116. The Holy Spirit has spoken through the prophets.

The Holy Spirit has spoken through the prophets.

YOUCAT Catechism + Catechism of the Catholic Church Lesson 116

Ave Maria series

116  What does it mean to say the Holy Spirit has “spoken through the prophets”?

Already in the Old Covenant God filled men and women with the Spirit, so that they lifted up their voices for God, spoke in his name, and prepared the people for the coming of the Messiah.  [683-688, 702-720]

Saint John the Baptist (left), the last of the prophets , is shown baptising Jesus at Jesus’ insistence. …..116

In the Old Covenant God sought out men and women who were willing to let him use them to console, lead, and admonish his people.  It was the Spirit of God who spoke through the mouth of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and other prophets.  John the Baptist, the last of these prophets, not only foresaw the coming of the Messiah, he also met him and proclaimed him as the liberator from the power of sin.

In many and various ways God spoke of old to our fathers by the prophets; but in these last day He has spoken to us by his Son.  Hebrews 1:1-2

[683-688, 702-720]

I BELIEVE IN THE HOLY SPIRIT

683 "No one can say 'Jesus is Lord' except by the Holy Spirit."( 1 Corinthians 12:3.)¹ "God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, 'Abba! Father!"'(Galatians 4:6.)² This knowledge of faith is possible only in the Holy Spirit: to be in touch with Christ, we must first have been touched by the Holy Spirit. He comes to meet us and kindles faith in us. By virtue of our Baptism, the first sacrament of the faith, the Holy Spirit in the Church communicates to us, intimately and personally, the life that originates in the Father and is offered to us in the Son. –Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition

Baptism gives us the grace of new birth in God the Father, through his Son, in the Holy Spirit. For those who bear God's Spirit are led to the Word, that is, to the Son, and the Son presents them to the Father, and the Father confers incorruptibility on them. And it is impossible to see God's Son without the Spirit, and no one can approach the Father without the Son, for the knowledge of the Father is the Son, and the knowledge of God's Son is obtained through the Holy Spirit.( St. Irenaeus, Dem. ap. 7: Sources Chretiennes 62,41-42.)³ –CCC

684 Through his grace, the Holy Spirit is the first to awaken faith in us and to communicate to us the new life, which is to "know the Father and the one whom he has sent, Jesus Christ."( John 17:3.)⁴ But the Spirit is the last of the persons of the Holy Trinity to be revealed. St. Gregory of Nazianzus, the Theologian, explains this progression in terms of the pedagogy of divine "condescension": --CCC

The Old Testament proclaimed the Father clearly, but the Son more obscurely. The New Testament revealed the Son and gave us a glimpse of the divinity of the Spirit. Now the Spirit dwells among us and grants us a clearer vision of himself. It was not prudent, when the divinity of the Father had not yet been confessed, to proclaim the Son openly and, when the divinity of the Son was not yet admitted, to add the Holy Spirit as an extra burden, to speak somewhat daringly. . . . By advancing and progressing "from glory to glory," the light of the Trinity will shine in ever more brilliant rays.( St. Gregory of Nazianzus, Oratio theol.,5,26 (= Oratio 31,26):Patrologia Graeca 36,161-163.)⁵ –CCC

685 To believe in the Holy Spirit is to profess that the Holy Spirit is one of the persons of the Holy Trinity, consubstantial with the Father and the Son: "with the Father and the Son he is worshipped and glorified."( Nicene Creed; see above, par. 465.)⁶ For this reason, the divine mystery of the Holy Spirit was already treated in the context of Trinitarian "theology." Here, however, we have to do with the Holy Spirit only in the divine "economy." --CCC

686 The Holy Spirit is at work with the Father and the Son from the beginning to the completion of the plan for our salvation. But in these "end times," ushered in by the Son's redeeming Incarnation, the Spirit is revealed and given, recognized and welcomed as a person. Now can this divine plan, accomplished in Christ, the firstborn and head of the new creation, be embodied in mankind by the outpouring of the Spirit: as the Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. --CCC

