PNEUMATOLOGY

November 9, 2023
Sources
 Walter Kasper, The God of Jesus Christ
 Theological-Historical Commission, The Holy Spirit, Lord and
Giver of Life
 Yves Congar, I Believe in the Holy Spirit
 CCC, CFC, Bible

 Theology is always changing because of our lived experience,

because of our ever-changing culture and present context; has to
do with God-human relationship
 Pneumatology: we will use symbols used back then that have its
own context; the symbols are to be understood based on their
context; we are to discern their meaning
 We can explore the humanity and divinity of Jesus because of the
data found in the Scriptures; but we cannot dissect the Holy
Spirit because he is an elusive and evasive person of God
 “You can know the tree by its fruit”; therefore, Paul described
the Spirit by its fruit Galatians 5:22-23
 Gospel of John: Holy Spirit = paraklitos = advocate
 titles of the Holy Spirit also have soteriological significance;
crouched in the fact of relationships

Problems with the Holy Spirit1

 Theological: “I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of
Life”: the Father is the origin of the life, the Son gave to us
this life, the Holy Spirit fulfills/perfects this life to us
 Ecclesial: we have no concrete grasp of the Holy Spirit; the Holy
Spirit is the most mysterious of the 3 persons: the Son has shown
Himself in human form, and we can form an image of the Father

1
Walter Kasper, The God of Jesus Christ
 o Vladimir Lossky: the Holy Spirit loses himself/forgets
himself in the process of deification/divinization of man,
the Holy Spirit always points us to Jesus
o Uncreated grace (God Himself) -> “created” grace (blessings,
life, food, shelter, health); the problem is that we always
thank for the “created” grace to the point that we forget
the uncreated grace
 Intellectual Situation: lack of appreciation for the things we do
not see, of that which is “spiritual”, because of the prevalent
materialism

November 23, 2023

2
Forgetting the Holy Spirit
 within the Church there are tendencies that would eclipse the
importance of the Holy Spirit in the life of the Church, and the
life of individuals; substitutes of the Holy Spirit that
overshadow the Holy Spirit
o Pope: prior to Vatican II, there are theologians that would
make the Pope almost like a God e.g. Bishop Mermilon talking
about the infallibility of the Pope and the Pope = Jesus;
the Pope can be the instrument of unity but not the
principle of unity because the Holy Spirit is the principle
of unity
o Virgin Mary: Litany of Loreto titles that are ascribed to
the Holy Spirit e.g. Comfort of the Afflicted, Cause of our
Joy, etc.
o Cult of the Blessed Sacrament: the Eucharist is a temporal
sacrament, we don’t make a God out of the bread and wine,
the Eucharist is not God but the sacrament of Jesus
o Church

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Yves Congar, I Believe in the Holy Spirit Vol. 1
Pneumatology of Vatican II3
 there is no single document that tackled exclusively the Holy
Spirit; there are no doctrinal papers on any of the person of the
Trinity
 the number of mentions of Holy Spirit in all of the 16 documents
cannot be the basis of Pneumatology of Vatican II, but there is a
sprinkling of the Holy Spirit

 we only have the data about the Holy Spirit from the mouth of
Jesus and by his fruits;
 no added revelation from the Holy Spirit; the Holy Spirit only
makes us remember what Jesus has taught us, and understand better
and fully what Jesus has revealed to us (cf. John 14:26)
 the Holy Spirit as the self-effacing God; the Holy Spirit likes
the job to be done but not to be the center of the attraction
 we cannot discuss the Holy Spirit by himself or in himself; we
can only talk about him in relation with the other; the Holy
Spirit as the relational God; elements of Pneumatology in Vatican
II are that the Holy Spirit is in relation
o with Jesus
o with the Church: the Holy Spirit guarantees the faithfulness
of the Church’s pronouncements with Tradition; the Holy
Spirit animates the Church as an event in the here and now
(cf. LG 8); 3 Functions of the Holy Spirit: vivifies,
unifies, and moves
 the Holy Spirit causes communion
 the Holy Spirit gives charisms
 the Holy Spirit guides the sensus fidei
o with the Trinity
 the work of the Spirit outside the Church is to lead other people
to Christ, and when people are gathered in the name of Christ,
they become the Church; the Spirit working outside the Church is
not meant to make them equal with the Church
3
Ibid.
  religious indifferentism (all religions are equal) -> leads to
syncretism (chopseuy belief)
 the Holy Spirit is not an impersonal God, but the Lord and the
giver of Life

 Ab Pater, Per Filio, In Spiritu, Ad Patrem Yves Congar p. 169

 in Sacrosanctum Concilium, the Holy Spirit is emphasized in the
liturgy
 the Holy Spirit is not only the giver of gifts, but also the
discerner of the gifts

November 30, 2023

 Israelites are henotheism/monolatry = worship of a single,
supreme god that does not deny the existence or possible
existence of other deities that may also be worshipped; not
strictly monotheistic in the beginning
 Spirit = from Lat. spiritus = means breath/breathing = ruach
(Heb.) = pneuma (Gk.)

