The Holy Spirit in the Paschal Mystery of Christ

1. The first truth is that the Spirit was present in the ministry of Jesus. John Paul II explains that Christ’s whole life was lived in the Holy Spirit. St Basil states that the Spirit was his “inseparable companion in everything.” If he was a companion in everything, then he was present during the time Jesus died on the Cross. The Spirit was with Jesus in his ministry and during the Paschal Mystery. The Spirit which the disciples received during Pentecost is the same Spirit that accompanied Jesus during His ministry. John Paul II said: “Jesus offered himself ‘through the eternal Spirit,’ and in the power of the Spirit he rises from the dead, giving that same Spirit to his disciples.”

2. The second truth is that the Holy Spirit was present before the Mystery of the Incarnation and was present when Jesus was born. John Paul II remarked: “Christ’s coming: the Holy Spirit precedes; the Incarnation: the Holy Spirit is present; miraculous works, graces and hearings: through the Holy Spirit; demons are expelled, the devil is chained: through the Holy Spirit; forgiveness of sins, union with God: through the Holy Spirit; resurrection of the dead: by the power of Holy Spirit.”

3. The third truth is that the Holy Spirit is present in the Death of Jesus because it is only the human nature that died in Christ. John Paul II said: “The Holy Spirit's presence at the moment of Jesus’ death is already presupposed by the simple fact that on the cross it is the Son of God who dies in his human nature. If “unus de Trinitate passus est” (DS 401), that is, if “one Person of the Trinity suffered,” the whole Trinity is present in his passion; thus the Father and the Holy Spirit are present as well.” Thus, it is only the human nature of Christ that faced death and not his divine nature. We can say then that the Trinity was present even during the Passion and Death of Jesus on the Cross.

4. The fourth truth is that the Holy Spirit’s presence during the passion and death of Jesus on Cross can be explained in the mystery of love which the persons of the Trinity share with each other. In other words, the passion and death of Christ are ineffable mystery of love. It is that mystery of love that the Son fully shares the eternal plan of God for mankind. John Paul II commented: “The passion and death of Jesus is an ineffable mystery of love in which the three divine Persons are involved. The Father takes the free and absolute initiative: it is he who loves first and, in delivering the Son into our murderous hands, exposes his dearest possession. As St Paul says, he “did not spare his own Son,” that is, he did not keep him for himself as d jealously held treasure, but “gave him up for us all” (Rom 8:32).

5. The fifth truth is that the Holy Spirit was present in the Death of Jesus on the Cross, transforming suffering into a redemptive sacrifice. Without the Holy Spirit to make us understand the value of the Cross for our redemption, the Cross would only be a mere Roman execution. But since the Spirit reveals the mystery of love shared in the Trinity, the Cross became the sign and mystery of our salvation. John Paul II clarifies: “The Letter to the Hebrews develops the image of sacrifice, stating that Jesus offered himself “through the eternal Spirit” (Heb 9:14). In the Encyclical Dominum et Vivificantem, I showed that in this passage “eternal Spirit” means precisely the Holy Spirit: as fire consumed the sacrificial victims of the old ritual sacrifices, so “the Holy Spirit acted in a special way in this absolute self-giving of the Son of Man in order to transform this suffering into redemptive love” (n. 40).

6. The sixth truth is that the Holy Spirit made the death of Christ as not the end of God’s plan for the world. Jesus resurrected from death with the presence of the power of the Spirit. John Paul II explains: “Jesus’ history does not end in death but leads to the glorious life of Easter. “By his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord’ was “designated Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness” (cf. Rom 1:4). The resurrection of Christ was also the work of the Spirit because right during the Mystery of the Incarnation, the Holy Spirit became the protagonist of Christ coming into the world as man. The Pope continued to say: “The resurrection is the fulfilment of the Incarnation and it too takes place, like the Son’s birth in the world, “by the work of the Holy Spirit.” St Paul says at Antioch in Pisidia: “We bring you” the good news that what God promised to the fathers, this he has fulfilled to us their children by raising Jesus; as is also written in the second psalm, “You are my Son, today I have begotten you” (Acts 13:32).

7. The seventh truth is that the Holy Spirit continues to work in the Church today making the Paschal Mystery alive and redemptive among those who believe in Christ. Since Jesus lives with his Church till the end of the age (cf Mt 28:20) then the Holy Spirit who is always with Christ will also be with the Church. John Paul II concluded saying: “The gift of the Holy Spirit, which the Son received in its fullness on Easter morning, is poured out in abundance by him on the Church. Jesus says to his disciples gathered in the Upper Room: “Receive the Holy Spirit” (Jn 20:22), and he gives this Spirit to them “as it were through the wounds of his crucifixion: “He showed them his hands and his side” (Dominum et Vivificantem, n. 24). Jesus’ saving mission is summed up and fulfilled in communicating the Spirit to human beings, to lead them back to the Father.