DIVINE MISSIONS. - A divine mission (from the Latin *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 particular place.
I. HOLY SCRIPTURE
In the Gospel of St. John, Jesus frequently recalls his being sent by the Father. The two elements of the mission emerge from these words: "God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him" (Jn 3:17). At the Last Supper, he promises his disciples the sending of another Paraclete who will compensate for his departure: "The Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you" (ibid. 14:26; cf. also 15:26). It is clear that Jesus speaks of two missions of divine Persons: his own, inasmuch as he was sent by the Father into the world to save it; and that of the Holy Spirit, who will be sent by the Father and by him, to instruct (and at the same time sanctify and strengthen [Acts 1:8]) his disciples.Jesus' promise regarding the sending of the Holy Spirit was fulfilled in two ways: visibly and particularly solemnly at Pentecost (Acts 2:1-4) and invisibly in all the baptized, who are called by St. Paul "the temple of God" (1 Cor 3:16) or "the temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have from God and are not your own" (ibid. 6:19). These and similar fundamental texts guided the inquiry of the Fathers and theologians.
II. PATRISTIC TRADITION
Generally, the writers of the patristic age speak concretely of individual missions and determine the characteristics of each, but they do not concern themselves with the abstract concept. For this, one must go as far as St. Augustine, who in *De Trinitate* devotes several chapters to it (I, 11, ch. 5; I, IV, ch. 19-20; PL 42, 848, 905). Indeed, by defining the concept of mission, he refuted the Arians, who denied the equality between the sender and the one sent. Moreover, by broadening the meaning of the term "mission" with a sound theological observation, he taught that in a certain sense it can be said that the Son was sent not only by the Father, but by the whole Trinity, inasmuch as all three divine Persons commonly effected the Incarnation (I. II, ch. 5). However, in a stricter sense, and this is the one predominantly used in Holy Scripture, only the Father sent the Son and only the Father and the Son sent the Holy Spirit, because the mission in this sense implies a relation of origin of the one sent from the sender: "Sicut ergo Pater genuit, Filius genitus est; ita Pater misit, Filius missus est" (I. IV, ch. 20, no. 29). Therefore, from the fact that not only the Father but also the Son sends the Holy Spirit, St. Augustine concluded that the Holy Spirit also proceeds from the Son (ibid., no. 29); an argument that Latin theologians frequently used against the dissident Greeks, and which is also found in notable affirmations among the Greek Fathers who most distinguished themselves in the anti-Arian controversy. St. Augustine also formulated a famous dictum, which later theologians have extensively discussed: "Sicut natum esse est Filii a Patre esse, ita mitti est Filii cognosci quod ab illo sit. Et sicut Spiritus Sancto donum Dei esse est a Patre procedere, ita mitti est cognosci quia ab illo procedat" (ibid.).The visible mission of the Word occupied the early Church extensively, but even on this point the thought of the Fathers revolved around the mystery of the Incarnation itself (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 commentary.
Yet other visible missions of the third Person in the Holy Scriptures were also recognized: under the figure of a dove at the Baptism of Jesus and in the breath of the Lord upon the Apostles, when he gave them the power to forgive sins (cf. *De Trin.*, I. IV, ch. 20-21, no. 29-31). St. Augustine notes that whereas in the visible mission of the Word in the Incarnation the second Person assumes human nature hypostatically and becomes man, in the visible missions of the Holy Spirit created things were used merely as signs (I. II, ch. 6, no. 11; col. 851). The visible mission was considered chiefly in relation to the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in souls, as had already been done in apostolic preaching (v. INDWELLING OF GOD IN MAN). Yet it was also noted that the Father and the Son dwell in the soul in grace, and even the indwelling of the Son was recognized as having the character of an invisible mission (St. Augustine, ibid., I. IV, ch. 20, no. 27 ff.; col. 907).
