Dear Catholic Exchange:
The response to Scott Hahn's naming the Holy Spirit as female was excellent…but one point seemed to have been omitted: the Holy Spirit impregnated the Mother of God. I know the Spirit is neither male nor female but contains both attributes, but the Holy Spirit has always been referred to in masculine terms.
I'm glad for your clarification,
Sam
Dear Sam,
Peace in Christ!
Thanks for your question on the Holy Spirit. In answer to the point that the Holy Spirit impregnated Mary, it is correct to affirm that the Holy Spirit is neither male nor female. Indeed, the Holy Spirit is greater than the attributes of maleness or femaleness. The Catechism speaks in this way about him: “The Church’s faith likewise confesses… the creative action of the Holy Spirit, the ‘giver of life, ‘the Creator Spirit’ (Veni, Creator Spiritus), the ‘source of every good’”(no. 291). From this it is clear that all life is given to man by the action of the Holy Spirit.
With regard to Mary’s conception of Christ, the action of the Holy Spirit of conceiving Christ in her womb was completely miraculous. Mary’s virginity was made fruitful by the Holy Spirit and by her fiat that God could do what was impossible for man to do. Therefore, Mary’s virginal fruitfulness is completely unique in that God worked outside the ordinary means to conceive in her womb the Son of God.
I would suggest, then, that the clarification needed is the distinction that the Holy Spirit’s action in Mary was wholly miraculous. Her virginal fruitfulness is what made her the fitting dwelling of the Son of God.
United in the Faith,
Joshua Bitting
Information Specialist
Catholics United for the Faith
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Steubenville, OH 43952
800-MY-FAITH (800-693-2484)
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