"I BELIEVE IN THE HOLY SPIRIT"

687 "No one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God."( 1 Cor 2:11.)⁷ Now God's Spirit, who reveals God, makes known to us Christ, his Word, his living Utterance, but the Spirit does not speak of himself. The Spirit who "has spoken through the prophets" makes us hear the Father's Word, but we do not hear the Spirit himself. We know him only in the movement by which he reveals the Word to us and disposes us to welcome him in faith. The Spirit of truth who "unveils" Christ to us "will not speak on his own."( John 16:13.

)⁸ Such properly divine self-effacement explains why "the world cannot receive [him], because it neither sees him nor knows him," while those who believe in Christ know the Spirit because he dwells with them.( John 14:17.)⁹ --CCC

688 The Church, a communion living in the faith of the apostles which she transmits, is the place where we know the Holy Spirit:

- in the Scriptures he inspired;

- in the Tradition, to which the Church Fathers are always timely witnesses;

- in the Church's Magisterium, which he assists;

- in the sacramental liturgy, through its words and symbols, in which the Holy Spirit puts us into communion with Christ;

- in prayer, wherein he intercedes for us;

- in the charisms and ministries by which the Church is built up;

- in the signs of apostolic and missionary life;

- in the witness of saints through whom he manifests his holiness and continues the work of salvation. --CCC

GOD'S SPIRIT AND WORD IN THE TIME OF THE PROMISES

702 From the beginning until "the fullness of time,"( Galatians 4:4)⁶⁰ the joint mission of the Father's Word and Spirit remains hidden, but it is at work. God's Spirit prepares for the time of the Messiah. Neither is fully revealed but both are already promised, to be watched for and welcomed at their manifestation. So, for this reason, when the Church reads the Old Testament, she searches there for what the Spirit, "who has spoken through the prophets," wants to tell us about Christ.( Compare 2 Corinthians 3:14; John 5:39,46.)⁶¹ --CCC

By "prophets" the faith of the Church here understands all whom the Holy Spirit inspired in living proclamation and the composition of the sacred books, both of the Old and the New Testaments. Jewish tradition distinguishes first the Law (the five first books or Pentateuch), then the Prophets (our historical and prophetic books) and finally the Writings (especially the wisdom literature, in particular the Psalms).( Compare Luke 24:44.)⁶² --CCC

In creation

703 The Word of God and his Breath are at the origin of the being and life of every creature(Compare Psalms 33:6; 104:30; Genesis 1:2; Gen 2:7; Ecclesiastes 3:20-21; Ezekiel 37:10.)⁶³ –CCC

It belongs to the Holy Spirit to rule, sanctify, and animate creation, for he is God, consubstantial with the Father and the Son. . . . Power over life pertains to the Spirit, for being God he preserves creation in the Father through the Son.( Byzantine liturgy, Sundays of the second mode, Troparion of Morning Prayer.)⁶⁴ --CCC

704 "God fashioned man with his own hands [that is, the Son and the Holy Spirit] and impressed his own form on the flesh he had fashioned, in such a way that even what was visible might bear the divine form."( St. Irenaeus, Dem ap. 11:Sources Chretiennes 62,48-49.)⁶⁵ --CCC

The Spirit of the promise

705 Disfigured by sin and death, man remains "in the image of God," in the image of the Son, but is deprived "of the glory of God,"( Romans 3:23.)⁶⁶ of his "likeness." The promise made to Abraham inaugurates the economy of salvation, at the culmination of which the Son himself will assume that "image"( Compare John 1:14; Philippians 2:7.)⁶⁷ and restore it in the Father's "likeness" by giving it again its Glory, the Spirit who is "the giver of life." –CCC

