The Holy Spirit and Mary

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This Sunday is Trinity Sunday. Yesterday, today and tomorrow we learn and reflect on the Trinity and the way the Holy Spirit and Mary act as a mother to form Jesus in us.

one

God the Father sends the Son into the world to give his life to us. The mission of the Holy Spirit is to receive Jesus, first in Mary, then in us.

This mission of the Spirit has three characteristics. It is: Receptive and Feminine; Maternal; and Virginal.

Like the Holy Spirit, Mary has a mission with the same characteristics: receptive and feminine, maternal and virginal.

That is because, as the Church teaches, the Holy Spirit will carry out his mission in and through and with Mary.

To help us see this the Catechism (726) draws a Correlation between two events: the Annunciation and Pentecost. It says: “Before the incarnation of the Son of God, and before the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, Mary’s prayer cooperates in a unique way with the Father’s plan of loving kindness: at the Annunciation, for Christ’s conception; at Pentecost, for the formation of the Church, his Body.”

The Annunciation and Pentecost teach us the Holy Spirit

carries out a maternal mission to receive Jesus in the world and

in our souls. The Holy Spirit does this with and in and through

Mary.

two

The Catechism of the Catholic Church (721-726) teaches that

·       In the joint mission of the Son and the Spirit

·       The mission of the Son is manifest in Jesus

·       The Maternal mission of the Spirit is manifest in Mary

Fr. Gregorz Bartosik, the greatest scholar on St. Maximilian Kolbe said: “According to Kolbe, Mary and the Holy Spirit are two separate persons, but their union is so close, that though Kolbe called Mary the “Spouse of the Spirit” it was not adequate. In fact, Kolbe preferred to call Mary the “Quasi-Incarnation” of the Holy Spirit. Kolbe said the Son became manifest in Jesus and the Holy Spirit became manifest in Mary.”

Mary is not the Holy Spirit. She is the perfect human expression of the person and the mission of the Spirit. She is the visible and efficacious human sign of the Holy Spirit.  

On July 28, 1935 Kolbe wrote

And what about the Holy Spirit? He is in the Immaculata as the second person of the Holy Trinity, as the Son of God is in Jesus, but of course, with this distinction – in Jesus Christ, one divine person, two natures, the divine and the human, are united. In the Immaculata, her nature and person are distinguished from the nature and person of the Holy Spirit. However, the union between the Holy Spirit and the Immaculata is so inexpressibly perfect that He conducts His activity through her only. Therefore, she is the mediatrix of all graces flowing from the Holy Spirit…In honoring the Immaculata, we honor in a special way the Holy Spirit.

Fr. Rene Laurentin - Summer of 2003

What the Holy Spirit does as God, Mary does with Him:

she participates with Him as His visible sign.

Mary is the sensible visible presence of the Holy Spirit.”

three

Pope St. John Paul II says that when we look at Mary, we are in a sense seeing the face of the Holy Spirit.

On Wednesday December 9, 1998 St. John Paul II said:

“From the Cross the Savior wished to pour out upon humanity rivers of living water, that is, the abundance of the Holy Spirit. But he wanted this outpouring of grace to be linked to a mother’s face, his Mother’s.”

A litter later John Paul says, “Calvary reveals the close and enduring link between the gift of the Holy Spirit and the gift of Mary as mother…The link between the gift of the Holy Spirit and the motherhood of Mary emerges again at Pentecost, when she awaited with the disciples for the coming of the Holy Spirit…therefore, as the bond with Mary grows deeper, so the action of the Spirit in the life of the Church grows more fruitful.”

St. John Paul II is saying that

·       The face of Mary expresses the face of the Holy Spirit

·       So, the more we develop a personal relationship with Mary the more fruitful will be the action of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

four

Why do we need Mary when we have Jesus?

The mission of Jesus is to give his divine life to us; the mission of the Holy Spirit and Mary is to dispose us to receive the life of Jesus. 

Recall that the Holy Spirit is pure receptivity in the Trinity.

The Holy Spirit is sent by the Father and the Son to receive the Son first in Mary and then in the hearts of the believers.

The Spirit comes to dwell in Mary in her Immaculate Conception empowering her from within to receive the Son, conceiving him at the Annunciation and giving birth in the Nativity.

The Spirit dwells in Mary empowering her to conceive the Church at Calvary and give birth to it at Pentecost.

The Spirit and Mary come to dwell in us at Baptism to dispose us to receive Jesus in faith.

So why do we need Mary when we have Jesus? Because Jesus gives his life. The Holy Spirit and Mary work together to enable us to receive Jesus.

five

Jesus wants to give himself to everyone in the world.

Then what is the problem? Most people are not open to receive Jesus. That is the role of the Holy Spirit, to reveal Jesus to us and help us welcome him in faith. The Holy Spirit carries out this mission in and with and through Mary. That is why, from the very beginning the Catholic Church as understood Mary as our Spiritual Mother. Just like at Cana, she helps us do whatever Jesus tells us.