STAGES OF THE SPIRIT

STAGES OF THE SPIRIT

            Pope John Paul II has invited the Catholic world to make l998 a year of attentiveness to the Holy Spirit. In the last decade many authors have tried to balance what they termed the “Jesus mania” by focusing on the Third Person of the Holy Trinity, who is divine, and active in the Christian community and in individuals. These authors plumb the riches of Oriental contemplation in order to restore the tilt-to-the-West theology of the Spirit (monstrously described as “pneumatology”) to an even keel. The overdeveloped Western lung is eased down to size by the Eastern lung’s intake of the inspiration of the Eastern Fathers, like Gregory of Nyssa who said, “Grace flows down from the Father through the Son and the Holy Spirit.” Another Easterner, Cyril of Alexandria, thought that the spirit is the first occupant of the heart of man. “Wiping out the sins of the one who clings to him, the Son anoints him with his own Spirit whom he inserts into the believer...and whom he pours out on us from his own substance.” He is not the Spirit of love, as popularly imagined and preached, but of power, taking possession of our bodies more strikingly than Jesus does. For a start, in fact, he took  possession of Jesus’ body, as we shall consider here.

THE MASTER PEDAGOGUE

            Though God desired to pour his spirit into our hearts and had given the Spirit without reserve to his Son, Jesus,  knowing that men are slow learners, he staggered the revelation of his desire over several centuries by dispensing the mystery in small doses  -  the mark of a true teacher and physician. For instance, in the act of creation God “breathes” his spirit into the newly formed man and woman and they become living souls. There is no evidence here of a reference to the Third Person of the Trinity, but there is a hint that God wants human beings to receive a spark of his own life.

SINFUL HUMANITY VS. THE SPIRIT

            The sin of men and women was a refusal of permanent residence to the Spirit;  the spreading corruption spelled the breakdown of the divine-human relationship, forcing God to declare, “My spirit shall not abide in man for ever, for he is flesh. (Gen. 6,3). Here again we cannot conclude that we have spotted the Holy Spirit rather than a mere general indication of God’s gift of life and the incompatibility between human sinfulness and divine sanctity.

THE SPIRIT OF ENABLEMENT

            As the life story of Israel progresses we begin to hear of the “Spirit of the Lord” coming upon various individuals who had some part to play in the salvation history of Israel. The Greek poets had their Muses to inspire them. Their Hebrew counterparts were figures like Joseph, Moses, kings, craftsmen and musicians, and the prophets. It is clear that this Spirit is not simply the breath of life that God blew into Adam and Eve, but a Spirit who brings new vigour and ability for carrying out God’s plans for his people.

YEARNING FOR PERMANENT RESIDENCE

            The Spirit of the Lord, however, never remained as an abiding presence. Favoured as they were by God, the Israelites were nonetheless a sinful lot, still unsuitable for the Spirit in permanent residence. A salvation was needed for Zion and the whole human race, that would make it possible for the Spirit to come upon human kind and remain. The Father’s heart yearned for that day of salvation and expressed itself through the prophets:

“And I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations...A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will take out of your flesh the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within ...and you shall be my people, and I will be your God” (Ezechiel, 36,23-28).  “I will pour out my spirit on all flesh, your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions...”(Joel 2, 2-28).

A NEW HUMANITY  -  BAPTISED IN THE SPIRIT

            The Father would establish in the world a new humanity that would not only be a vessel of honour for his Spirit but also a channel of grace to the rest of human kind till the end of time. That humanity established by the Father is the humanity of his own beloved Son, who became flesh and dwelt among us, and was fully deployed with power for us. The Gospel of John is the solid witness to Jesus as the new humanity in which the Spirit could reside for good and all, and reach out effectively to all men and women. The opening words of John’s gospel, “In the beginning....”, recall the story of creation. Known as the “prologue”, it reveals with startling clarity what was hidden in that story. Having created the world through the Word, God now re-creates humanity in a way that Adam and Eve could not do. “But to all who received him (the Word made flesh), who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God” (John 1,12). There is a power that Jesus breathes into his believers. “And he breathed upon them and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit’” Although the evangelist John does not explicitly describe this “power” of Jesus as the Holy Spirit, the Church from earliest times consistently interpreted it this way. The full-blown glory of Jesus came from the Holy Spirit, as John witnesses: “And from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth comes through Jesus Christ” (John 1,16-17).

            Jesus’ baptism in the river Jordan reveals him as the fount of the Holy Spirit. This is certified by the Baptist himself as recorded in all four gospels. Speaking to the people, he witnesses, “I have baptised you with water, but he will baptise you with the Holy Spirit” (Mark 1,7-8). John the Baptist was gripped by a master inspiration in the midst of which he heard this powerful line reverberate in his body: “He on whom you see the Spirit come, descend and remain, this is he who baptises with the Holy Spirit”; as a result of which he could declare, “I have seen and borne witness that this is the Son of God” (John 1,33-34). No greater day would mark the calendar of time than when creation woke up to a man on whom the Spirit could come down and remain; one who would not grieve God’s Holy Spirit.

            A bridgehead had been established, the Spirit was abroad by the deathless breath of the God-man Jesus, and all earth and heaven resonated with the joyous heart of the Father whose primordial desire was about to be fulfilled !