BIBLICAL FOUNDATIONS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

Old Testament
 The Spirit’s Name: Ruach – with 2 basic meanings: wind (hangin)
and air/breath (hininga)
o ruach may also mean for all that is empty and useless (e.g.
Ecclesiastes 1:14); emotions (because emotions can affect
the breathing pattern of a person)
o spirit as a dynamic reality = daloy/ihip ng hangin = not
static, uncontrollable, power, mystery
o but the basic meanings of wind and breath are at the origin
of the concept of the Spirit of the Lord (aka Spirit of
YHWH) – which originated as a way of describing God’s
powerful and mysterious action/activity (any divine activity
is described using the wind)
 o wind = something that is divine; points to the power of God
 but for Israelites, it is just a creature of the one
God, something under God, made by God
 God made use of the wind for God’s own will
 God is in control of the wind (prepare chaos into
creation, end the flood, provided route to divide the
sea [Ex. 15:8, 15:10], to provide manna)
 proper disposition in front of God’s powerful and
mysterious activity: let it be
o breath = mysterious and awesome; points to the presence of
life
 God breathed to man = it is the breath of God that is
in the man
o wind and breath are more than a metaphor in describing the
activity of God; they are regarded as manifestation/outward
signs of divine presence; God’s presence already implies
God’s activity
o wind and breath can be pictured as something that goes forth
from God, therefore is distinct from God
 Activities ascribed to the Spirit of God/Spirit of YHWH
o 2 particular areas: (1) charismatic leadership in pre-
monarchical Israel; (2) early prophecy
 as regards charismatic leadership, God gives
individuals the Spirit for a specific task, after
which it is removed
 in early prophecy – experience of being caught up in a
state of ecstasy or religious frenzy; any behavior
that went beyond the normal was seen as a sign of the
Spirit’s presence
 Israelites also saw being frenzied in other
cultures as a sign of the indwelling of the
Spirit
 such frenzies are attributed as the Spirt of
Elohim, not Spirit of YHWH; NB: Elohim means gods,
 Eli is the singular of God; Elohim as majestic

