The Relationship between the Holy Spirit, Mary, and the Priest

The Holy Spirit Mary relationship constitutes one of the richest foundations of Marian and priestly spirituality. Understanding this relationship makes it possible to deepen the mystery of the Virgin as Spouse of the Spirit and model of all consecrated life.

The Holy Spirit Mary Relationship and the Priesthood: A Theological Foundation

If we rediscover the dimension of the Holy Spirit in Mary’s life, the Virgin will appear as the one who was seized by the Spirit so as to be able to conceive Christ virginally and to bring about the new heart announced by the prophets

(Ezek 36:26 “I will give you a new heart and I will put a new spirit within you. I will take from you the heart of stone and, in exchange, I will give you a heart of flesh”). 

With Mary the new creation begins, because at last in the yes of the Annunciation we pass from the old regime of the Law of Moses, as happens with Zechariah and Elizabeth, its faithful representatives, to the new regime of grace. Object of God’s favor [you have found grace before God], Mary is the one who at last overcomes the hardness of Israel’s heart, a calloused heart incapable of saying yes to God; but Mary pronounces this total yes in the Spirit, who anticipates Pentecost in her.

This relationship with the Spirit grounds the conception of the priesthood, which is a consecration in the Spirit. This is why there is the grace that comes through the laying on of hands and makes the priesthood less an institution and more a charism:

• 1 Tim 4:14 “do not neglect the charism that is in you and that was given to you by prophecy, when the assembly of elders laid their hands on you”.
• 2 Tim 1:6 “for this reason I exhort you to rekindle the flame of the gift of God that you received through the laying on of my hands”.
• 2 Tim 2:11 “here is an absolutely certain truth: If we die with Him, with Him we shall live”.

The institution can become fossilized in structures that do not respond, that are not service, that are self-sufficient, that do not proclaim, that do not communicate; but the Holy Spirit who founds the institution cannot be imprisoned, and therefore “when the children of Abraham fall silent, the stones cry out”.

Participation in the exousia, that is, in the spiritual power of Christ of which priests are ministers, orients their life toward eschatological reconciliation. This will transform the Priest not into a functionary; rather, if he is in tune with the Spirit and if he lives the priesthood as Mary lived her pneumatic motherhood, that is, in the Holy Spirit and as a work of the Spirit, then the priesthood is pneumatic.

The priest is like a ship on the ocean of existence, ready to move according to the breath of the Spirit. This breath in the priesthood must be united to holiness. To revive the grace of God transmitted with the laying on of hands is to live according to the Spirit and at the same time to build the new humanity. 

Here arises the political problem that has so stirred consciences, and the answer to it is this: the priest’s task is not the directive function or political office, but the assumption of a clear line of action to defend fundamental human rights and promote the cause of justice and peace. The priest must commit himself to this, if he lives the priesthood in the Spirit, with a view to building a new humanity.

In the light of the Virgin’s paradigm we find the desired renewal of priestly spirituality.

The priest, aware of the value of the presence of Mary in the worship of the Church, will follow the rhythm of his life as Mary did, learning the fundamental Mariological attitudes:

• ministeriality is service and not domination.
• Mary’s vocation, election, mission, and pilgrimage are a model of the priesthood.
• priests are not only ministers of Christ, presidents of the assembly, teachers of the people of God, but they are also like the other faithful disciples of the Lord, brothers among brothers, servants of men.
• They are not an obstacle to immediate union with Christ but promoters, like Mary, of God’s presence in history (the Wedding at Cana).

These points we have just underlined will grow in a climate of prayer and of dialogue with Mary, so that there may be a renewal that is heir to the traditions and promotes new ways of living the same mystery.

Contact with the Mother of Jesus is contact with a living person, always ready to intervene with her Son, so that there may come about in the Church a priesthood animated by the Spirit for the service of God and of men for our salvation.

To deepen the relationship between Mary, the Holy Spirit, and the priesthood, consult the encyclical Redemptoris Mater by John Paul II, on Mary in the life of the Church.

Deepen your studies: explore Mariology, Marian Theology, Marian apparitions and the Postgraduate Program in Mariology.

The Holy Spirit Mary relationship reveals how every Marian grace springs from the Trinitarian unity between the Holy Spirit and Mary, and how the Holy Spirit Mary relationship also illuminates the priestly vocation. To deepen the Holy Spirit Mary relationship means to rediscover Mary as Spouse of the Holy Spirit and model of all holiness in the Church.