THE CATECHISM OF
THE
CATHOLIC CHURCH
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THE PROFESSION OF FAITH
683 "No one can say 'Jesus is Lord' except by the Holy Spirit."[1] "God
has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, 'Abba!
Father!"'[2] This knowledge of faith is possible only in the Holy Spirit:
to be in touch with Christ, we must first have been touched by the Holy
Spirit. He comes to meet us and kindles faith in us. By virtue of our
Baptism, the first sacrament of the faith, the Holy Spirit in the Church
communicates to us, intimately and personally, the life that originates in
the Father and is offered to us in the Son.
Baptism gives us the grace of new birth in God the Father, through his
Son, in the Holy Spirit. For those who bear God's Spirit are led to the
Word, that is, to the Son, and the Son presents them to the Father, and
the Father confers incorruptibility on them. And it is impossible to see
God's Son without the Spirit, and no one can approach the Father without
the Son, for the knowledge of the Father is the Son, and the knowledge of
God's Son is obtained through the Holy Spirit.[3]
684 Through his grace, the Holy Spirit is the first to awaken faith in us
and to communicate to us the new life, which is to "know the Father and
the one whom he has sent, Jesus Christ."[4] But the Spirit is the last of
the persons of the Holy Trinity to be revealed. St. Gregory of Nazianzus,
the Theologian, explains this progression in terms of the pedagogy of
divine "condescension":
The Old Testament proclaimed the Father clearly, but the Son more
obscurely. The New Testament revealed the Son and gave us a glimpse of the
divinity of the Spirit. Now the Spirit dwells among us and grants us a
clearer vision of himself. It was not prudent, when the divinity of the
Father had not yet been confessed, to proclaim the Son openly and, when
the divinity of the Son was not yet admitted, to add the Holy Spirit as an
extra burden, to speak somewhat daringly.... By advancing and progressing
"from glory to glory," the light of the Trinity will shine in ever more
brilliant rays.[5]
685 To believe in the Holy Spirit is to profess that the Holy Spirit is
one of the persons of the Holy Trinity, consubstantial with the Father and
the Son: "with the Father and the Son he is worshipped and glorified."[6]
For this reason, the divine mystery of the Holy Spirit was already treated
in the context of Trinitarian "theology." Here, however, we have to do
with the Holy Spirit only in the divine "economy."
686 The Holy Spirit is at work with the Father and the Son from the
beginning to the completion of the plan for our salvation. But in these
"end times," ushered in by the Son's redeeming Incarnation, the Spirit is
revealed and given, recognized and welcomed as a person. Now can this
divine plan, accomplished in Christ, the firstborn and head of the new
creation, be embodied in mankind by the outpouring of the Spirit: as the
Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection
of the body, and the life everlasting.
687 "No one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God."[7]
Now God's Spirit, who reveals God, makes known to us Christ, his Word, his
living Utterance, but the Spirit does not speak of himself. The Spirit who
"has spoken through the prophets" makes us hear the Father's Word, but we
do not hear the Spirit himself. We know him only in the movement by which
he reveals the Word to us and disposes us to welcome him in faith. The
Spirit of truth who "unveils" Christ to us "will not speak on his own."[8]
Such properly divine self-effacement explains why "the world cannot
receive [him], because it neither sees him nor knows him," while those who
believe in Christ know the Spirit because he dwells with them.[9]
688 The Church, a communion living in the faith of the apostles which she
transmits, is the place where we know the Holy Spirit:
- in the Scriptures he inspired;
- in the Tradition, to which the Church Fathers are always timely
witnesses;
- in the Church's Magisterium, which he assists;
- in the sacramental liturgy, through its words and symbols, in which the
Holy Spirit puts us into communion with Christ;
- in prayer, wherein he intercedes for us;
- in the charisms and ministries by which the Church is built up;
- in the signs of apostolic and missionary life;
- in the witness of saints through whom he manifests his holiness and
continues the work of salvation.
