Acta Benedicti Pp. XVI 545

daily grow in his gifts of grace through the Holy Eucharist. At each Mass, in

fact, the Holy Spirit descends anew, invoked by the solemn prayer of the

Church, not only to transform our gifts of bread and wine into the Lord's

body and blood, but also to transform our lives, to make us, in his power,

"one body, one spirit in Christ".

But what is this "power" of the Holy Spirit? It is the power of God's life!

It is the power of the same Spirit who hovered over the waters at the dawn of

creation and who, in the fullness of time, raised Jesus from the dead. It is the

power which points us, and our world, towards the coming of the Kingdom of

God. In today's Gospel, Jesus proclaims that a new age has begun, in which

the Holy Spirit will be poured out upon all humanity.3 He himself, conceived

by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary, came among us to bring us

that Spirit. As the source of our new life in Christ, the Holy Spirit is also, in a

very real way, the soul of the Church, the love which binds us to the Lord and

one another, and the light which opens our eyes to see all around us the

wonders of God's grace.

Here in Australia, this "great south land of the Holy Spirit", all of us have

had an unforgettable experience of the Spirit's presence and power in the

beauty of nature. Our eyes have been opened to see the world around us as it

truly is: "charged", as the poet says, "with the grandeur of God", filled with

the glory of his creative love. Here too, in this great assembly of young

Christians from all over the world, we have had a vivid experience of the

Spirit's presence and power in the life of the Church. We have seen the

Church for what she truly is: the Body of Christ, a living community of love,

embracing people of every race, nation and tongue, of every time and place,

in the unity born of our faith in the Risen Lord.

The power of the Spirit never ceases to fill the Church with life! Through

the grace of the Church's sacraments, that power also flows deep within us,

like an underground river which nourishes our spirit and draws us ever nearer

to the source of our true life, which is Christ. Saint Ignatius of Antioch, who

died a martyr in Rome at the beginning of the second century, has left us a

splendid description of the Spirit's power dwelling within us. He spoke of the

3 Cfr Lk 4:21.