In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Master of Sacred Theology

Submitted to the faculty of Watburg Theological Seminary

Thesis (M.Theo.) - Wartburg Theological Seminary

Life is a mystery clothed in ambiguities and paradoxes, which often threaten one's sense of life's inherent unity. Understanding life is always a problem, so we all need a special grace to comprehend it. life benefit of meaning and purpose leaves many anxious, angry, and even violent. This problem of understanding life is closely connected with the problem of understanding God. Traditional religious language, particularly that of Christianity, has been inadequate in addressing the rapid changes of our contemporary times, where the concept of mystery is almost unviable with belief. Hence, there is a need to search for new ways of defining and understanding God.

In this study, the author have chosen to center on the theology of the Holy Spirit in Karl Rahner's thought and to correlate it with Philippine religio-cultural tradition. Rahner, one of many contemporary theologians who seriously take up the question and meaning of life, offers a viable option for bridging our understanding of human life's experiences and self-knowledge with our understanding of God. Such attempts to correlate our understanding of life and God are found fruitful, as both life and God are a mystery. The author was able to relate this method of reflection, to our Philippine tradition. The author examined Karl Rahner's core theses on his theology of the Holy Spirit, which is basically God's dynamic self-communication in love to humanity, the Spirit being the mutual Spirit of love of the Father and the Son in their relationship. The Spirit is also God's gift of grace that opens up history in transcendence; it is also God's free-loving self-communication expressing itself in responsibility and trust.