DIVINE MISSIONS. — A m. (from Lat. mittere = to send) consists of two essential elements: the sending of one person by another and a specific task to be carried out in a given place.
I. HOLY SCRIPTURE
In the Gospel of s. Giovanni, Jesus frequently recalls that he was sent by the Father. The two elements of the mission emerge from these words: « God did not send his Son into the world to judge the world, but so that the world might be saved through him » (Io. 3, 17). At the Last Supper he promises his disciples the sending of another Comforter who will console them for his departure: « The Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and will remind you of everything that I shall say to you » (ibid. 14, 26; cf. also 15, 26). It is clear that Jesus speaks of two m. of divine Persons: his own, insofar as he was sent by the Father into the world to save it; that of the Holy Spirit, who will be sent by the Father and by him, so that he may instruct (and at the same time sanctify and strengthen [Act. 1, 8]) his disciples.Jesus’ promise concerning the sending of the Holy Spirit was fulfilled in two ways: visibly and with particular solemnity at Pentecost (Act. 2, 1-4), and invisibly in all the baptized, who are called by s. Paolo « temple of God » (I Cor. 3, 16) or « temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own » (ibid. 6, 19). These and similar fundamental texts directed the investigations of the Fathers and theologians.
II. PATRISTIC TRADITION
Generally, writers of the patristic age speak concretely of the individual missions and determine the characteristics of each, but they do not address the abstract concept. For this, one must go as far as s. Agostino, who devoted several chapters to it in De Trinitate (l. II, cap. 5, l. IV, c. pp. 19-20; PL 42, 848, 905); indeed, it was precisely by defining the concept of mission that he refuted the Arians, who denied equality between the one who sends and the one who is sent. Moreover, by extending through a sound theological observation the meaning of the term « mission », he taught that in a certain sense it may be said that the Son was sent not only by the Father, but by the whole Trinity, insofar as all three divine Persons jointly brought about the Incarnation (l. II, cap. 5). In a stricter sense, however, and this is the sense predominantly used in S. Scripture, only the Father sent the Son, and only the Father and the Son sent the Holy Spirit, because mission understood in this sense implies a relation of origin of the one sent from the one who sends: «Sicut ergo Pater genuit, Filius genitus est; ita Pater misit, Filius missus est» (l. IV, cap. 20, n. 29). Therefore, from the fact that not only the Father but also the Son sends the Holy Spirit, the holy Doctor concluded that the Holy Spirit also proceeds from the Son (ibid., n. 29); this argument was frequently used by Latin theologians against the dissident Greeks, and, moreover, notable affirmations of it are also found among the Greek Fathers who most distinguished themselves in the anti-Arian controversy. From s. Agostino there is also a famous formula, with which later theologians dealt extensively: «Sicut natum esse est Filio a Patre esse, ita mitti est Filio cognosci quod ab illo sit. Et sicut Spiritui Sancto donum Dei esse est a Patre procedere, ita mitti est cognosci quia ab illo procedat» (ibid.).The whole of antiquity dealt extensively with the visible mission of the Word, but here too the thought of the Fathers revolved around the mystery of the Incarnation (v.), considered in itself, in its nature and in its causes. The visible mission of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost was the subject of extensive exegetical commentary.
Other visible missions of the third Person in the Holy Books were also recognized: under the form of a dove at the Baptism of Jesus and in the Lord’s breath upon the Apostles, when he gave them the power to remit sins (cf. De Trin., l. IV, cap. 20-21, n. 29-31). S. Agostino points out that whereas in the visible mission of the Word in the Incarnation the second Person hypostatically assumed human nature and became man, in the visible missions of the Holy Spirit created things were used only as signs (l. II, cap. 6, n. 11; col. 851). The invisible mission was considered chiefly in relation to the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in souls, as had already been done in apostolic preaching (v. INABITAZIONE DI DIO NELL’UOMO). But it was also noted that the Father and the Son dwell in the soul in Grace, and the character of an invisible mission was likewise recognized in the indwelling of the Son (s. Agostino, ibid., l. IV, cap. 20, n. 27 sg.; col. 907).