plural/reverential plural; thus, it can also be

attributed to the spirit of the Evil
o *permanent charism of the Holy Spirit in the New Testament =
priesthood
o with the establishment of the monarchy
 a king is a more permanent leader than a judge or
charismatic leader
 the Spirit is believed to remain with the King, as
God’s anointed, throughout his reign
 incipient institutionalization of the Spirit’s
presence (permanent link between the Spirit and a
particular office); the Spirit is conferred through a
symbolic action
 God does not want the institutionalization of monarchy
because they will lead the people to infidelity; thus,
God also established side-by-side prophets which is
also marked with the anointing and the passing over of
the Spirit to another prophet
 beginnings of ethical criteria for the Spirit’s
presence
 prophet Micah: appealed to the Spirit as the one
who moves him to declare
 Isaiah 11:2-3
 Joel: prophet
 post-Babylonian exile: Spirit as the source of
moral and religious renewal (Ezekiel 36:23-31),
purification of the people so that people may
live in moral
 outpouring of the Spirit bring about the renewal
of the covenant and his people (Isaiah 44:3)
December 7, 2023
 more specifically, in the Old Testament times – the Spirit came
to be associated with 2 things: prophecy and Israel’s hope for
salvation
o from 8th century onwards, prophecy/prophet were thought of
as the “delivery” and “deliverer” of a clear message from
God; unaccompanied by frenzies or ecstasies
 in the early days of Israel, frenzies and ecstasies
were regarded as sign of the Spirit; later on,
frenzies and ecstasies fell into ill-repute
 pre-exilic prophets appealed to the Spirit in order to
prophecy the crimes of the people against YHWH (Micah:
Spirit is linked to the moral/ethical dimension of the
message)
 post-exilic prophets took on the example of Micah:
linking the message of the Spirit to the ethical
dimension
o as regards Israel’s hopes for the future – the king is seen
as God’s instrument in bringing blessings to his people; the
king is endowed with the Spirit in order to guide the people
o Messiah-King = endowed with the Spirit
o not only the King but everybody will receive the Spirit
(Joel 3:1-2)
 in the post-exilic prophecy, the Spirit was withdrawn
from the people until the Messiah will come; lesser
mention of the Spirit in the post-Exile (Ezra-Nehemiah
time); thus, the expectation of the incoming Messianic
age is marked with the outpouring of the Spirit
(Ezekiel 36)
o role of the Law
 the law is the link of the Spirit and the will of God
 prophets are out, rabbis are in
 the interpretation of the law became the norm
 sanctification and justification is expected in the
coming again of the Spirit
  the “Holy Spirit” in the Old Testament is not the 3 rd person of
the Holy Trinity
o Isaiah 63:10 – used to stress that the Spirit is holy in
contrast with the unholiness and sinfulness of the people
o Psalm 51:13
o Wisdom 1:5
o only towards the end of the Old Testament period that the
expression “Holy Spirit” became widespread because they
ceased to pronounce YHWH because of their reverence; Holy
Spirit = tautology for YHWH; Spirit of YHWH -> Holy Spirit;
personification of the Spirit of God
o Rabbis always try to point out that the Spirit of YHWH
inspired the Torah in order to legitimize the Torah as
something that came from God
January 3, 2024
New Testament
 Hope Fulfilled: the Outpouring of the Holy Spirit
o in the Old Testament, Joel prophesied that one of the signs
of the arrival of the Messiah is the outpouring of the Holy
Spirit to all men; evident in Paul’s letters and Acts of the
Apostles
o the Spirit is permanently present in the community
 the community is Spirit-filled; “filled with the
consolation of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 9:31)
 the Church is a house in which God dwells in the
Spirit (Ephesians 2:22)
 Christians are temples of the Spirit (1 Cor. 6:19);
more than the buildings, one of the sure places of the
indwelling of the Holy Spirit is the community and
family
o the Story of Pentecost (Acts 2:1-21): pivotal event between
the Spirit and the Church
 arrival of the Spirit connected with speaking of
“foreign languages” (Acts 2:4)
  question: is it a miracle of speech (on the side
of the apostles) or hearing (on the side of the
hearers); it could be that it is a miracle of
hearing; glossolalia = speaking in tongues
 seems to imply then that with the coming of the
Spirit, division between people caused by sin is
beginning to be overcome (cf. Gen 11:5-9) – pride
caused division
 in the Old Testament, multiple languages caused
division; in the New Testament, multiple language
is united; Pentecost reverses Babel
 meaning of the Spirit’s coming at Pentecost – 50 days
after Passover:
 “festival of Harvest” (Exodus 23:14-17) or “feast
of Weeks” (Ex. 34:22)
 the time is also the celebration of the giving of
the Law on Mt. Sinai and the ratification of the
covenant;
 there is a connection between the timing of the
coming of the Spirit and the festivals
commemorated by the Jews: the Israelites made as
one people through the ratification of the Law,
the Church is made as the new people of God
through the outpouring of the Spirit; before, the
Code of Law, now, the Law of love
 the Church is God’s new people, saved by Jesus on
the feast of Passover (Luke 22:14-20)
 Christians are the beneficiaries of a new
covenant, based on a new law, Love
 what could be more appropriate then… the Holy
Spirit pours love into the hearts of the
believers (Rom. 5:5) on the very day that the
giving of the Law and the formation of the old
covenant was being celebrated
  Acts 2:17 – “in the last days” or “in the days to
come” (has something to do with the quotation from
Joel)
 has not something to do with the actual end of
the world’s history, but that the readers are now
living in an age characterized by the expansion
of the Church through the power of the Spirit
 the major events associated with those days (the
resurrection and the outpouring of the Spirit)
had already begun to happen
 Continuity and Development
o New Testament Conception of the Spirit
 Acts: the Spirit is a power that the Church needs for
its mission, and which is manifested especially in
extraordinary phenomena
 Paul: the Spirit is the giver of inner, spiritual
life, and is revealed in ordinary virtues, above all
in love
 John: Spirit “of Truth” – a person, like Jesus – a
paraclete
o common factor: the Old Testament idea of the Spirit as the
way in which God is active and present to people
o new element in the New Testament Pneumatology: tendency
(esp. in John) to regard the Spirit as distinct person
o basic continuity between the Old Testament and New
Testament: conceptions of the Spirit – the sort of actions
ascribed to the Spirit; for example
 behavior that went beyond the normal is ascribed
to the Holy Spirit
o prophecy (Num. 11:24-30; Acts 2:17)
o being “carried away” by the Spirit (1 Kings
18:12; Acts 8:39)
 o being “seized by the Spirit” and thereby
enabled to perform unusual feats (Judg
14:6; Acts 11:28)
 in the Old Testament, one of the gifts was Wisdom
(Is. 11:2); in the New Testament, the Spirit of
Truth (Jn. 14:17)…
 in the Old Testament, moral and religious renewal
was attributed to the Spirit’s presence;
similarly, in the New Testament rebirth to a new
life attributed to the Spirit (Jn 3:5-6) and the
fruits of the Spirit’s presence are a complete
moral renewal (Rom 8:13; Gal 5:22-23)
 in the Old Testament, the Spirit was connected
with the promised salvation for the future; in
the New Testament, the mere presence of the
Spirit is the sign of the presence of salvation
o to share in the Spirit is to share in
salvation (Rom 8:9-11; Gal 6:8)
 the Spirit poured out on us is the “down payment”
“deposit” “pledge” given by God guaranteeing our
complete sharing in salvation (2 Cor 5:5)
 the Spirit is the “first fruits” of the harvest
of salvation (Rom 8:23)
January 10, 2024
The Link between Jesus and the Spirit4 (Pneumatological Christology/
Christological Pneumatology): manifested in 4 Ways
 A. during his lifetime on earth, Jesus appears as the unique
bearer of the Spirit
o Baptism
 the Spirit descended on Jesus at the beginning of his
ministry – at the baptism by John (Mark 1:9-11,
Matthew 3:13-17, Luke 3:21-22, John 1:32-34)