689 The One whom the Father has sent into our hearts, the Spirit of his
Son, is truly God.[10] Consubstantial with the Father and the Son, the
Spirit is inseparable from them, in both the inner life of the Trinity and
his gift of love for the world. In adoring the Holy Trinity, life-giving,
consubstantial, and indivisible, the Church's faith also professes the
distinction of persons. 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.
690 Jesus is Christ, "anointed," because the Spirit is his anointing, and
everything that occurs from the Incarnation on derives from this
fullness.[11] When Christ is finally glorified,[12] he can in turn send
the Spirit from his place with the Father to those who believe in him: he
communicates to them his glory,[13] that is, the Holy Spirit who glorifies
him.[14] From that time on, this joint mission will be manifested in the
children adopted by the Father in the Body of his Son: the mission of the
Spirit of adoption is to unite them to Christ and make them live in him:
The notion of anointing suggests . . . that there is no distance between
the Son and the Spirit. Indeed, just as between the surface of the body
and the anointing with oil neither reason nor sensation recognizes any
intermediary, so the contact of the Son with the Spirit is immediate, so
that anyone who would make contact with the Son by faith must first
encounter the oil by contact. In fact there is no part that is not covered
by the Holy Spirit. That is why the confession of the Son's Lordship is
made in the Holy Spirit by those who receive him, the Spirit coming from
all sides to those who approach the Son in faith.[15]
The proper name of the Holy Spirit
691 "Holy Spirit" is the proper name of the one whom we adore and glorify
with the Father and the Son. The Church has received this name from the
Lord and professes it in the Baptism of her new children.[16]
The term "Spirit" translates the Hebrew word ruah, which, in its primary
sense, means breath, air, wind. Jesus indeed uses the sensory image of the
wind to suggest to Nicodemus the transcendent newness of him who is
personally God's breath, the divine Spirit.[17] On the other hand,
"Spirit" and "Holy" are divine attributes common to the three divine
persons. By joining the two terms, Scripture, liturgy, and theological
language designate the inexpressible person of the Holy Spirit, without
any possible equivocation with other uses of the terms "spirit" and
"holy."
Titles of the Holy Spirit
692 When he proclaims and promises the coming of the Holy Spirit, Jesus
calls him the "Paraclete," literally, "he who is called to one's side,"
ad-vocatus.[18] "Paraclete" is commonly translated by "consoler," and
Jesus is the first consoler.[19] The Lord also called the Holy Spirit "the
Spirit of truth."[20]
693 Besides the proper name of "Holy Spirit," which is most frequently
used in the Acts of the Apostles and in the Epistles, we also find in St.
Paul the titles: the Spirit of the promise,[21] the Spirit of
adoption,[22] the Spirit of Christ,[23] the Spirit of the Lord,[24] and
the Spirit of God[25] - and, in St. Peter, the Spirit of glory.[26]
Symbols of the Holy Spirit
694 Water. The symbolism of water signifies the Holy Spirit's action in
Baptism, since after the invocation of the Holy Spirit it becomes the
efficacious sacramental sign of new birth: just as the gestation of our
first birth took place in water, so the water of Baptism truly signifies
that our birth into the divine life is given to us in the Holy Spirit. As
"by one Spirit we were all baptized," so we are also "made to drink of one
Spirit."[27] Thus the Spirit is also personally the living water welling
up from Christ crucified[28] as its source and welling up in us to eternal
life.[29]
695 Anointing. The symbolism of anointing with oil also signifies the Holy
Spirit,[30] to the point of becoming a synonym for the Holy Spirit. In
Christian initiation, anointing is the sacramental sign of Confirmation,
called "chrismation" in the Churches of the East. Its full force can be
grasped only in relation to the primary anointing accomplished by the Holy
Spirit, that of Jesus. Christ (in Hebrew "messiah") means the one
"anointed" by God's Spirit. There were several anointed ones of the Lord
in the Old Covenant, pre-eminently King David.[31] But Jesus is God's
Anointed in a unique way: the humanity the Son assumed was entirely
anointed by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit established him as
"Christ."[32] The Virgin Mary conceived Christ by the Holy Spirit who,
through the angel, proclaimed him the Christ at his birth, and prompted
Simeon to come to the temple to see the Christ of the Lord.[33] The Spirit
filled Christ and the power of the Spirit went out from him in his acts of
healing and of saving.[34] Finally, it was the Spirit who raised Jesus
from the dead.[35] Now, fully established as "Christ" in his humanity
victorious over death, Jesus pours out the Holy Spirit abundantly until
"the saints" constitute - in their union with the humanity of the Son of
God - that perfect man "to the measure of the stature of the fullness of
Christ":[36] "the whole Christ," in St. Augustine's expression.
