The Holy Spirit: Light of the Soul General audience of April 24, 1991

1
The Holy Spirit Light of the SoulGeneral
audience of April 24, 1991

• The spiritual life needs enlightenment and
  guidance.
• For this reason, in establishing the Church and
  sending the apostles into the world,
• Jesus entrusted to them the task of teaching all
  nations
• (Mat. 2819-20),
• and also of "proclaiming the Gospel to every
  creature,"
• (Mk. 1615).
• St. Paul, too, speaks of the apostolate as an
  "enlightenment of all"
• (Eph 39).

2
The Holy Spirit Light of the SoulGeneral
audience of April 24, 1991

• The Church's work of evangelizing and teaching
  belongs to the ministry of the apostles and their
  successors, and in a different way, to all the
  members of the Church.
• It is to continue for all time the work of
  Christ, the "one Teacher" who has brought to
  humanity the fullness of God's revelation.
• (Mt 238)

3
The Holy Spirit Light of the SoulGeneral
audience of April 24, 1991

• There is still the need for an interior teacher
  who penetrates the human heart and spirit with
  Jesus' teaching.
• This is the Holy Spirit, whom Jesus himself calls
  the "Spirit of truth," and whom he promises as
  the one who will guide them to all truth
• (cf. Jn 1417 1613).
• If Jesus has said to himself "I am the truth"
• (Jn 146),
• the Holy Spirit makes this truth of Christ known
  and spreads it
• "He will not speak on his own, but he will speak
  what he hears...he will take from what is mine
  and declare it to you"
• (Jn 1613-14).
• The Spirit is the light of the soul Lumen
  cordium, as we call him in the sequence of
  Pentecost.

4
The Holy Spirit Light of the SoulGeneral
audience of April 24, 1991

• The Holy Spirit was a light and interior teacher
  for the apostles, who had to know Christ in depth
  to be able to fulfill their task as his
  evangelizers.
• He was and is the same for the Church, and in the
  Church, for believers of every generation, and in
  a particular way, for theologians and spiritual
  directors, for catechists and those responsible
  for Christian communities.
• He was and is the same for all inside or outside
  the visible boundaries of the Church who want to
  follow the ways of God with a sincere heart and,
  without fault of their own, do not find someone
  to help them solve the riddle of life and
  discover revealed truth.
• May the Lord grant all our brothers and
  sistersmillions and even billions of human
  beingsthe grace of acceptance and docility to
  the Holy Spirit in what can be the decisive
  moments of their life.

5
The Holy Spirit Light of the SoulGeneral
audience of April 24, 1991

• For us Christians, the interior teaching of the
  Holy Spirit is a joyous certitude.
• It is founded on the word of Christ about the
  coming of "another Advocate," whom he said
• "the Father will send in my namehe will teach
  you everything and remind you of all that I told
  you"
• (Jn 1426).
• "He will guide you to all truth"
• (Jn 1613).

6
The Holy Spirit Light of the SoulGeneral
audience of April 24, 1991

• One can conclude from this text that Jesus did
  not entrust his word only to the memory of his
  listeners.
• This memory would be assisted by the Holy Spirit,
  
• who would continually revive in the apostles
• a recollection of the events
• and the meaning of the Gospel mysteries.
• The Holy Spirit has guided the apostles in
  handing on the word and life of Jesus.
• The Spirit inspired both their oral preaching and
  their writings, as well as the editing of the
  Gospels.

7
The Holy Spirit Light of the SoulGeneral
audience of April 24, 1991

• He also helps the readers of Scripture to
  understand the divine meaning within the text,
• of which he is the inspiration and the principal
  author.
• He alone enables one to know
• "the depths of God"
• (1 Cor 210)
• which are contained in the sacred text.
• It was he who was sent to instruct the disciples
  in the teachings of their Master
• (cf. Jn 1613).

8
The Holy Spirit Light of the SoulGeneral
audience of April 24, 1991

• The apostles themselves,
• the first to hand on the word of Christ,
• speak of this interior teaching of the Holy
  Spirit.
• "But you have the anointing that comes from the
  Holy One Christ, and you all have knowledge. I
  write to you not because you do not know the
  truth but because you do, and because every lie
  is alien to the truth"
• (1 Jn 220-21).

9
The Holy Spirit Light of the SoulGeneral
audience of April 24, 1991

• According to the Fathers of the Church and the
  majority of contemporary exegetes,
• this "anointing" (chrisma) signifies the Holy
  Spirit.
• St. John even states that those who live
  according to the Spirit do not need other
  teachers
• "As for you, the anointing that you received from
  him remains in you, so that you do not need
  anyone to teach you. But his anointing teaches
  you about everything and is true and not false
  just as it taught you, remain in him"
• (1 Jn 227).

10
The Holy Spirit Light of the SoulGeneral
audience of April 24, 1991

• Even the Apostle Paul speaks of an understanding
  according to the Spirit which is not the fruit of
  human wisdom, but of divine enlightenment
• "Now the natural person (psychikòs), however, can
  judge everything but is not subject to judgment
  by anyone"
• (1 Cor 214-15).
•  
• Christians, therefore, having received the Holy
  Spirit,
• the anointing of Christ,
• possess in themselves a source of knowledge of
  the truth, and the Holy Spirit is the sovereign
  teacher who enlightens and guides them.