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Theological-Historical Commission for the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000. The Holy Spirit, Lord and Giver of Life
  this event marked him out as God’s Son filled with
God’s Spirit
 the Spirit descended upon Jesus in the form of a dove
– the reason why dove is uncertain
 most interesting suggestion: dove was used as an image
of Israel (e.g. Hosea 11:11) – in Jesus we see the
representative and beginning of God’s new people5
 the Spirit’s descent is seen as a sign that with
Jesus’ appearance the new Messianic Age, the new
Creation, the longed-for-last days have begun to dawn
 this is supported by the fact that a voice is heard
from heaven – once again God speaks to men directly
 the Voice makes it clear that Jesus is the mysterious
servant upon whom God puts the Spirit (Isaiah 42:1);
the difference is that the servant is here addressed
as God’s Son
o Temptation at the Desert
 filled with the power of the Spirit, Jesus is now led
by the same Spirit into the desert (Matthew 4:1-11,
Mark 1:12-13, Luke 4:1-13) – doing battle with Satan
and emerging victorious
 reminds us of Israel’s 40 Years in the desert after
Egypt – tempted and fell
 the Spirit is portrayed as bringing about something
totally new in Jesus: a human life that is completely
victorious over Satan – yet another sign of the
dawning of the final age
o Jesus’ ministry against the evil
 the stage is set for the story of Jesus’ Spirit-
filled-life “Jesus with the power of the Spirit in
him, returned to Galilee” (Luke 4:14)

