The Holy Spirit

- The third person of the Holy Trinity

Also known as:
1. The Holy Ghost
From Old English “Gast” - spirit
2. Paraclete
From Greek “Parakletos” – he who is called to one’s side, or consoler
3. Advocate
From Latin “Advocatus” – to summon, pleading God’s cause for mankind
4. The giver of Life

God’s Breath
 Hebrew – “Ruah”
 Greek – “Pneuma”
 Means “breath,” “air,” “wind”

When was Holy spirit fully revealed?

1. Pentecost
2. Church teachings
- Who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son is adored
and glorified”
- The Divinity of the Holy Spirit was first defined in the Council of Constantinople in the
year 381

The Joint mission of the Son and the Holy Spirit

When the Father sends his Word, he always sends his Breath. In their joint mission, the Son and
the Holy Spirit are distinct but inseparable. To be sure, it is Christ who is seen, the visible image
of the invisible God, but it is the Spirit who reveals him. (CCC 689)

Jesus is Christ, “anointed, “because the Spirit is his anointing, and everything that occurs from
the Incarnation on derives from this fullness. When Christ is finally glorified, he can in turn send
the Spirit from his place with the Father to those who believe in him.

THE 7 GIFTS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

The Holy Spirit as Revealed in the Sacred Scriptures

The moral life of Christians is sustained by the gifts of the Holy Spirit. These are permanent
dispositions which make man docile in following the promptings of the Holy Spirit (CCC, 1830).

They complete and perfect the virtues of those who receive them. They make the faithful docile
in readily obeying divine inspirations (CCC 1831).
1. Wisdom
2. Understanding
3. Counsel

Fundamentals of Faith 3 pg. 1

 4. Fortitude
5. Knowledge
6. Piety
7. Fear of the Lord

WISDOM
- gives us the right sense of proportion so that we esteem the things of God; we value
goodness and virtue at their true worth and see the goods of the world as stepping-
stones to sanctity, not as end in themselves.

UNDERSTANDING
- Gives spiritual perception which enables us to understand the truths of faith in
accordance with our needs

COUNSEL
- Sharpens our judgment, and by its aid we perceive and choose the course of action that
will be the most conducive to God’s honor and our own spiritual good.

FORTITUDE
- Gives us the courage and a certain degree of heroism in doing God’s will even at the risk
of losing friends, money, or health.
- The highest heroism will be that of the martyrs when life itself is sacrifices for the love
of God.

KNOWLEDGE
- Gives us the spiritual “know-how” and disposes us to recognize under the impulse of
G0d’s grace, whatever will be helpful/hurtful to us spiritually.

PIETY
- Gives is the attitude of love, confidence, and reverence to God, like a child to his parents

FEAR OF THE LORD

- Balances the gift of piety by never forgetting that God is all-just judge to whom we shall
one day have to answer for their grace that he has given us. It inspires in us a
wholesome fear of offending him by sin.

12 FRUITS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

“The fruits of the Spirit are perfections that the Holy Spirit forms in us as the first fruits of
eternal glory. The tradition of the church lists twelve of them” (CCC 1832).
1. CHARITY
2. JOY
3. PEACE
4. PATIENCE
5. KINDNESS

Fundamentals of Faith 3 pg. 2

 6. GOODNESS
7. GENEROSITY
8. GENTLENESS
9. FAITHFULNESS
10. MODESTY
11. SELF-CONTROL
12. CHASTITY

Charity
He is an unselfish person. He sees Christin his neighbor and is considerate of others and helpful
to others even at the cost of inconvenience and hardship to himself.

Joy
He is a cheerful and pleasant sort of person. He seems to radiate an inner glow which makes
itself felt in any group of which he is a part. When he is around, the sun seems to shine a little
brighter. People smile more easily, speak more gently.

Peace
He is a quiet and relaxed person. Psychologist would call him “well-adjusted.” His brow maybe
puckered with thought but seldom with worry. He is a steady sort of person, a wonderful man
to have around in an emergency.

Patience
He is not easily angered; he is not resentful of slights. He is not upset or frustrated when things
go wrong, or people are stupid. He can fail six times and still start over the seventh time
without grinding his teeth and cursing his luck.

Kindness/Benignity
People come to him with their troubles and find in him a sympathetic listener; they go away
feeling better just for having talked with him. He is interested in the enthusiasms and the
problems of others; he is especially considerate of children and the aged, of the unhappy and
the unfortunate.

Goodness
He stands solidly for what is right, even when it means standing alone. He is not self-righteous;
he does not judge others; he is slow to criticize and still slower to condemn; he is forbearing
with the ignorance and the weakness of others. But he will not compromise principle, he will
not temporize with evil. In his own religious life, he is invariably generous with God, never
seeking the easiest way out.

