Acta Apostolicae Sedis - Commentarium Officiale562

ating the things of the spirit from the things of the flesh. Hence he was at first

suspicious of the Christian teaching that God had become man. Yet his

experience of the love of God present in the Church led him to investigate

its source in the life of the Triune God. This led him to three particular

insights about the Holy Spirit as the bond of unity within the Blessed Tri-

nity: unity as communion, unity as abiding love, and unity as giving and gift.

These three insights are not just theoretical. They help explain how the Spirit

works. In a world where both individuals and communities often suffer from

an absence of unity or cohesion, these insights help us remain attuned to the

Spirit and to extend and clarify the scope of our witness.

So, with Augustine's help, let us illustrate something of the Holy Spirit's

work. He noted that the two words "Holy" and "Spirit" refer to what is

divine about God; in other words what is shared by the Father and the

Son - their communion. So, if the distinguishing characteristic of the Holy

Spirit is to be what is shared by the Father and the Son, Augustine concluded

that the Spirit's particular quality is unity. It is a unity of lived communion:

a unity of persons in a relationship of constant giving, the Father and the Son

giving themselves to each other. We begin to glimpse, I think, how illumi-

nating is this understanding of the Holy Spirit as unity, as communion. True

unity could never be founded upon relationships which deny the equal dig-

nity of other persons. Nor is unity simply the sum total of the groups through

which we sometimes attempt to "define" ourselves. In fact, only in the life of

communion is unity sustained and human identity fulfilled: we recognize the

common need for God, we respond to the unifying presence of the Holy

Spirit, and we give ourselves to one another in service.

Augustine's second insight - the Holy Spirit as abiding love - comes

from his study of the First Letter of Saint John. John tells us that "God is

love".13 Augustine suggests that while these words refer to the Trinity as a

whole they express a particular characteristic of the Holy Spirit. Reflecting

on the lasting nature of love - "whoever abides in love remains in God and

God in him" 14 - he wondered: is it love or the Holy Spirit which grants the

abiding? This is the conclusion he reaches: "The Holy Spirit makes us remain

in God and God in us; yet it is love that effects this. The Spirit therefore is

13 1 Jn 4:16. 14 Ibid.