### III. Theological Elaboration
St. Augustine not only summarizes the thought of ancient and contemporary patristic tradition on the subject but also deepens II. His teachings were, for example, repeated by Peter Lombard (I. Sent., dd. 15-17) without notable additions, except perhaps for the famous opinion that the Holy Spirit dwelling in the just is identified with charity, by which the faithful love God and neighbor; an opinion which, despite Lombard’s prestige, is commonly rejected by theologians. However, the great scholastics, building upon the acquired data, successfully carried out significant work of precision and synthesis. Their doctrine was summarized by St. Thomas Aquinas (Sum. Theol., 1ª, q. 43) in the following points:
a) The analysis of the concept of mission focuses on the study of the relationships of the sending to the principle and the term of the mission. Regarding the principle, it is noted that a divine Person cannot be sent by another or others through a command or counsel, which would imply a difference of authority or wisdom, but only through the relation of origin (a. I, ad 1). On the other hand, the term must be determined by a created effect, which, however, cannot imply a new presence of the divine Person where it was not before, because the one and triune God is present everywhere, but only a new mode of presence where it was already present (ibid.). Consequently, there is no mission unless these two elements coexist: the eternal origin of a divine Person and a temporal effect, by which that Person may be said to be newly present in created things;
b) The mission therefore occurs in time and is free, although one of its elements is eternal and necessary (ibid., a. 2);
c) Based on 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 based on the second element, it must be said that the whole Trinity actively concurs in every mission, because the whole Trinity is the single efficient cause of the created effect according to which the mission takes place (a. 8);
e) Although all three divine Persons are the single efficient principle of the created effect, nevertheless this effect can have as its term a modality to which one Person rather than another is referred. It is by this relation to the term that one can speak of the mission of a particular Person (a. 7 ad 3; more fully I Sent., d. 30, q. 1, a. 2);
f) The second element can be sensible or not; hence the mission is distinguished into visible and invisible (a. 7);
g) The visible mission was realized differently for the Son and for the Holy Spirit: in the Incarnation, a created nature was assumed hypostatically by the Word, which therefore subsists and operates in it; whereas in the visible missions of the Holy Spirit, He does not assume created things hypostatically in which He manifests Himself, but merely uses them as signs (a. 7). Among the visible missions of the Holy Spirit, St. Thomas also included the “bright cloud” that enveloped Jesus at the Transfiguration (a. 7, ad 6).
The invisible mission of the Son and of the Holy Spirit has as its common foundation sanctifying grace (a. 3; a. 5, ad 3); but since 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, it is in accordance with these that the mission of one or the other Person is considered (“attenditur”) respectively (a. 5 ad 1, 2, 3);
h) While visible missions, at least those attested, occurred only in the New Testament, the invisible mission also took place in the just of the Old Testament (a. 6, ad 1). Moreover, it occurs in 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; subsequently, 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 instant of the Incarnation (ibid., ad 3).
This, in summary, is the teaching in which the great scholastics are substantially in agreement, and which is repeated and developed by later theologians. However, starting especially from the beginning of the 16th century, lively discussions arose regarding the manner of understanding the invisible mission: not only was there debate about its foundation or formal reason (v. INABRIZIONE DI DIO NELL'UOMO), but also Patavius and, more recently, others (among whom M. J. Scheeben, Th. de Régnon, G. J. Waffelaert, F. M. Catherine, S. J. Dockx) have in various ways advanced and supported the opinion that the invisible mission belongs in a special and personal way to the Holy Spirit. The various attempts made in this direction have not succeeded in imposing themselves on the great majority of theologians, who continue to hold that the special presence of God in the souls of those in a state of grace is equally common to all three divine Persons, but is attributed in a special way to the Holy Spirit by appropriation, insofar as holiness has a certain likeness to His personal property, which is that of proceeding from the Father and the Son by way of love.
### IV. The Magisterium
The Church, although it has extensively addressed the two elements constituting the divine missions, has not had particular occasions to insist on the concept of mission itself. Therefore, in ecclesiastical documents, only sporadic references to the fact are found. Of particular interest are the two encyclicals *Divinum illud* of Leo XIII (9 May 1897) and *Mystici Corporis* of Pius XII (29 June 1943), in which, besides recalling the common doctrine regarding the invisible mission of the Holy Spirit in individual souls, its social function within the Church is especially emphasized.