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Yves Congar, I Believe in the Holy Spirit Vol. 1
  Jesus’ power over evil – thanks to the presence of the
Spirit – is seen dramatically in his healings and
exorcisms
 notice the connection between healing and forgiveness
(Matthew 9:6-7); healing and forgiveness marks
dominion over the evil one
 in Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus Himself attributes his
power over evil to the Holy Spirit (Matthew 12:28)
 to attribute his power to the devil is deliberately to
blind oneself to the truth – to “blaspheme” against
the Holy Spirit (Matthew 12:30-32)
 sinning against the Holy Spirit is unforgivable not
because God refuses to forgive it but because the
sinner is excluding God’s forgiveness by refusing to
see the truth
 to attribute Jesus’ power to Satan is deliberately and
culpably to avoid admitting that God’s Spirit is at
work in him
 this in turn means deliberately and willfully
rejecting not only Jesus, not only God, but also the
forgiveness God is offering through Jesus
 Jesus’ whole life, then was one filled with the Spirit
and with the joy the Spirit brings (Luke 10:21)
o Passion, Death, and Resurrection
 the final event of Jesus’ life was his death – his
final and greatest struggle with the powers of evil
 his death seemed to be a victory for those powers
(Luke 22:53) but it was in fact the moment when he
triumphed (John 12:23-24), for the Spirit-filled man
rose from the dead and became himself a “life-giving
Spirit” (1 Corinthians 15:45)
o Jesus making mention of the Spirit
 Jesus is the unique-bearer of the Spirit yet strangely
enough he seems to have said little about the Spirit
  the Spirit is hardly mentioned by Jesus in the
Gospels; the only Gospel in which Jesus discusses the
Spirit is that of John – the night before he died
(Last Supper discourses John 3:5-8, John 7:39, John
4:23-24, John 14:15-17, John 25-26, John 16:7-15)
 how much or how little Jesus actually did say about
the Spirit is something we do not know
 we also do not know for certain why, if Jesus did
teach his disciples about the Spirit there are hardly
any references to the Spirit
 Scholar’s explanations why such is the case
 GS Hendry: the primary concern of the Synoptics
is to present Jesus not merely as a teacher of
the Spirit, but as the unique bearer of the
Spirit (show don’t tell)
 CK Barrett: the non-Christian world of those days
had so many people who claimed to be bearers of a
divine spirit that another such claim would
hardly attract attention; therefore, the
Synoptics focused rather on the divine and
exalted aspects of Jesus (too many spirits thus
not really making Jesus attention seeking)
 B Gaybba: Jesus may well have said very little
about the Spirit; however, this does not mean
that he was not aware of the Spirit’s power at
work in him; the text in which he attributed his
casting out of demons to the Holy Spirit (Matthew
12:28) is widely regarded as Jesus’ own words
 B. the Spirit is only given to others after Jesus’ death and
resurrection
o John 7:39 – during Jesus’ lifetime “there was no Spirit yet
because Jesus had not yet been glorified”
o this does not mean that the Spirit was not active before
that event; on the contrary, the Spirit was seen as very
much active in Jesus’ own ministry (John 1:32)
o but the promised outpouring of the Spirit, the permanent
gift of the Spirit to God’s people, did not take place
during Jesus’ lifetime; it happened only after his
glorification
o same point stressed in John 16:7 – if he does not go back to
the Father, then the Paraclete will not come
o the Spirit’s outpouring in the last days was conditional
upon Jesus’ death and resurrection
o Why not send the Spirit prior Jesus’ death and answer simple
answer: no clear answers in the text; but it can be supplied
from theological presuppositions or from interpretation of
other passages
 an example of a straight theological answer: Jesus had
first to complete the work of redemption before the
fruits thereof could be distributed
 CK Barrett (more sophisticated version): the
Spirit is the agent of the creation of the Church
and the salvation of the world; in this sense the
coming of the Spirit depends upon the completion
of the work of Christ
 Hunter/Brown: the Spirit was to take the place of
Jesus; hence, the Spirit could only be given
after Jesus had departed this life; this
explanation grants the Spirit a role remarkably
similar to the one we have already seen: being a
means whereby someone is present; traditionally,
it was God’s presence that the Spirit mediated;
now, it is, in addition, Jesus’ presence
 this has enormous implications for Jesus’ status
 to say that God’s Spirit is Jesus’ spirit; God’s
way of being present is Jesus’ way of being
 present – is to elevate Jesus to God’s level; to
make him a participant in God’s own life
 new testament pneumatology is really Christology
o even then, the Spirit’s task will be to glorify Christ (Jn
16:14); this is but an aspect of a broader role of the
Spirit: to be the way in which the risen Lord is actively
present in the midst of the community
o the bearer becomes the giver of the Spirit; in the OT, the
Spirit was God’s Spirit; in the NT, the Spirit is clearly
also the Spirit of Christ
January 24, 2024
 C. The Spirit as the Way in which the Risen Christ is actively
present in the midst of his people
o only in John we can see the Spirit as the Parakletos = para
kalein = to call/invoke/summon by your side
 Paraclete sayings: John 14:15-18, 25-27; John 15:26;
John 16:7-11, 13-15
 no agreement about its meaning: comforter,
intercessor, interpreter, preacher, prosecuting
counsel, defense counsel
o Raymond E. Brown: all these ideas are meant to be part of
John’s meaning of Paraclete; the one exception is the idea
of defense counsel
 Brown believes that the idea of defense counsel is a
role attributed indeed to the Spirit in Matthew 10:20
and Acts 6:10, but not in John’s Gospel
 a widely favored translation is helper – that could
serve as a basic meaning, so that being a comforter,
intercessor and so on would be the various ways in
which the Spirit is seen as a helper
o more important for the present theme is the idea that the
Spirit is “another Paraclete”
 it implies that Jesus was a Paraclete for his
disciples during his lifetime
  in 1 John 2:1, the Risen Lord is explicitly called a
“parakletos”
 Brown points out – the Spirit will be for the
disciples all that Jesus was for them during his
lifetime
 however, the Spirit does not simply replace a Jesus
who is now absent from his disciples; rather, the
Spirit is the way in which Jesus himself will continue
to be present to them; not a substitute or a
replacement, but another way in which Jesus will be
present to them
o Brown: after Jesus promises the disciples the Paraclete
(John 14:16-17), he immediately adds (v. 18) that he will
not leave them orphans but will come back to them; this
seems quite clearly to imply that the presence of Jesus
after his return to the Father is accomplished…
 this close link between the Spirit and Jesus is
clearly the fundamental reason why no one can claim
the Spirit’s authority for anything that goes against
what Jesus said, or that distinguishes between the
glorious, risen Lord and the earthly Jesus, glorifying
the former and disparaging the latter (1 Corinthians
12:3); the Spirit safeguards that there is continuity
in Jesus and the present time
 when the Spirit “teaches” the disciples (John 14:26),
guides them along the way of truth (John 16:13), it is
not a new revelation that will be given to them, but
the truth revealed by Jesus
 it is of what Jesus taught the disciples that will be
reminded (John 14:26), for the Spirit will speak only
what “he has learned” (John 16:13) from Jesus, which
is a message that ultimately comes from the Father
(John 16:14-15)
  it is Jesus whom the Spirit will glorify (John 16:14),
to Jesus that the Spirit will bear witness (John
15:26)
o St. Paul makes it clear too that the Spirit is the way in
which not only God but also Christ is present among
believers
 Paul does not direct our attention to the similarity
between the functions of the Spirit and those of the
earthly Jesus, as John did
 However, he is convinced that the Spirit experienced
by the early Christians was the way in which not only
God but also Christ was present in the Church
 this point is made in various ways
 one way is by making identical statements
regarding the believers’ relation to Christ, on
the one hand, and the Spirit, on the other
(similar statements)
the Christians are in Christ Gal 2:17
the Christians are in the 1 Cor 6:11
Spirit

