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4.4.1 From Vatican II documents

4.4.1.1 The Holy Spirit is at work in the world

The Second Vatican Council recognises the universal presence and operation of the Holy Spirit in the believers of other religions and in their traditions themselves.396

393

See, F. Gioia (ed.), Interreligious Dialogue, 1997, pp.108-109.

394

Tertio Millennio Adveniente, 6.

395

See, Tertio Millennio Adveniente, 6.

396

The Second Vatican Council stated that the Spirit is at work in the hearts of every person through the seeds of the Word to be found in human initiatives and in man’s efforts to attain truth, goodness

The universal working of the Holy Spirit, who was already at work in the world before Christ was glorified, is understood from the very existence of the elements of truth and goodness in them. They contain treasures of ascetical and contemplative life whose seeds have been planted in human beings, through the work of God’s Spirit before the preaching of the Gospel,397 hence in them is found the “seeds of the Word of God.”398 Thus “whatever truth and grace are to be found among the nations is a sort of secret presence of God, because it is doubtless that the Holy Spirit was already at work in the world before Christ was glorified.”399 The Church firmly believes that Christ, who died and was raised up for all (cf. 2 Cor. 5:15), can through his Spirit offer man the light and the strength to measure up to his supreme destiny.400

4.4.1.2 The Holy Spirit makes possible salvation to all

The other religions reflect “a ray of that truth, which enlightens all persons.” This has been understood as due to the universal presence and operation of the Spirit, since it is “the Lord's Spirit, Who fills the earth.”401 Therefore, we ought to believe that the Holy Spirit in a manner known only to God offers to every man the possibility of being associated with this paschal mystery.402 However, “God's Spirit, who with a marvellous providence directs the unfolding of time and renews the face of the earth,”403 is not absent from the believers of other religions and their traditions. With this pneumatological perspective, the other religions are seen as part of God’s salvific design for all humankind. The diversity of religious traditions have their Trinitarian origin, existence and orientation, since there is one salvation history of humankind, that is, God calling all humankind to its final destiny, in the only and universal mediation of his Son Jesus Christ and in and through the universal presence and operation of the Holy Spirit. “As a consequence, men throughout the world will be aroused to a lively hope – the gift of the Holy Spirit – that some day at

and God himself. For the conciliar documents see Ad Gentes, 3,11; Guadium et Spes, 10-11, 22, 26, 38, 41 and 92-93. 397 See, Ad Gentes, 15, 18. 398 Ad Gentes, 11, 15. 399 Ad Gentes, 9, 4. 400

See, Gaudium et Spes, 10.

401

Gaudium et Spes, 11.

402

See, Gaudium et Spes, 22.

403

last they will be caught up in peace and utter happiness in that fatherland radiant with the glory of the Lord.”404

4.4.2 From Post-conciliar Teaching

4.4.2.1 The presence of the Spirit in cultures and religions

The post-conciliar teaching of the Church adopts a pneumatological perspective towards the diversity of religious traditions. The Church recognises in them the working of the Spirit and accepts its duty to listen to the Spirit that blows where it wills. The Spirit of God is present and at work everywhere, limited by neither space nor time. He is active in the heart of every person who is ordered to what is true and good and who honestly seeks God. The Spirit gives light and strength to every person to respond to his or her highest calling and offers each person the possibility “of sharing in the paschal mystery in a manner known to God ... The Spirit therefore is at the very source of man's existential and religious questioning, a questioning which is occasioned not only by contingent situations but by the very structure of his being. The Spirit's presence and activity affect not only the individuals, but also society and history, peoples, cultures and religions.”405 The mysterious presence of the Spirit gives all the possibility of being associated with the paschal mystery.406 Nevertheless, this work of the Spirit cannot be outside the universal action of Jesus Christ.407 Hence, the question of the salvific value of religions as such must be situated in the context of the universal active presence of the Spirit of Christ.408

