As promised, here is the second of the catecheses that I prepared for our July "first Friday" Holy Hour, on the themes of the World Youth Day catecheses.
Reading
From the Catechism of the Catholic Church nn.797-798
"What the soul is to the human body, the Holy Spirit is to the Body of Christ, which is the Church."[St Augustine]
"To this Spirit of Christ, as an invisible principle, is to be ascribed the fact that all the parts of the body [ie the Church] are joined one with the other and with their exalted head [ie with Jesus Christ]; for the whole Spirit of Christ is in the head, the whole Spirit is in the body, and the whole Spirit is in each of the members." [Pope Pius XII Mystici Corporis]. The Holy Spirit makes the Church "the temple of the living God" [St Paul].
“Indeed, it is to the Church herself that the ‘Gift of God’ [ie the Holy Spirit] has been entrusted.... It is in her that communion with Christ has been deposited, that is to say: the Holy Spirit, the pledge of incorruptibility, the strengthening of our faith and the ladder of our ascent to God....
For where the Church is, there also is God's Spirit; where God's Spirit is, there is the Church and every grace.” [St Irenaeus].
Teaching
1. The Church is a visible society: the Pope, Bishops, priests and communities of the faithful can be seen in the world
2. The Church is an invisible society, in which all the members are intimately joined: living a communion of life because we believe the same things, celebrate the same sacraments, act in communion with the same Bishops
3. The Holy Spirit as soul of the Church - the Holy Spirit is present as holding together these two aspects of the Church as a society: it is through the gift of the Holy Spirit that Christ’s abiding presence in the visible/invisible Church is guaranteed
3.1 The Holy Spirit guided the authors of the Sacred Scriptures, who wrote under his inspiration; and the Holy Spirit allows the texts of Scripture to speak to us today
3.2. The Holy Spirit guides the infallible teaching office of the Pope, and the bishops in communion with him, so that we can know with certainty the faith that we believe
3.3. The Holy Spirit makes effective the sacraments that we celebrate, bringing about the action of Christ in the Church - every Sacrament is celebrated in the power of the Spirit
3.4. The Holy Spirit acts to give specific gifts to the faithful - “charisms”, vocations to a specific state of life in the Church, vocations to a particular mission in the Church, the founding of particular orders or organisations in the Church
2. The Church is an invisible society, in which all the members are intimately joined: living a communion of life because we believe the same things, celebrate the same sacraments, act in communion with the same Bishops
3. The Holy Spirit as soul of the Church - the Holy Spirit is present as holding together these two aspects of the Church as a society: it is through the gift of the Holy Spirit that Christ’s abiding presence in the visible/invisible Church is guaranteed
3.1 The Holy Spirit guided the authors of the Sacred Scriptures, who wrote under his inspiration; and the Holy Spirit allows the texts of Scripture to speak to us today
3.2. The Holy Spirit guides the infallible teaching office of the Pope, and the bishops in communion with him, so that we can know with certainty the faith that we believe
3.3. The Holy Spirit makes effective the sacraments that we celebrate, bringing about the action of Christ in the Church - every Sacrament is celebrated in the power of the Spirit
3.4. The Holy Spirit acts to give specific gifts to the faithful - “charisms”, vocations to a specific state of life in the Church, vocations to a particular mission in the Church, the founding of particular orders or organisations in the Church
Testimony
from Pope John Paul II Gift and Mystery, reflecting on the day of his priestly ordination.
Veni Creator Spiritus!
I can still remember myself in that chapel during the singing of the Veni, Creator Spiritus and the Litany of the Saints, lying prostrate on the floor with arms outstretched in the form of a cross, awaiting the moment of the imposition of hands. It was a very moving experience! Subsequently I have presided many times over this same rite as a Bishop and as Pope. There is something very impressive about the prostration of the ordinands, symbolizing as it does their total submission before the majesty of God and their complete openness to the action of the Holy Spirit who will descend upon them and consecrate them. Veni, Creator Spiritus, mentes Tuorum visita, imple superna gratia quae Tu creasti pectora. Just as in the Mass the Holy Spirit brings about the transubstantiation of the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ, so also in the Sacrament of Holy Orders he effects the priestly or episcopal consecration. The Bishop who confers the Sacrament of Holy Orders is the human dispenser of this divine mystery. The imposition of hands is the continuation of the gesture used by the early Church to signify that the Holy Spirit is being given for a specific mission. Paul imposed hands on the disciple Timothy, and the gesture has remained in the Church as the efficacious sign of the Holy Spirit's active presence in the Sacrament of Holy Orders.
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