we are sanctified in Christ 1 Cor 1:2

we are also sanctified in the 1 Cor 6:11
Spirit

we are sealed in Christ Eph 1:13

we are also sealed in the Eph 4:30
Spirit

 another way in which Paul makes the point clear

is by saying that the Spirit is not only the
Spirit of God but also the Spirit of Christ
(Romans 8:9) (one and the same spirit)
o since “the Spirit of God” is a term that
describes the way in which God acts on and
is present to people, “the Spirit of
Christ” can be seen as a term that
describes the way in which Jesus Christ
acts on and is present to his people
 o of course, “the Spirit of God”…
o the selfsame Spirit mediates God’s presence
as well as Christ’s
o to put it more theologically accurate: God
is present through the presence of Christ.
For just as during the lifetime of Jesus he
was God’s Word-made-flesh, God’s image in
the world, the one in whom people could see
the Father (John 1:14, John 14:9), so too
the risen Lord’s presence to his people is
God’s presence to them
 D. Christ the Giver of the Spirit
o in John 16:7, Jesus promises that he will send the Spirit to
his disciples (John 14:26); in John 20:22, Jesus fulfills
his promise by personally giving the Spirit to the disciples
o Paul calls the risen Lord a Life-Giving Spirit (1 Cor 15:45)
 this is an apt summary of the close link between
Christ and the Spirit; it means that the Risen Lord is
so filled with the Spirit that he Himself can now also
be the Source of that Spirit to others
 to put it another way, one could say that Jesus is so
filled with and transformed by God’s presence, that he
can be the source of that presence to others

January 31, 2024

*priesthood is not a human right, it is a charism; no one can demand
priesthood since it is a gift
*the work of the Spirit outside the Church is to bring all men to
Christ; the Spirit does not save, but he leads them to Jesus so that
through Christ and the Church they might be saved

The Spirit and the Church (Pneumatological Ecclesiology)

 Preliminaries
 o Where there is the Church, there is also the Spirit of God;
and where there is the Spirit of God, there is also the
Church and every grace (St. Irenaeus of Lyons)
o The Holy Spirit makes the Church “the temple of the living
God”
o the Holy Spirit does not come only as a supplement after the
foundation of the Church by Jesus Christ; rather, the
community of Jesus’ disciples only becomes the Church
through the Spirit
 the Church is not just an institution (even as founded
by Christ), or an association of Christian believers,
or an establishment or society willed by God
 through the Holy Spirit, this institution, this
society or association of believers becomes the Church
of Christ
 through the same Spirit, Jesus Christ becomes the Lord
of His Church
o the Holy Spirit is the very life of the Body of Christ
 in fact, the Church is the fellowship of the Holy
Spirit, the “covenant of the Spirit” (2 Cor. 3:6)
 the Church is the Spirit’s instrument of renewal,
liberation, and unity of humanity and the whole
creation
 it is through the Holy Spirit that the Church
maintains her authenticity, continuity, infallibility
and Catholicity
 the Holy Spirit constantly builds up the Church,
sustains and strengthens her life, safeguards her
essential unity even in her brokenness, and leads her
into “all the truth” (John 16:13)
February 7, 2024
 1. Just as the physical body of Jesus Christ was the work of the
Holy Spirit so is the mystical body of Christ, the Church, the
 work of the Spirit. The Church is the mystery of the outpouring
of the Holy Spirit in history and time. (CFC 1302)
o the Spirit enables one to be given birth from the womb of
the Church
 2. The Church is constantly regenerated and renewed by the Holy
Spirit. The Holy Spirit enables men and women to accept Jesus as
their Lord and Savior and forms them to be Christ-like. The
Spirit leads Christians to a love of the Word of God, to true
prayer and worship. (CCC 737-741)
o the Spirit leads all men to Jesus (cf. CCC 737)
o LG 16 talks about salvation of people outside the Church
“Those also can attain to salvation who through no fault of
their own do not know the Gospel of Christ or His Church,
yet sincerely seek God and moved by grace strive by their
deeds to do His will as it is known to them through the
dictates of conscience.”
o in contrast to LG 14 “Whosoever, therefore, knowing that the
Catholic Church was made necessary by Christ, would refuse
to enter or to remain in it, could not be saved.”
o when we pray, we should pray with the prayer of the Spirit
in us and with us (cf. CCC 741)
 3. The Holy Spirit provides the Church with a rich diversity of
charisms and ministries to carry out her mission. Being the
principle of unity and diversity in the Church, the Spirit
guarantees the communion of diverse local Church within the one,
holy, catholic, apostolic, and missionary Church (CFC 1303 –
1305; CCC 799 - 801)
o on charism and on unity
o the Spirit sustains and build up the Church through charisms
and gifts; charisms and gifts should be used in the
ministry, not hidden (cf.1 Cor 12:7-11)
o there is a need to discern whether the charism is really a
charism that would build up the Church
 o challenge is to learn to collaborate and work with different
charisms
o PCP II 91-97
 4. As Jesus was anointed by the Holy Spirit to proclaim the Good
News to the Spirit, so does the same Spirit empower Christians to
be evangelizers, bold proclaimers of the Gospel on behalf of the
poor, and agents of human promotion and social transformation
(CFC 1305)
o Evangelization is movement of Church towards others in order
for others to move towards the Church
o both the evangelizer and the evangelized are moved by the
Holy Spirit