11
The Holy Spirit Light of the SoulGeneral
audience of April 24, 1991

• If they are docile and faithful to his divine
  teaching,
• the Holy Spirit preserves them from error by
  giving them victory in the continual struggle
  between the
• "spirit of truth" and the "spirit of deceit"
• (cf. 1 Jn 46).
• The spirit of deceit which does not acknowledge
  Christ is spread by the "false prophets" who are
  always present in the world, even among Christian
  people, with an activity that is sometimes open
  and even sensational, or sometimes underhanded
  and sly.
• (cf. 1 Jn 43)
• Like Satan, they too sometimes masquerade as
  "angels of light" and present themselves with
  apparent charisms of prophetic and apocalyptic
  inspiration.
• (cf. 2 Cor 1114)

The Beast and false prophet
12
The Holy Spirit Light of the SoulGeneral
audience of April 24, 1991

• This already occurred in apostolic times.
• For this reason, St. John warns
• "Do not trust every spirit but test the spirits
  to see whether they belong to God, because many
  false prophets have gone out into the world"
• (1 Jn 41).
• The Holy Spirit, as Vatican II recalls (cf. LG
  12),
• protects the Christian from error by enabling him
  to discern what is genuine from what is false.

13
The Holy Spirit Light of the SoulGeneral
audience of April 24, 1991

• The Christian will always need good criteria to
  discern the things he hears or reads in matters
  of religion, Sacred Scripture, manifestations of
  the supernatural, etc.
• These criteria are
• conformity to the Gospel,
• harmony with the teaching of the Church
  established and set by Christ to preach his
  truth,
• the moral conduct of the person speaking or
  writing
• and the fruits of holiness which result from what
  is presented or proposed.

14
The Holy Spirit Light of the SoulGeneral
audience of April 24, 1991

• The Holy Spirit teaches the Christian the truth
  as a principle of life.
• He shows the concrete application of Jesus' words
  in each one's life.
• He enables one to discover the contemporary value
  of the Gospel for all human situations.
• He adapts the understanding of the truth to every
  circumstance, so that this truth does not remain
  merely abstract and speculative, but frees the
  Christian from the dangers of duplicity and
  hypocrisy.

15
The Holy Spirit Light of the SoulGeneral
audience of April 24, 1991

• The Holy Spirit enlightens each one personally by
  showing him the way to go and by giving him just
  a glimpse of the Father's plan for his life.
• St. Paul seeks this great grace of light for the
  Colossians
• "the spiritual understanding" which can enable
  them to understand the divine will.
• In fact, he assures them
• "We do not cease praying for you and asking that
  you may be filled with the knowledge of his
  God's will through all wisdom and spiritual
  understanding, to live in a manner worthy of the
  Lord, so as to be fully pleasing, in every good
  work bearing fruit..."
• (Col 19-10).
• For all of us this grace of light is necessary to
  have a good knowledge of God's will for us and to
  be able to live our personal vocation fully.

16
The Holy Spirit Light of the SoulGeneral
audience of April 24, 1991

• Problems are never lacking and they sometimes
  seem insoluble.
• But the Holy Spirit helps us in our difficulties
  and gives us light.
• He can reveal the divine solution, as he did at
  the time of the annunciation in regard to the
  problem of reconciling motherhood with the desire
  for preserving one's virginity.
• Even when it is a question of a unique mystery
  such as the role of Mary in the Incarnation of
  the Word, the Holy Spirit can be said to possess
  an infinite creativity, proper to the divine
  mind, which knows how to loosen the knots of
  human affairs, even the most complex and
  inscrutable.

17
The Holy Spirit Light of the SoulGeneral
audience of April 24, 1991

• All of this is given and accomplished in the soul
  by the Holy Spirit through his gifts,
• the graces which one can carefully discern, not
  according to the criteria of human wisdom,
• which is foolishness in God's sight,
• but with that divine wisdom which can seem
  foolishness in the eyes of men
• (cf. 1 Cor 118-25).

18
The Holy Spirit Light of the SoulGeneral
audience of April 24, 1991

• Only the Holy Spirit
• "scrutinizes everything, even the depths of God"
• (1 Cor 210-11).
• And if there is opposition between the spirit of
  the world and the Spirit of God, Paul reminds
  Christians
• "We have not received the spirit of the world but
  the Spirit that is from God, so that we may
  understand the things freely given us by God"
• (1 Cor 212).
• Unlike the "natural person," the "spiritual
  person" (pneumatikòs) is sincerely open to the
  Holy Spirit, docile and faithful to his
  inspirations
• (cf. 1 Cor 214-16).
• Thus, he habitually possesses the ability to make
  right judgments under the guidance of divine
  wisdom.

19
The Holy Spirit Light of the SoulGeneral
audience of April 24, 1991

• A sign that our discernment is in real contact
  with the Holy Spirit is and will always be
  adherence to revealed truth as it is proposed by
  the Church's Magisterium.
• The interior teacher does not inspire dissent,
  disobedience or even merely an unjustified
  resistance to the pastors and teachers
  established by him in the Church
• (cf. Acts 2029).
• It belongs to the Church's authority, as the
  Council said in the Constitution Lumen Gentium
  (n. 12), to "not quench the Spirit, but to test
  everything and retain what is good"
• (cf. 1 Thess 512 19-21).
• This is the direction of ecclesial and pastoral
  wisdom which also comes from the Holy Spirit.