706 Against all human hope, God promises descendants to Abraham, as the fruit of faith and of the power of the Holy Spirit.( Compare Genesis 18:1-15; Luke 1:26-38. 54-55; John 1:12-13; Romans 4:16-21.)⁶⁸ In Abraham's progeny all the nations of the earth will be blessed. This progeny will be Christ himself,( Compare Genesis 12:3; Galatians 3:16.)⁶⁹ in whom the outpouring of the Holy Spirit will "gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad."( Compare John 11:52.)⁷⁰ God commits himself by his own solemn oath to giving his beloved Son and "the promised Holy Spirit . . . [who is] the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it."( Ephesians 1:13-14; compare Genesis 22:17-19; Luke 1:73; John 3:16; Romans 8:32; Galatians 3:14.)⁷¹ --CCC

In Theophanies and the Law

707 Theophanies (manifestations of God) light up the way of the promise, from the patriarchs to Moses and from Joshua to the visions that inaugurated the missions of the great prophets. Christian tradition has always recognized that God's Word allowed himself to be seen and heard in these theophanies, in which the cloud of the Holy Spirit both revealed him and concealed him in its shadow. --CCC

708 This divine pedagogy appears especially in the gift of the Law.( Compare Exodus19:20; Deuteronomy 1-11; Deut 29-30.)⁷² God gave the Law as a "pedagogue" to lead his people towards Christ.( Galatians 3:24.)⁷³ But the Law's powerlessness to save man deprived of the divine "likeness," along with the growing awareness of sin that it imparts,( Compare Romans 3:20.)⁷⁴ enkindles a desire for the Holy Spirit. The lamentations of the Psalms bear witness to this. --CCC In the Kingdom and the Exile

709 The Law, the sign of God's promise and covenant, ought to have governed the hearts and institutions of that people to whom Abraham's faith gave birth. "If you will obey my voice and keep my covenant, . . . you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation."( Compare Romans 3:20.)⁷⁵ But after David, Israel gave in to the temptation of becoming a kingdom like other nations. The Kingdom, however, the object of the promise made to David,( Compare 2 Samuel 7; Psalm 89; Luke 1:32-33.)⁷⁶ would be the work of the Holy Spirit; it would belong to the poor according to the Spirit. --CCC

710 The forgetting of the Law and the infidelity to the covenant end in death: it is the Exile, apparently the failure of the promises, which is in fact the mysterious fidelity of the Savior God and the beginning of a promised restoration, but according to the Spirit. The People of God had to suffer this purification.( Compare Luke 24:26.)⁷⁷ In God's plan, the Exile already stands in the shadow of the Cross, and the Remnant of the poor that returns from the Exile is one of the most transparent prefigurations of the Church. --CCC

Expectation of the Messiah and his Spirit

711 "Behold, I am doing a new thing."( Isaiah 43:19.)⁷⁸ Two prophetic lines were to develop, one leading to the expectation of the Messiah, the other pointing to the announcement of a new Spirit. They converge in the small Remnant, the people of the poor, who await in hope the "consolation of Israel" and "the redemption of Jerusalem."( Compare Zephaniah 2:3; Luke 2:25,38.)⁷⁹ --CCC

We have seen earlier how Jesus fulfills the prophecies concerning himself. We limit ourselves here to those in which the relationship of the Messiah and his Spirit appears more clearly. --CCC

712 The characteristics of the awaited Messiah begin to appear in the "Book of Emmanuel" ("Isaiah said this when he saw his glory,"( John 12:41; compare Isaiah 6-12.)⁸⁰ speaking of Christ), especially in the first two verses of Isaiah 11: --CCC

There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse,
and a branch shall grow out of his roots.
And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him,
the spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the spirit of counsel and might,
the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.( Isaiah 11:1-2.)^81ˇ --CCC