696 Fire. While water signifies birth and the fruitfulness of life given
in the Holy Spirit, fire symbolizes the transforming energy of the Holy
Spirit's actions. The prayer of the prophet Elijah, who "arose like fire"
and whose "word burned like a torch," brought down fire from heaven on the
sacrifice on Mount Carmel.[37] This event was a "figure" of the fire of
the Holy Spirit, who transforms what he touches. John the Baptist, who
goes "before [the Lord] in the spirit and power of Elijah," proclaims
Christ as the one who "will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with
fire."[38] Jesus will say of the Spirit: "I came to cast fire upon the
earth; and would that it were already kindled!"[39] In the form of tongues
"as of fire," the Holy Spirit rests on the disciples on the morning of
Pentecost and fills them with himself[40] The spiritual tradition has
retained this symbolism of fire as one of the most expressive images of
the Holy Spirit's actions.[41] "Do not quench the Spirit."[42]
697 Cloud and light. These two images occur together in the manifestations
of the Holy Spirit. In the theophanies of the Old Testament, the cloud,
now obscure, now luminous, reveals the living and saving God, while
veiling the transcendence of his glory - with Moses on Mount Sinai,[43] at
the tent of meeting,[44] and during the wandering in the desert,[45] and
with Solomon at the dedication of the Temple.[46] In the Holy Spirit,
Christ fulfills these figures. The Spirit comes upon the Virgin Mary and
"overshadows" her, so that she might conceive and give birth to Jesus.[47]
On the mountain of Transfiguration, the Spirit in the "cloud came and
overshadowed" Jesus, Moses and Elijah, Peter, James and John, and "a voice
came out of the cloud, saying, 'This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to
him!'"[48] Finally, the cloud took Jesus out of the sight of the disciples
on the day of his ascension and will reveal him as Son of man in glory on
the day of his final coming.[49]
698 The seal is a symbol close to that of anointing. "The Father has set
his seal" on Christ and also seals us in him.[50] Because this seal
indicates the indelible effect of the anointing with the Holy Spirit in
the sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation, and Holy Orders, the image of the
seal (sphragis) has been used in some theological traditions to express
the indelible "character" imprinted by these three unrepeatable
sacraments.
699 The hand. Jesus heals the sick and blesses little children by laying
hands on them.[51] In his name the apostles will do the same.[52] Even
more pointedly, it is by the Apostles' imposition of hands that the Holy
Spirit is given.[53] The Letter to the Hebrews lists the imposition of
hands among the "fundamental elements" of its teaching.[54] The Church has
kept this sign of the all-powerful outpouring of the Holy Spirit in its
sacramental epicleses.
700 The finger. "It is by the finger of God that [Jesus] cast out
demons."[55] If God's law was written on tablets of stone "by the finger
of God," then the "letter from Christ" entrusted to the care of the
apostles, is written "with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of
stone, but on tablets of human hearts."[56] The hymn Veni Creator Spiritus
invokes the Holy Spirit as the "finger of the Father's right hand."[57]
701 The dove. At the end of the flood, whose symbolism refers to Baptism,
a dove released by Noah returns with a fresh olive-tree branch in its beak
as a sign that the earth was again habitable.[58] When Christ comes up
from the water of his baptism, the Holy Spirit, in the form of a dove,
comes down upon him and remains with him.[59] The Spirit comes down and
remains in the purified hearts of the baptized. In certain churches, the
Eucharist is reserved in a metal receptacle in the form of a dove
(columbarium) suspended above the altar. Christian iconography
traditionally uses a dove to suggest the Spirit.