February 14, 2024

THE 4 MARKS OF THE CHURCH
 The Church is One in Virtue of the Spirit
o diversity is a character of the Church and yet they are
united by the Spirit
o vertical communion leads to horizontal communion; anyone who
is in communion with God will be in communion with those who
are also in communion with God
o diversity is well manifested in the charisms the Holy Spirit
gives; charism should lead to ministry/service; there is a
need to discern the charism of the faithful in the community
 The Church is Holy in Virtue of the Sanctifying Spirit
o participation in the Trinitarian nature
o holiness is not moral holiness, but ontological holiness;
ontological holiness = communion with the total otherness of
God
o we are holy because we are indwelling of the Holy Spirit who
is holiness himself; holiness is achieved through the
communion of holy things: sacraments + charisms + the Word
o the Church is always in need of reform semper reformanda
o to be in sin = the refusal to be in communion in the Spirit
  The Church is Catholic in the Fullness of the Spirit
o Catholic = kata + holos = according to, in keeping with the
whole = qualitative fullness linked to the fullness of
Christ in us because we are his body and quantitative
fullness derived from the qualitative fullness
o Catholicity = fullness
 The Church is Apostolic through the Perpetual Sending of the
Spirit
o believing in the apostolic Church means believing the Spirit
who made the Church apostolic
o communion with the apostles implies the fidelity of the
Church to the doctrine revealed by Jesus and transmitted by
the apostles
o the Holy Spirit assures that the Church will always continue
the same truth which the apostles heard from their master
(cf. DV 3-4)
o the Church is apostolic by the strength of apostolic
succession