713 The Messiah's characteristics are revealed above all in the "Servant songs."( Compare Isaiah 42:1-9; compare Matthew 12:18-21; John 1:32-34; then compare Isaiah 49:1-6; compare Matthew 3:17; Luke 2:32; finally compare Isaiah 50:4-10 and Isa 52:13-53:12)⁸² These songs proclaim the meaning of Jesus' Passion and show how he will pour out the Holy Spirit to give life to the many: not as an outsider, but by embracing our "form as slave.” (Philippians 2:7.)⁸³ Taking our death upon himself, he can communicate to us his own Spirit of life. --CCC

714 This is why Christ inaugurates the proclamation of the Good News by making his own the following passage from Isaiah(Isaiah 61:1-2; compare Luke 4:18-19.)⁸⁴ –CCC

The Spirit of the LORD God is upon me,
because the LORD has anointed me
to bring good tidings to the afflicted;
he has sent me to bind up the broken hearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor. –CCC

715 The prophetic texts that directly concern the sending of the Holy Spirit are oracles by which God speaks to the heart of his people in the language of the promise, with the accents of "love and fidelity."( Compare Ezekiel 11:19; Ezek 36:25-28; Ezek 37:1-14; Jeremiah 31:31-34; and compare Joel 3:1-5.)⁸⁵ St. Peter will proclaim their fulfillment on the morning of Pentecost.( Compare Acts of the Apostles 2:17-21.)⁸⁶ According to these promises, at the "end time" the Lord's Spirit will renew the hearts of men, engraving a new law in them. He will gather and reconcile the scattered and divided peoples; he will transform the first creation, and God will dwell there with men in peace. –CCC

716 The People of the "poor"( Compare Zephaniah 2:3; Psalm 22:27; Ps 34:3; Isaiah 49:13; Isaiah 61:1; etc.)⁸⁷ - those who, humble and meek, rely solely on their God's mysterious plans, who await the justice, not of men but of the Messiah - are in the end the great achievement of the Holy Spirit's hidden mission during the time of the promises that prepare for Christ's coming. It is this quality of heart, purified and enlightened by the Spirit, which is expressed in the Psalms. In these poor, the Spirit is making ready "a people prepared for the Lord."( Luke 1:17.)⁸⁸ –CCC

THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST IN THE FULLNESS OF TIME

John, precursor, prophet, and baptist

717 "There was a man sent from God, whose name was John."( John 1:6.)⁸⁹ John was "filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother's womb"( Luke 1:15, 41.)⁹⁰ by Christ himself, whom the Virgin Mary had just conceived by the Holy Spirit. Mary's visitation to Elizabeth thus became a visit from God to his people.( Compare Luke 1:68.)⁹¹ –CCC

718 John is "Elijah [who] must come."( Matthew 17:10-13; compare Luke 1:78.)⁹² The fire of the Spirit dwells in him and makes him the forerunner of the coming Lord. In John, the precursor, the Holy Spirit completes the work of "[making] ready a people prepared for the Lord."( Luke 1:17.)⁹³ –CCC

719 John the Baptist is "more than a prophet."( Luke 7:26.)⁹⁴ In him, the Holy Spirit concludes his speaking through the prophets. John completes the cycle of prophets begun by Elijah.( Compare Matthew 11:13-14.)⁹⁵ He proclaims the imminence of the consolation of Israel; he is the "voice" of the Consoler who is coming.( John 1:23; compare Isaiah 40:1-3.)⁹⁶ As the Spirit of truth will also do, John "came to bear witness to the light."( John 1:7; compare Jn 15:26; Jn 5:35.

)⁹⁷ In John's sight, the Spirit thus brings to completion the careful search of the prophets and fulfills the longing of the angels.( Compare 1 Peter 1:10-12.)⁹⁸ "He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit. And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God. . . . Behold, the Lamb of God."( John 1:33-36.)⁹⁹ –CCC

720 Finally, with John the Baptist, the Holy Spirit begins the restoration to man of "the divine likeness," prefiguring what he would achieve with and in Christ. John's baptism was for repentance; baptism in water and the Spirit will be a new birth.( Compare John 3:5.)¹⁰⁰ –CCC                                                                                                     JT  Baptism