in the New Testament and especially—as a biographical and historical fact, full of mysterious truths in Matthew's and Luke's narratives of Jesus' conception and birth. We acknowledge it in our profession of faith in Christ, the eternal Son of God, when we say that he was made man by being conceived and born of Mary "by the power of the Holy Spirit".

That mystery shines through the account which the Evangelist Luke devotes to Mary's Annunciation, as an event occurring within the context of a deep, sublime personal relationship between God and Mary. The narrative casts light also on the personal relationship which God wants to have with every person.

2. God, who is present in all beings as the principle and the one who sustains their existence according to the nature of each, makes himself present "in a new way" in each person who opens himself up to him and becomes his follower, welcoming the gift of grace by which he is able to know and love him supernaturally, as Guest of the soul transformed into a holy temple (cf. St Thomas, Summa Theol., I, q.8, a.3, ad 4; q. 38, a.1; q. 43, a.3). But in Christ's humanity God brings about a still higher and more perfect indwelling—and in fact a unique one, uniting it to himself in the person of the eternal Word-Son (ibid., I, q.8,a.3, ad 4; III, q.2,a.2). One can say that he brings about a union and a special and privileged indwelling in Mary during the Incarnation of the Word, in the conception and birth of Jesus Christ, whose Father he alone is. It is a mystery which stands out when the incarnation is considered in its fullness.

3. Let us reflect once more on the passage from Luke. It describes and documents God's very personal relationship with the Virgin, to whom his messenger communicates the call to be the Mother of the Messiah, the Son of God, by the power of the Holy Spirit. On the one hand God communicates himself to Mary in the Trinity of Persons, which Christ one day will make more clearly known in their unity and distinction. The Angel Gabriel, in fact, announces to her that by God's will and grace she will conceive and bear him who will be acknowledged to be the Son of God; and that will happen by the power—that is by virtue—of the Holy Spirit, who, by overshadowing her, will cause her to be the human Mother of this Child. The term "Holy Spirit'' resounds in Mary's soul as a Person's name: that is a new element compared to the tradition of Israel and the writings of the Old Testament, and it is an anticipated revelation for her, who is allowed to share in what is at least a dim perception of the mystery of the Trinity.

4. In particular the Holy Spirit, who is made known in Luke's words, reflected in the discovery which Mary makes, appears as the one who, in a certain sense, "overcomes the distance" between God and man. It is the Person through which God draws near to man in his humanity to "give himself as a gift" in his very divinity to man, and to bring about in man—in everyman—a new form of union and presence (cf. St Thomas, Summa Theol., 1, q.43, a.3). Mary is privileged in this discovery by reason of the divine indwelling and her union with God in her motherhood. In view of this very high vocation, in fact, she is given a special grace which the angel recognizes in his greeting (cf. Lk 1:28). And all this is the work of the Holy Spirit, principle of grace in every person.

In Mary the Holy Spirit descends and acts—chronologically speaking—even before the Incarnation, that is, from the moment of her Immaculate Conception. But that happens in view of Christ, her Son, in the extra-temporal sphere of the mystery of the Incarnation. For her theImmaculate Conception constitutes, in advance, a participation in the benefits of the Incarnation and Redemption, as the highpoint and fullness of the "self-gift" which God makes to man. And that is accomplished by the power of the Holy Spirit. In fact the angel says to Mary: "The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God" (Lk 1:35).

5. In the Lukan passage, among other truths, there is also the fact that God waits for an act of consent on the part of the Virgin of Nazareth. In the books of the Old Testament which refer to births under extraordinary circumstances, there are cases where parents because of their age are no longer capable of generating the desired offspring. From the case of Isaac, born to Abraham and Sarah in their already advanced old age, we arrive at the threshold of the New Testament with John the Baptist, born of Zechariah and Elizabeth, these, too, of advanced age.

In Mary's Annunciation something very different occurs. Mary gave herself completely to God in her virginity. To become the Mother of God's Son, she does not have to do more than what is asked of her: give her consent to what the Holy Spirit will accomplish in her with his divine power.

Thus the Incarnation, the Holy Spirit's work, includes an act of free will on the part of Mary, a human being. A human being (Mary) responds consciously and freely to God's action; she welcomes the Holy Spirit's power.

6. In asking for a conscious and free response, God respects in her and in fact brings to its highest expression the "dignity of the causality" which he himself gives to all beings and especially to human beings. And, on the other hand, that beautiful answer by Mary: "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word" (Lk 1:38) is already itself a fruit of the power of the Holy Spirit within her: in her will, in her heart. It is an answer given by grace and in grace, which comes from the Holy Spirit. But this does not make it cease being an authentic expression of her freedom as a human creature, a conscious act of free will. The inner action of the Holy Spirit aims to ensure that Mary's response—and that of every human being whom God calls—is precisely what it ought to be, and expresses in the most complete fashion possible the personal maturity of an enlightened and pious conscience, which knows how to give itself without reservation. This is mature love. The Holy Spirit, giving himself to the human will as (uncreated) Love, ensures that created love is born and grows in the subject; at the same time this action, as an expression of human will, constitutes the person's spiritual fullness. Mary gives her answer of love in a perfect way, and thus becomes the shining type for every person's personal relationship with God.

7. The "Nazareth event", described by Luke in the Gospel of the Annunciation, is therefore a perfect image—and we can call it the "model" of the God-man relationship. God wills that this relationship be founded in every person on the gift of the Holy Spirit, but also on personal maturity. At the threshold of the New Covenant the Holy Spirit gives Mary a gift of immense spiritual greatness and obtains from her an action of dedication and loving obedience, which is an example for all those who are called to faith and to the following of Christ, now that " the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us" (Jn 1:14). After the earthly mission of Jesus and Pentecost, the call, God's "self-gift", the action of the Holy Spirit, which continues the Nazareth event will be repeated throughout the whole future of the Church. And it will always have to be that man's answer to the call and to God's gift be given with the same personal maturity which radiated throughout the "fiat" of theVirgin of Nazareth during the Annunciation.