702 From the beginning until "the fullness of time,"[60] the joint mission
of the Father's Word and Spirit remains hidden, but it is at work. God's
Spirit prepares for the time of the Messiah. Neither is fully revealed but
both are already promised, to be watched for and welcomed at their
manifestation. So, for this reason, when the Church reads the Old
Testament, she searches there for what the Spirit, "who has spoken through
the prophets," wants to tell us about Christ.[61]
By "prophets" the faith of the Church here understands all whom the Holy
Spirit inspired in the composition of the sacred books, both of the Old
and the New Testaments. Jewish tradition distinguishes first the Law (the
five first books or Pentateuch), then the Prophets (our historical and
prophetic books) and finally the Writings (especially the wisdom
literature, in particular the Psalms).[62]
In creation
703 The Word of God and his Breath are at the origin of the being and life
of every creature:[63]
It belongs to the Holy Spirit to rule, sanctify, and animate creation, for
he is God, consubstantial with the Father and the Son.... Power over life
pertains to the Spirit, for being God he preserves creation in the Father
through the Son.[64]
704 "God fashioned man with his own hands [that is, the Son and the Holy
Spirit] and impressed his own form on the flesh he had fashioned, in such
a way that even what was visible might bear the divine form."[65]
The Spirit of the promise
705 Disfigured by sin and death, man remains "in the image of God," in the
image of the Son, but is deprived "of the glory of God,"[66] of his
"likeness." The promise made to Abraham inaugurates the economy of
salvation, at the culmination of which the Son himself will assume that
"image"[67] and restore it in the Father's "likeness" by giving it again
its Glory, the Spirit who is "the giver of life."
706 Against all human hope, God promises descendants to Abraham, as the
fruit of faith and of the power of the Holy Spirit.[68] In Abraham's
progeny all the nations of the earth will be blessed. This progeny will be
Christ himself,[69] in whom the outpouring of the Holy Spirit will "gather
into one the children of God who are scattered abroad."[70] God commits
himself by his own solemn oath to giving his beloved Son and "the promised
Holy Spirit . . . [who is] the guarantee of our inheritance until we
acquire possession of it."[71]
In Theophanies and the Law
707 Theophanies (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. Christian tradition has
always recognized that 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.
708 This divine pedagogy appears especially in the gift of the Law.[72]
God gave the letter of the Law as a "pedagogue" to lead his people towards
Christ.[73] But the Law's powerlessness to save man deprived of the divine
"likeness," along with the growing awareness of sin that it imparts,[74]
enkindles a desire for the Holy Spirit. The lamentations of the Psalms
bear witness to this.
In the Kingdom and the Exile
709 The Law, the sign of God's promise and covenant, ought to have
governed the hearts and institutions of that people to whom Abraham's
faith gave birth. "If you will obey my voice and keep my covenant, . . .
you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation."[75] But after
David, Israel gave in to the temptation of becoming a kingdom like other
nations. The Kingdom, however, the object of the promise made to
David,[76] would be the work of the Holy Spirit; it would belong to the
poor according to the Spirit.
710 The forgetting of the Law and the infidelity to the covenant end in
death: it is the Exile, apparently the failure of the promises, which is
in fact the mysterious fidelity of the Savior God and the beginning of a
promised restoration, but according to the Spirit. The People of God had
to suffer this purification.[77] In God's plan, the Exile already stands
in the shadow of the Cross, and the Remnant of the poor that returns from
the Exile is one of the most transparent prefigurations of the Church.
Expectation of the Messiah and his Spirit
711 "Behold, I am doing a new thing."[78] Two prophetic lines were to
develop, one leading to the expectation of the Messiah, the other pointing
to the announcement of a new Spirit. They converge in the small Remnant,
the people of the poor, who await in hope the "consolation of Israel" and
"the redemption of Jerusalem."[79]
We have seen earlier how Jesus fulfills the prophecies concerning himself.
