Pastoral and Missionary Commission

THE HOLY SPIRIT, THE LORD, THE GIVER OF LIFE

In continuity with the pastoral and spiritual programme proposed for the year 1997 and supported by the publication Who Do You Say That I Am?, after some reflection, the Pastoral-Missionary Commission has drawn up further proposals and pastoral indications for the preparation of the Great Jubilee during the year 1998. It is a programme which is centred on Jesus Christ and his work of human redemption, and which seeks to bring out and promote our experience of the presence and activity of the Holy Spirit in the realization of this work.

The passage from Luke's Gospel, «The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach...» (cf. 4,18-19), is the unifying element of the programme and seems particularly significant for understanding and completing the path of preparation in continuity with Who Do You Say That I Am? At the same time, it accords with the emphases demanded for the year 1998 by the programme proposed in the Apostolic Letter Tertio Millennio Adveniente.

Consequently, this publication aims to help Christian communities follow the programme of preparation for the Jubilee commemoration of the Incarnation by leading them to recognise the presence and activity of the Spirit and to allow themselves to be inwardly animated and guided by Him: «What was accomplished by the power of the Holy Spirit 'in the fullness of time' can only through the Spirit's power now emerge from the memory of the Church. By his power it can be made present in the new phase of man's history on earth: the year 2000 from the birth of Christ» (Dominum et Vivificantem, 51).

The programme proposed in the booklet, "The Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Giver of Life", is developed in three parts:

- Part one presents some fundamental pastoral-missionary guidelines which aim to encourage both our reflection (meditation) on the Holy Spirit and the living celebration of His presence as He accompanies the whole course of the Father's plan of salvation, a plan which is fulfilled perfectly and definitively in Christ, is present in the life and mission of the Church, and which works mysteriously in the history of humanity. In the light of biblical, patristic and magisterial texts some schematic reflections are developed and some conclusions of a pastoral nature are drawn concerning the following relationships: a) the Spirit in the history of salvation; b) the Spirit and Christ; c) the Spirit and the Church; d) the Spirit, humanity and the cosmos.

- Part two, through biblical, catechistic, and liturgical subdivisions, presents more concrete elements for a journey of faith within the perspective of the New Evangelization. The proposed journey of faith, which pays special attention to the context of the liturgical year, is developed around two intimately related nuclei or important stages: a) the Holy Spirit and the mystery of Christ; and b) the Holy Spirit and the mystery of the Church.

It consists of twelve sections which require to be used with ecclesial creativity and to be adapted to suit specific cultural contexts, but which offer some generally useful elements for reflecting on personal and community experience, for listening to and letting oneself be enlightened and converted by the Word (both personally and in groups), for opening up to the celebration and dialogue of prayer, and for committing oneself concretely in works and signs that reveal the action of the Spirit.

- Part three offers some operative indications which may be put into effect within the context of the community's journey, but with particular attention to the mission ad gentes and to pastoral work among families, associations and ecclesial groups. This document brings together different "languages" and aspects: biblical/theological, christological/ecclesial, and catechistic/pastoral. It intends to offer Christian communities useful indications and concrete help so that in the year 1998 they may "walk according to the Spirit" in order to manifest and bear witness to the fruits of salvation accomplished in Christ and thus relaunch and give new vigour to their own evangelizing and missionary task, and this with the attitude of Mary, totally open to the action of the Spirit, Mother of the One Saviour and woman of hope.

Bernard Agrè

Archbishop of Abidjan and President

Cesare Nosiglia

Vicegerent of the Diocese of Rome and Vice-President