The universality of God’s plan of salvation and universality of the salvific mediation of Jesus Christ cannot be understood without the universal action of the Holy Spirit. The pneumatological perspective towards humanity’s search for God in their diversity of religious traditions – that the one divine Spirit is transforming the lives of all humankind and guiding them to the divine Truth – opens a wide horizon for recognising God’s universal plan of salvation, unfolded in the event of Jesus Christ, which includes the diversity of religions as a common pilgrimage of all to the Divine. The book of Genesis shows us how the Spirit of God was active at the work of creation: “the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters” (Gen. 1:2). The book 404 Gaudium et Spes, 93. 405 Redemptoris Missio, 28. 406

See, Gaudium et Spes, 22.

407

See, Redemptoris Missio, 29.

408

See, International Theological Commission, “Christianity and the World Religions,” in Origins,

of Wisdom testifies to the universal presence of the Spirit: “the Spirit of the Lord fills the world, is all embracing and knows what man says” (Wis. 1:7). The Spirit of God is also present in the very creation of human beings, as God created them in his own image (cf. Gen 1: 26-27). The creation of the humankind in the image and likeness of God and the original friendship of God with humankind, and similarly, the friendship of humankind with God is seen as the fruit of the action of the Spirit.409 In the context of human beings as “image and likeness of God,” we can conceive of their capacity of a personal relationship with God.410 The fundamental orientation of all humankind and their religious traditions towards God can be understood from the perspective of God’s presence in the whole of creation in and through his Spirit.

4.4.2.2. The possibility of salvation to other religions

The “interior and mysterious working of God’s Spirit is to be recognised in the great religious and sapiential traditions of East and West.”411 Christians are called upon to respect and esteem the spiritual values of other religious traditions, for the great spiritual values, indeed for the primacy of the spiritual, which in the life of humankind finds expression in religion and then in morality, with direct effects on the whole culture.412 The spiritual value and existence of truth in those religions are the result of the Spirit who is universally active in the world, and the truths of those religions, too, are “reflections of one Truth, ‘the seeds of the Word.’”413

The Encyclical, Redemptoris Missio, evaluates other religious traditions with esteem and respect because of the presence of the Spirit in them. The Church, through the medium of dialogue with believers of other religions, seeks to discover and acknowledge the signs of Christ’s presence and the working of the Spirit in other religions.414 However, Christians can find the “seeds of the Word” and “a ray of that truth which enlightens all” in their religions, which should be seen as positive challenges for the Church. Nevertheless, the truth and grace found in other religions is understood as concrete signs of the hidden presence of Christ and Holy Spirit in

409

See, Dominum et Vivificantem § 12, 34. Pope John Paul links here the creation of man in the image and likeness of God and in divine friendship to the communication of the Spirit.

410

See, Gen 7:1ff; Ex 33:11; Ps 104: 29-30; Job 34:4-15; Eccl. 12:7.

411

Veritatis Splendor, 94.

412

See, Redemptor Hominis, 11.

413

Redemptor Hominis, 11.

414

them. The affirmation in the documents – Redemptor Hominis and Redemtoris Missio – of the presence of the Holy Spirit in the lives of the followers of other religions can be regarded as a positive development. The possibility of salvation to the followers of other religious traditions is the fruit of the hidden presence of Christ and the universal activity of the Holy Spirit in them.

4.4.2.3 Church’s duty to listen to the Spirit

The Church, in the midst of diversity of religious traditions, accepts its duty to listen to the Spirit that blows where it wills, who is operating even outside its visible boundaries.415 “The action of the Holy Spirit, who in every time and place has prepared the encounter with the living God in all souls and peoples, is still at work today in the hearts of human beings, in cultures and in religions … Everyone’s task is to discern and respond to the presence and activity of the Spirit.”416 Hence, we should have a deep respect for everything that has been brought about in human beings by the Spirit. Hence the Church cannot disregard the working of the Spirit of God in all human persons, in other cultures and religious traditions. The document,