Long Suffering/Longanimity
He is uncomplaining under pain and disappointment, in sickness and in sorrow. Self-pity is
unknown to him. He will raise his tear-stained eyes to heaven in prayer but never in rebellion
Mildness/Gentleness

Fundamentals of Faith 3 pg. 3

He is a gentle person, restful sort of person to have around, he gives of his best to whatever
task come to hand, but without any of the aggressiveness of the “go-getter.” He does not seek
to dominate others. He will reason persuasively, but he never is argumentative

Faithfulness
He is proud of his membership in Christ’s mystical body. He does not try to ram his religion
down anyone’s throat, but neither is he apologetic for what he believes. He does not try to
conceal his religion in public; he is quick to defend the truth when it is attacked in his presence;
his religion is the most important thing in life to him

Modesty
His love for Jesus Christ makes him recoil from the thought of being an ally of the devil, from
the thought of occasioning sin to another. In dress and deportment and speech, there is a
decency about him—or her—which fortifies rather than weakens others in virtue

Continency/Self-control
He is a temperate person, with his passions firmly ruled by reason and by grace. He is not up in
the clouds today and down in the depths tomorrow. Whether in eating or drinking, whether at
work or at play, he manifests an admirable self-control in all that he does

Chastity
He has a great reverence for the procreative power that God has given him. A holy awe that
God should have so shared his creative power with humankind. He sees sex as something
precious and sacred, a union to be used only within the limits of wedlock and for the purpose
established by God; never as a plaything, as a source of self-gratification.

How can we discover the actions of the Holy Spirit in our lives?
Is known by his fruits which St. Paul lists as “love, joy, peace, patient endurance, kindness,
generosity, faith, mildness, and chastity” (Gal 5:22)

The Holy Spirit will be the teacher of the same Good News that Christ proclaimed. He will
continue not only to inspire the spreading of the Gospel but also to help people understand the
correct meaning of the content of Christ’s message.

He will ensure continuity and identify of understanding in the midst of changing conditions and
circumstances. The holy spirit, then, will ensure that in the church there will always continue
the same truth which the apostles heard from their master

THE HOLY SPIRIT AS REVEALED IN THE SACRED SCRIPTURES

DOVE - Official Icon of the Holy Spirit in the Catholic Church
WATER- Signifies the Holy Spirit's purifying action

CREATION (Gen 1-2)

Fundamentals of Faith 3 pg. 4

The Word of God and his Breath are at the origin of the being and life of every creature

Noah’s Ark (Gen 7)

At the end of the flood, released by Noah returns with a fresh olive-tree branch in its beak as a
sign that the earth was again habitable.

Jesus’ Baptism
Matthew 3:13-17The Spirit comes down and remains in the purified hearts of the baptized.

FIRE - symbolizes the transforming energy of the Holy Spirit's actions

CLOUDS - And reveals the living and saving God, while veiling the transcendence of his glory

Burning Bush
Exodus 3There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush

Pillar of Fire & Cloud

Exodus 13: The pillar of cloud went ahead of the Israelites by day to guide their way, and the
pillar of fire by night, to give them light.

Pentecost
Acts 2: The Spirit came down to the Apostles in the form of Tongues of Fire.

Transfiguration
Matthew 17:1–8While he was still speaking, a bright cloud covered them, and a voice from the
cloud was heard

EXPECTATIONS OF THE MESSIAH & THE SPIRIT

THEOPHANIES
These manifestations of God light up the way of the promise, from the patriarchs to Moses and
from Joshua to the visions that inaugurated the missions of the great prophets. God’s Word
allowed himself to be seen and heard in these theophanies, in which the cloud of the Holy
Spirit, both revealed him and concealed him in its shadow

ANNOINTING HANDS - Related to the primary anointing accomplished by the Spirit in Christ
means the one "anointed" by God’s Spirit Sign of the all-powerful outpouring of the Holy Spirit
in its sacraments

John the Baptist

John was filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother’s womb. In him, HS concludes his
speaking through the prophets, completes the work of making ready a people prepared for the
Lord

Fundamentals of Faith 3 pg. 5

Related to the primary anointing accomplished by the Spirit in Christ means the one "anointed"
by God’s Spirit Sign of the all-powerful outpouring of the Holy Spirit in its sacraments (Hands)

Mother Mary
Mary is the masterwork of mission of the F, dwelling place where his S and his HS could dwell
among men, HS prepared Mary by his (full of) grace

THE HOLY SPIRIT AND OUR LADY

With and through the Holy Spirit, the Virgin conceives and gives birth to the Son of God. By the
Holy Spirit’s power and her faith, her virginity became uniquely fruitful. In Mary, the Holy Spirit
manifests the Son of the Father, now become the Son of the Virgin. She is the burning bush of
the definitive theophany. Filled with the Holy Spirit she makes the Word visible in the humility
of his flesh

THE HOLY SPIRIT AND JESUS CHRIST

The Spirit of the LORD God is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good
tidings to the afflicted; he has sent me to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the
captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of the
LORD’S favor. (Luke 4:18-19)

Jesus does not reveal the Holy Spirit fully, until he himself has been glorified through his Death
and Resurrection. Nevertheless, little by little he alludes to him even in his teaching of the
multitudes. Only when the hour has arrived for his glorification does Jesus promise the coming
of the Holy Spirit, since his Death and Resurrection will fulfill the promise made to the fathers.

Fundamentals of Faith 3 pg. 6