In his weekly catechesis Pope John Paul II explores the relationship between the Holy Spirit and the sacraments

This is the catechesis which the Holy Father gave during the General Audience on 30 January:

1. Source of truth and life-giving principle of the identity of the one, holy catholic and apostolic Church, the Holy Spirit is also the source and principle of the sacramental life through which the Church draws the strength of Christ, participates in His holiness, is nourished by His grace, and grows and advances on her journey towards eternity. The Holy Spirit, who is at the origin of the incarnation of the Word, is the living source of all the sacraments instituted by Christ and at work in the Church. It is precisely through the sacraments that He gives people "new life", associating the Church to Himself as His co-worker in this saving action.

2. We do not intend to explain the nature, properties, and scope of the sacraments to which we shall dedicate— God willing—other future catecheses. We can, however, always turn to the simple, concise formula of the old catechism according to which "the sacraments are means of grace, instituted by Jesus Christ for our salvation". We can also repeat once again that the Holy Spirit is the author, dispenser and almost the breath of Christ's grace in us. In this catechesis we shall see how, according to the Gospel texts, this connection can be found in the individual sacraments.

3. This connection is particularly clear in Baptism, which Jesus describes in His conversation with Nicodemus as being born "of water and the Spirit": "What is born of flesh is flesh and what is born of spirit is spirit.... You must be reborn from above" (Jn 3:5-7).

John the Baptist already announced and presented the Christ as "the one who baptizes in the Holy Spirit" (Jn 1:33), "in the Holy Spirit and fire" (Mt 3:11). In the Acts of the Apostles and the apostolic writings the same truth is expressed in a different way. On Pentecost those who listened to Peter's message heard an invitation: "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit" (Acts 2:38). The Pauline letters speak of a "bath of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit" poured out by Jesus Christ, our Saviour (cf. Ti 3:5-6), and the baptized are reminded that "you have had yourselves washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God" (I Cor 6:11). Again they are told that "in one Spirit (they) were all baptized into one body (I Cor 12:13). In Paul's teaching, as in the Gospel, the Holy Spirit and the name of Jesus Christ are linked in the proclamation, conferral and mention of Baptism as the source of sanctification and salvation — of that new life Jesus spoke of to Nicodemus.

4. Confirmation, the sacrament connected to Baptism, is presented in the Acts of the Apostles in the form of an imposition of hands through which the Apostles communicated the gift of the Holy Spirit. Peter and John "laid hands on" the new Christians who had just been baptized "and they received the Holy Spirit" (Acts 8:17). The same was said of the Apostle Paul in regard to the other neophytes: "And when Paul laid [his] hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them" (Acts 19:6).

Through faith and the sacraments, therefore, we "were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, which is the first installment of our inheritance" (Eph 1:13-14). To the Corinthians Paul wrote: "But the one who gives us security with you in Christ and who anointed us is God; He has also put His seal upon us and given the Spirit in our hearts as a first installment" (II Cor 1:21-22; cf. I Jn 2:20, 27; 3:24). The Letter to the Ephesians adds the significant admonition not to grieve the Holy Spirit with which we "were sealed for the day of redemption" (Eph 4:30).

From the Acts of the Apostles we can deduce that the Sacrament of Confirmation was administered through the imposition of hands after Baptism "in the name of the Lord Jesus" (cf. Acts 8:15-17; 19:5-6).

5. In the Sacrament of Reconciliation (or Penance), the connection with the Holy Spirit is established through the power of the word of Christ after His resurrection. Indeed, John testifies that Jesus breathed upon the Apostles and said to them: "Receive the Holy Spirit; whose sins you forgive are forgiven them; whose sins you retain are retained" (Jn 20:22-23). These words can also refer to the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick, concerning which we read in the Letter of James that "the prayer of faith" — together with the anointing by the presbyters "in the name of the Lord"— "will save the sick person, and the Lord will raise him up. If he has committed any sins, he will be forgiven" (Jas 5:14-15). Christian Tradition has seen in this anointing and prayer an initial form of the sacrament (cf. St Thomas, Contra Gentes, IV, C. 73), and this identification was sanctioned by the Council of Trent (cf. Denz.-S. 1695).

6. As for the Eucharist, in the New Testament its link with the Holy Spirit is marked more or less directly in the text of John's Gospel which recounts Jesus' announcement in the synagogue at Capernaum about the institution of the Sacrament of His Body and Blood: "It is the Spirit which gives life, while the flesh is of no avail; the words I have spoken to you are spirit and life" (Jn 6:63). Both the Word and the Sacrament have life and operative effectiveness from the Holy Spirit.

Christian Tradition is aware of this bond between the Eucharist and the Holy Spirit which was expressed, and still is today, during the Mass when, in the epiklesis the Church requests the sanctification of the gifts offered upon the altar: "by the power of your Spirit" (Eucharistic Prayer III); "let Your Spirit come upon them" (Eucharistic Prayer II); "bless and approve our offering" (Eucharistic Prayer I). The Church emphasizes the mysterious power of the Holy Spirit for the completion of the Eucharistic consecration, for the sacramental transformation of bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ, and for the communication of grace to those who participate in it and to the entire Christian community.

7. In regard to the Sacrament of Order St Paul speaks of the "charism" (or gift of the Holy Spirit) which leads to the imposition of hands (cf. I Tm 4:14; II Tm 1:6), and he emphatically declares that it is the Holy Spirit who "appoints" bishops in the Church (cf. Acts 20:28). Other passages from Paul's letters and the Acts of the Apostles testify to a special rapport between the Holy Spirit and Christ's ministers, that is, the Apostles and their collaborators, and later their successors —bishops, priests and deacons—heirs, not only of their mission, but also of their charisms, as we shall see in our next catechesis.

8. Finally, I want to recall that the Sacrament of Matrimony, this "great mystery... in reference to Christ and the Church" (Eph 5:32) in which, in Christ's name and through Him, a covenant is established between two people, a man and a woman, a life-giving community of love; this sacrament is the human participation in that divine love which has been "poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit (Rom 5:5). The third Person of the Blessed Trinity who, according to St Augustine, in God is the "consubstantial communion" (communio consubstantialis) of the Father and the Son (cf. De Trinitate, VI, 5.7, PL 42, 928) through the Sacrament of Matrimony forms the human "communion of persons" between a man and woman.

9. In concluding this catechesis in which we at least gave a rough outline of the truth of the presence of the Holy Spirit at work in the Church's sacramental life, as we see from Scripture, Tradition, and especially from the sacramental liturgy, we cannot fail to emphasize the necessity of a continual deepening of our knowledge of this wonderful doctrine; nor can we fail to recommend to everyone a sacramental practice which is ever more consciously docile and faithful to the Holy Spirit who, especially through the "means of salvation instituted by Jesus Christ", brings to fulfilment the mission entrusted to the Church to work for universal redemption.