Dialogue and Proclamation also advocates that the Holy Spirit is actively present in the life of the followers of other religions. It definitively affirms the presence of the Holy Spirit in the life of everyone whether Christian or not. The document, further, maintains that this function of the Holy Spirit in the lives of people of other faiths can be regarded as a theological basis for the Church’s positive approach to the other religions.417

All humankind is conformed to the image of risen Christ through the action of the Spirit, because in Christ do they acquire the dignity to which they have been called from the beginning (cf.2Cor 3:18). Human beings, who have been created in the image of God through the presence of the Spirit, are recreated in the image of Christ, through of the action of the Spirit. Thus the Holy Spirit guides and leads all humankind to Christ. Jesus Christ, who is the way to the Father, in his turn directs all to the Father. No one comes to the Father except through Jesus because he is the way, the truth and life (Jn 14:6), but it is the Spirit, who guides everyone to the truth

415

See, Redemptor Hominis, 6.

416

Pope John Paul II, “To the Pontifical Urban University, Rome, 11th April 1991,” in F. Gioia (ed.), Interreligious Dialogue, 1997, p.453.

417

(Jn 16: 12-13). The Spirit will guide along the way that Jesus is, the way that leads to the Father. The Spirit, who is guiding and leading all humankind to “the complete truth,” “will not be speaking of his own accord, but will say only what he has been told” (Jn 16:13a); will bear witness to Jesus Christ, since all that the Spirit will reveal to us will be taken from what belongs to Jesus Christ (cf. Jn 16:14-15), who in his turn reveals the Father. Hence, no one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ except through the action of the Holy Spirit (1Cor 12:3).

The Spirit is the gift of Jesus: “When the Paraclete comes, whom I will send you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who issues from the Father, he will be my witness” (Jn 15: 26). The gift of the Spirit is, therefore, the gift of Jesus, whose resurrection itself is realised through the intervention of the Spirit.418 The Holy Spirit is given to us as the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of the Son.419 The document

Dialogue and Proclamation confirms this unity in the salvific activity and says: “all men and women who are saved share, though differently, in the same mystery of salvation in Jesus Christ through his Spirit. Christians know this through their faith, while others remain unaware that Jesus Christ is the source of their salvation. The mystery of salvation reaches out to them, in a way known to God, through the invisible action of the Spirit of Christ.”420 Hence, one cannot think about a universal action of the Holy Spirit, which is not related to a universal action of Jesus. John Paul II affirms this point in his document Redemptoris Missio, as he says,

This is the same Spirit, who was at work in the incarnation and in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, and who is at work in the Church. He is therefore not an alternative to Christ nor does he fill a sort of void, which is sometimes suggested as existing between the Christ and the Logos. Whatever the Spirit brings in human hearts and in the history of peoples, in cultures and religions serves as a preparation of the Gospel and can only be understood in reference to Christ.421

The report of the International Theological commission asserts the continuity in the universal salivific role of the Holy Spirit and that of Jesus Christ: There is no sense in affirming a universality of the action of the Spirit, which is not encountered in relationship with the meaning of Jesus, the incarnate Son, dead and risen. All by virtue of the work of the Spirit can enter into relationship with Jesus, who lived, died

418

See, Rom 1:4, 8:11; cf. also, Acts 2:32; Jn 14:15, 26; 15:26, 16:7, 20:22.

419

See, Rom 8:9; Gal 4:6; Phil 1:19; Acts 16:7.

420

Dialogue and Proclamation, 29.

421

and rose in a specific time. On the other hand the action of the Spirit is not limited to the intimate and personal aspects of man but embraces also the social dimensions.422

To conclude on the universal presence of the Spirit in other religions we say that the idea that there is revelation and salvation in other religions through God’s acting in his Spirit independently of Christ seems far away from a genuine Catholic interpretation of other religions. The ‘magisterium’ clearly recognizes that there can be salvation in other religions through God’s acting in the Spirit, but this Spirit is the Spirit of Christ and clearly does not work independent of Him.423 The duty to listen to the Spirit and His working in other religious traditions is a duty to listen to Jesus Christ and His working in them.