III. THEOLOGICAL ELABORATION
S. Agostino not only summarized the thought of the earlier and contemporary patristic tradition on the subject, but also deepened II. His teachings were repeated, for example, by Pietro Lombardo (I Sent., dd. 15-17) without any noteworthy additions, except perhaps for the noteworthy opinion that the Holy Spirit dwelling in the just is identified with charity, by which the faithful love God and their neighbor; an opinion that, despite Lombardo’s prestige, is commonly rejected by theologians. But the great scholastics, starting from the data already established, successfully carried out a considerable work of clarification and synthesis. Their doctrine was summarized by s. Tommaso d'Aquino (Sum. Theol., 1°, q. 43) in the following points: a) analysis of the concept of mission focuses on the study of the relations of the one sent to the principle and the term of the mission. With regard to the principle, it is pointed out that a divine Person cannot be sent by another or by others through a command or counsel, which would imply a difference of authority or wisdom, but only by the relation of origin (a. 1, ad 1). On the other hand, the term must be determined by a created effect, which nevertheless cannot imply a new presence of the divine Person where previously it was not, because the One and Triune God is present everywhere, but only a new title of presence where it was already present (ibid.). Consequently, there is no m. d. unless these two elements coexist: the eternal origin of a divine Person and a temporal effect, by which that Person can be said to be present in a new manner in created things; b) the mission therefore takes place in time and is free, although one of its elements is eternal and necessary (ibid., a. 2); c) on the basis of the first element, the Father cannot be said to be sent, although he “comes” together with the other divine Persons into the just soul (a. 4); only the Father can send the Son, and only the Father and the Son can send the Holy Spirit; d) but on the basis of the second element, it must be said that the whole Trinity actively concurs in every mission, because the whole Trinity is the one efficient cause of the created effect according to which the mission takes place (a. 8); e) although all three divine Persons are the one efficient principle of the created effect, this effect can nevertheless have as its term a mode to which one Person rather than another is related. It is through this relation to the term that one can speak of the mission of a determinate Person (a. 7 ad 3; more extensively I Sent., d. 30, q. 1, a. 2); f) the second element may be sensible or not; therefore, the mission is distinguished as visible and invisible (a. 7); g) the visible mission was accomplished differently for the Son and for the Holy Spirit: in the Incarnation, a created nature was assumed hypostatically by the Word, who therefore subsists and acts in it; whereas in his visible missions the Holy Spirit did not assume hypostatically the created things in which he manifested himself, but used them only as signs (a. 7). S. Tommaso also numbered among the visible missions of the Holy Spirit the “luminous cloud” that enveloped Jesus at the Transfiguration (a. 7, ad 6). The invisible mission of the Son and of the Holy Spirit has sanctifying Grace as its common foundation (a. 3; a. 5, ad 3); but since the individual supernatural gifts of wisdom and charity, infused with Grace, have a certain relation of likeness to the personal property of the Word and of the Holy Spirit, according to these the mission of one or the other Person is respectively considered (“attenditur”) (a. 5 ad 1, 2, 3); h) whereas the visible missions, at least those that are documented, took place only in the New Testament, the invisible mission also occurred in the just of the Old Testament (a. 6, ad 1). It also occurs with every increase of Grace, especially when this has a particular character (ibid., ad 2). In the blessed, there is an invisible mission at the beginning of beatitude; afterward there is rather an extension of it, when new mysteries are revealed to them. In the soul of Christ, the invisible mission occurred only at the first moment of the Incarnation (ibid., ad 3).This, in summary, is the teaching in which the great scholastics are substantially in agreement, and which was repeated and developed by later theologians. But beginning especially in the early sixteenth century, vigorous discussions arose concerning the manner of understanding the invisible mission: not only was its foundation or formal reason discussed (v. INABITAZIONE DI DIO NELL'UOMO), but Patavio and, more recently, others (among them M. J. Scheeben, Th. de Régnon, G. J. Waffelaert, F. M. Catherine, S. J. Docks), in different ways, put forward and defended the opinion that the invisible mission belongs in a special and personal manner to the Holy Spirit. The various attempts made in this direction have failed to win over the great majority of theologians, who continue to hold that God’s special presence in souls in a state of Grace is common equally to all three divine Persons, but is attributed in a special manner to the Holy Spirit by way of appropriation, insofar as holiness bears a certain resemblance to his personal property, which is that of proceeding from the Father and the Son by way of love.
IV. IL MAGISTERO
La Chiesa, pur essendosi occupata largamente dei due elementi costituenti le m. d., non ha avuto occasioni particolari di insistere sul concetto stesso di missione. Perciò nei documenti ecclesiastici si trovano soltanto sporadici accenni al fatto. Interessa particolarmente notare le due enciell. Divinum illud di Leone XIII (9 maggio 1897) e Mystici Corporis di Pio XII (29 giugno 1943), nelle quali, oltre a richiamare la dottrina comune circa la missione invisibile dello Spirito Santo nelle singole anime, si mette particolarmente in rilievo la sua funzione sociale in seno alla Chiesa.Errico di Santa Teresa