IN WHAT SENSE IS THE SPIRIT A PERSON

 For the modern mind “person” has its own distinct identity,
separate existence; a being with its own mind, will and freedom
separate from others
o if we apply this notion to the Spirit, then the Spirit
becomes a separate God from the Father and the Son
o Applied to the Trinity, this would turn into a doctrine of 3
separate gods
 however, one God necessarily means that the Father, Son, and
Spirit possess one and the same mind, one and the same will, and
therefore one and the same actions flowing from their faculties
 what precisely the term person did mean was not all that clear
when it was first used
o nevertheless, it had the basic meaning of unique form of
existence (but not separate); different but not separate
 hypostasis – the traditional Greek term used for “person” – with
the basic meaning: concrete, particular way in which something
exists
o a hypostasis is something unique – something that cannot be
shared
o what can be shared is the “stuff” – i.e. the substance of
which the hypostasis is particular, concrete manifestation
 important to consider (entailed by the term)
o “nature” must be complete – finished off (so to speak) – as
a full stop finishes off a sentence
o without this completion, you do not have a hypostasis
o all you have is an indeterminate substance – an unfinished
blob
 the Latin word for person = persona (regarded as the Western
equivalent of hypostasis) but the literal Latin translation was
subsistentia (subsistence)
o in medieval times, to subsist meant to have a sort of
existence possessed by a hypostasis
o subsistentia was used to convey this idea of a complete,
unique existence
o when applied to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (e.g. by
the Cappadocians) – hypostasis had the basic meaning: three
ways in which the one undivided divinity existed
(idiotes/idiotetes)
o each of these three ways was a necessary full stop to a
particular aspect of God’s existence
o Father, Son, and Spirit are three ways in which the divine
substance was said to “subsist”
 the idea of completeness is an extremely important element in the
concept of hypostasis
o without it, one falls into modalism; a way/a manner of
speaking/no difference
o unless Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are seen as 3 complete
hypostases, they will be regarded simply as 3 ways in which
 one already complete hypostasis, i.e., “one and the same
person is manifested” – this is typical modalist position
 it was in order to bring out clearly the distinction between an
“undetermined substance” and an “already complete existent
manifesting itself” that the Greeks preferred the word hypostasis
to the word prosopon for referring to the divine three
o prosopon – is in fact the Greek equivalent for the Latin
persona; however, prosopon had as part of its meaning, the
very idea that the Greeks wanted to exclude: the way in
which an already complete existent manifested itself
o prosopon originally referred to the mask through which
actors spoke on stage; it was the way in which the actor
manifested the personality portrayed
o to call Father, Son, and Holy Spirit three prosopa ran the
obvious risk of interpretation as three masks of one and the
same person
o by contrast, the word persona was much more acceptable to
the Latins than prosopon was to the Greeks
o persona, too, originally meant a mask – however, it soon
came to mean a human being
o furthermore, persona eventually came to mean the same as
hypostasis
 to sum up
o the Greeks used hypostasis in order to convey the idea that
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit represent three ways in which
the divine nature exists and achieves its completion
o each divine person fully possesses one and the same nature
o however, each divine person represents a particular way in
which the divine nature “subsists”
 as traditionally formulated in the West
o the Father is the divinity subsisting as unbegotten
begettor, the origin of all else
o the Son is the divinity subsisting as the begotten
expression of all that the Father is
 o the Spirit is the divinity subsisting as the bond or result
of love between the Father and the Son
 from as early as Augustine – reservations were expressed about
the suitability of the term person for the member of the Trinity
 in our own times, the limitations of the term have been pointed
out by several theologians (Karl Barth and Karl Rahner); Karl
Barth suggests to go back to “mode of being” but Karl Rahner
critiques that it falls in the heresy of modalism
 however, for all its defects the term person remains the most
appropriate because
o the unique ways in which the divine nature subsists
o the unique modes of being proper to it
o are not simply things
o but three conscious awareness (not consciousness) of
existing in a unique way and being consciously aware of
themselves as unique way of existing are called “persons”
February 21, 2024
PERSON: AS A CONSCIOUS, RELATIVE, UNIQUE REALITY
Consciousness
 the 3 divine persons share one and the same divine nature, and
therefore one and the same mind and will (question: we share the
same human nature but does not necessarily share the same mind
and will)
o consciousness is an activity of the mind
o hence, one cannot assert that each divine person has its own
distinct source of consciousness, unshared by the others
o one must not identify a trinitarian person and self-
consciousness = tritheism
 but we must not overlook the implications of the Greek idea of
hypostasis
o to say that each person is a unique way in which the divine
nature exists and achieves its completion is to say that:
each person is a unique way in which ALL that God is –
 knowledge, freedom, power, love, goodness, generosity,
forgiveness, etc. – exists and achieves its completion
o in other words, ALL that God is – exists – is completed in
three different ways: as originating source, as begotten,
and as the result of the union of the two
 hence, one can and must say that the mind and accompanying
consciousness that form part of the divine nature subsist in 3
different ways
o and this in turn means that each divine person is a unique
conscious way in which the divinity subsists
 one can express these ways as follows
o the Father is the divinity conscious of itself as the
begetter, the source of all else
o the Son is the divinity conscious of itself as the begotten
– complete reflection of the Father
o the Spirit is the divinity conscious of itself as the love
binding the Father and the Son to each other or as the
result of that love
 this understanding restores to the three persons the self-
consciousness necessary for all persons
 in traditional Western theology – to preserve God’s unity –
stress is given to the lack of any real differentiating factors
between the persons
o what differentiated them is stressed as being only their
relationship to each other – purely relatedness of the
Father to the Son, and of both to the Spirit – seen as
unique

Relatedness
 this leads to another point: the essential link between person
and relatedness
o this relatedness does not come out in Boethius’ famous
definition of a person as “an individual substance of a
 rational nature”; in this definition, a person is defined
simply as a rational individual
o however, what constitutes the divine persons as persons is
their relationship to each other
o one can also argue that relatedness as constitutive of
personal identity is not simply a divine oddity but
essentially to the structure of a person
o this is emphasized in contemporary personalist philosophies
– which argue that there can be no “I” without a “Thou”
 THE SPIRIT THEN IS A PERSON IN THIS SENSE OF THE WORD: A UNIQUE
WAY IN WHICH THE DIVINE NATURE HAS RELATED CHARACTER AND
THEREFORE EXISTS AND ACHIEVES ITS COMPLETION

Uniqueness
 there is also a need to stress the uniqueness of persons
o their uniqueness is to be found not simply in the nature
they share
o a human person is not unique because human nature is a
unique form of existence
o what makes a person unique is above all its inability to be
shared; you can be a human being like me, but you can never
be me
o Richard of St. Victor suggested that (as applied to the
Trinity) – the term “person” should be defined as an
incommunicable way of existing
o to assert uniqueness as essential to the structure of a
person is to assert that NO two persons are persons in
exactly the same way
o hence, the Holy Spirit is nor a person in the same identical
sense as the Son; neither of them is a person in the same
identical sense as the Father (Jurgen Moltmann)
 hence it is wrong to expect that, as a person, the Spirit has the
clear personality found in those designated “Father” and “Son”
 o the Spirit’s personality could very well be constituted
precisely in its lack of any clear face of its own
 to summarize: the Spirit is a person not in the sense of
possessing a separate mind, will and freedom
o but rather in the sense of a unique way in which the divine
nature exists and finds its completion as a shared reality
o the relationship existing between each of these 3 ways of
subsisting constitutes the persons in their uniqueness, a
uniqueness that further implies that the 3 persons are not
all persons in exactly the same way