In the preface to be said in the Masses of the holy Trinity, the church announces that: “We joyfully proclaim our faith in the mystery of your Godhead. You have revealed your glory as the glory also of your Son and of the Holy Spirit: Three persons, equal in majesty, undivided in splendor, yet one Lord, one God, ever to be adored in your everlasting glory.”

The revelation of the Trinity begins when Jesus tells us that he is God’s Son. Jesus teaches us that God is not only the Creator of the universe but also the Father of the eternally begotten Son, who became one with us as the God-man Jesus Christ.

In revealing God as Father and himself as God’s Son, Jesus also made known to us the Holy Spirit. Before his death, Jesus announced the sending of the paraclete or Advocate, the Holy Spirit. This is the Spirit of God who from the beginning was with God and who will now dwell as God with us after Jesus’ death, resurrection and ascension in glory. The Holy Spirit is thus revealed as another divine person along with Jesus and the Father.

Pope John Paul II presents to us in his masterful encyclical “Dominum et Vivificantem” a re-affirmation of the church’s faith conviction that the Holy Spirit is the gift of the Father and the Son given to us to help us enlighten our minds so we can recognize the truth of our human condition and our need for God’s grace.

At the same time, the Spirit is the source of our new life, so that not only our minds but also our hearts are changed, elevated and made capable of union with God.

Finally, the pope confirms what we as Catholic faithful know intuitively: The Spirit of God is at work in his church and we access this marvelous gift through our participation in the life of the church.

Much of what our Holy Father teaches is challenged by currents in our culture and society today. “Dominum et Vivificantem” is not an exercise in redundant catechesis. Rather, it is an exhortation to renew some of our most important beliefs. For example, in a culture that increasingly sees truth as relative and in which the argument runs “My opinion is as good as yours,” the encyclical reminds us that even when it comes to determining God’s revelation and right from wrong, there is such a thing as truth.

The human intellect is capable of knowing and, therefore, living by the truth. The natural moral order and God’s revelation in the Ten Commandments of how we are to make our way through life are not options — one among many. The path through life is not directed by multiple-choice selections, all of which are more or less correct. And yet our culture thrives on this vision of multiple truths, conflicting opinions and, therefore, moral paralysis.

Members of God’s family

We make our way through life as God’s family. The Spirit is poured out on the apostles and, through them, on all who hear the word and let it take deep root in their hearts.

When the Advocate descended on the apostles at Pentecost, Peter was able to testify to the Spirit in order to explain the prodigies and charisms that accompanied the Pentecostal event. Speaking to the crowd that had gathered, Peter spoke first of Jesus. “God raised this Jesus; of this we are all witnesses. Exalted at the right hand of God, he received the promise of the Holy Spirit from the Father and poured it forth, as you both see and hear” (Acts 2:32-33).

The Acts of the Apostles tell us that the people in the crowd were deeply moved and they asked Peter what they should do. He told them: “Repent, and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38).

This rich outpouring of the Holy Spirit foretold by Jesus in his farewell discourse came to its perfection in the Pentecost event. The decisive coming of the Spirit on Pentecost is described in the Acts of the Apostles, which chronicles much of the early life of the church and has been called by some the “Gospel of the Holy Spirit.”

The earliest intuition of the Catholic faithful guided by the Holy Spirit in the light of the Pentecostal event includes the identification of Christ — his new body — with his church. This explains why we turn with such confidence to the church not only to encounter Christ sacramentally but also to hear his voice reflected in the teaching of the church.

“I will not leave you orphans!” The fulfillment of this pledge by Christ is the gift of the Holy Spirit, and the gift of the Holy Spirit is identified with the constitution of the church. Thus, with confidence you and I can turn to the church to hear God’s word even when it challenges us beyond where we feel comfortable. And in the same church we find a living presence of Christ, not only in the proclamation of the word but also in the sacraments, most especially the Eucharist.

In concluding his encyclical, our Holy Father teaches us that “the church with her heart which embraces all human hearts implores from the Holy Spirit that happiness which only in God has its complete realization; the joy ‘that no one will be able to take away,’ the joy which is the fruit of love, and, therefore, of God who is love; she implores ‘the righteousness, the peace and the joy of the Holy Spirit’ in which, in the words of St. Paul, consists the kingdom of God” (67.5).

Not only did Jesus give us the Spirit so that we would not be left orphans, he also gave us the gift of the Holy Spirit present and active in his church so that our joy might be complete.