Divinum illud munus

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Divinum illud munus (Latin: that divine gift) is an encyclical of Pope Leo XIII. of May 9, 1897 on the “Appreciation of the Holy Spirit and his gifts”.

prehistory

The Italian nun Elena Guerra wrote twelve confidential letters to Pope Leo XIII between 1895 and 1903, in which she asked him to renew the Church with a new turn to the Holy Spirit. Leo responded with this instructional letter "Divinum illud munus", in which he called for a new appreciation of the Holy Spirit and his gifts. On January 1, 1901, he had the hymn Veni creator spiritus sung to consecrate the whole century to the Holy Spirit.

content

In order to understand the Holy Spirit, it is useful to start from the Most Holy Trinity . It is the greatest secret of the New Testament , but also the original source of New Testament revelation . Pope Leo XIII. recalls that from the distinction between the divine persons in their peculiarity one should not infer a difference in their divine essence; for the one divine nature, all divine perfections and also all external works are common to the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, because the work of the most holy Trinity is indivisible. “What the Father does, the Son and the Holy Spirit do likewise”.

“But the Holy Spirit is the ultimate cause of all things because, just as at the end the will and in general everything comes to rest, the Holy Spirit, as the goodness of God and as the mutual love between Father and Son, those mysterious, for the salvation of human beings leads certain works to the ultimate perfection, in a way that combines strength and mildness. In him are all things ”(Divinum illud, 3).

If one opens up the Holy Spirit from the feast of Pentecost , one must also look to the transformation that the apostles have undergone. Before that, they had hid out of fear of the Jews and had no word. After the appearance of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost, they would have boldly confessed the great deeds of God . The promise of Jesus came on the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit conveyed his support to the apostles and ensured the transmission and spread of the good news . This granted assistance has spread to the entire church and the Holy Spirit is seen as a helper and advocate, who in the mystery and work of the church ceaselessly continues the historical presence of the Savior and his work of salvation.

Spirit and church are connected in so far as the spirit is called the giver and keeper of the church, of fellowship and forgiveness, which are the fruits of the spirit. The Spirit should be seen as the creator of the Church in its sacramental and institutional reality. The individual can come into contact with the spirit essentially in an indirect way, by participating in the salvation of the institute animated by the spirit.

Leo praises the effectiveness of the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit , which “lead up to the summit of holiness” as the supernatural foundation of all spiritual life, but especially its culmination in perfect mysticism .

reception

At Pentecost 1996, Pope John Paul II again published an encyclical on the Holy Spirit. It bears the title Dominum et Vivificantem and interprets the biblical findings in order to unlock the mystery of the Holy Spirit, which should also be of great importance for the transition into the next millennium.

literature

Rudolf Fischer-Wollpert, Do you know - Lexicon of religious ideological questions (Holy Spirit), Verlag Friedrich Pustet, Regensburg, 3rd edition 1982, ISBN 3-7917-0738-8

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