We limit ourselves here to those in which the relationship of the Messiah
and his Spirit appears more clearly.
712 The characteristics of the awaited Messiah begin to appear in the
"Book of Emmanuel" ("Isaiah said this when he saw his glory,"[80] speaking
of Christ), especially in the first two verses of Isaiah 11:
There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall
grow out of his roots. And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the
spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the
spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.
713 The Messiah's characteristics are revealed above all in the "Servant
songs."[82] These songs proclaim the meaning of Jesus' Passion and show
how he will pour out the Holy Spirit to give life to the many: not as an
outsider, but by embracing our "form as slave."[83] Taking our death upon
himself, he can communicate to us his own Spirit of life.
714 This is why Christ inaugurates the proclamation of the Good News by
making his own the following passage from Isaiah:[84]
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.
715 The prophetic texts that directly concern the sending of the Holy
Spirit are oracles by which God speaks to the heart of his people in the
language of the promise, with the accents of "love and fidelity."[85] St.
Peter will proclaim their fulfillment on the morning of Pentecost.[86]
According to these promises, at the "end time" the Lord's Spirit will
renew the hearts of men, engraving a new law in them. He will gather and
reconcile the scattered and divided peoples; he will transform the first
creation, and God will dwell there with men in peace.
716 The People of the "poor"[87] - those who, humble and meek, rely solely
on their God's mysterious plans, who await the justice, not of men but of
the Messiah - are in the end the great achievement of the Holy Spirit's
hidden mission during the time of the promises that prepare for Christ's
coming. It is this quality of heart, purified and enlightened by the
Spirit, which is expressed in the Psalms. In these poor, the Spirit is
making ready "a people prepared for the Lord."[88]
John, precursor, prophet, and baptist
717 "There was a man sent from God, whose name was John."[89] John was
"filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother's womb"[90] by Christ
himself, whom the Virgin Mary had just conceived by the Holy Spirit.
Mary's visitation to Elizabeth thus became a visit from God to his
people.[91]
718 John is "Elijah [who] must come."[92] The fire of the Spirit dwells in
him and makes him the forerunner of the coming Lord. In John, the
precursor, the Holy Spirit completes the work of "[making] ready a people
prepared for the Lord."[93]
719 John the Baptist is "more than a prophet."[94] In him, the Holy Spirit
concludes his speaking through the prophets. John completes the cycle of
prophets begun by Elijah.[95] He proclaims the imminence of the consolation of
Israel; he is the "voice" of the Consoler who is coming.[96] As the Spirit
of truth will also do, John "came to bear witness to the light."[97] In
John's sight, the Spirit thus brings to completion the careful search of
the prophets and fulfills the longing of the angels.[98] "He on whom you
see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy
Spirit. And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of
God.... Behold, the Lamb of God."[99]
720 Finally, with John the Baptist, the Holy Spirit begins the restoration
to man of "the divine likeness," prefiguring what he would achieve with
and in Christ. John's baptism was for repentance; baptism in water and the
Spirit will be a new birth.[100]
"Rejoice, you who are full of grace"
721 Mary, the all-holy ever-virgin Mother of God, is the masterwork of the
mission of the Son and the Spirit in the fullness of time. For the first
time in the plan of salvation and because his Spirit had prepared her, the
Father found the dwelling place where his Son and his Spirit could dwell
among men. In this sense the Church's Tradition has often read the most
beautiful texts on wisdom in relation to Mary.[101] Mary is acclaimed and
represented in the liturgy as the "Seat of Wisdom."
In her, the "wonders of God" that the Spirit was to fulfill in Christ and
the Church began to be manifested:
722 The Holy Spirit prepared Mary by his grace. It was fitting that the
mother of him in whom "the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily"[102]
should herself be "full of grace." She was, by sheer grace, conceived
without sin as the most humble of creatures, the most capable of welcoming
the inexpressible gift of the Almighty. It was quite correct for the angel
Gabriel to greet her as the "Daughter of Zion": "Rejoice."[103] It is the
thanksgiving of the whole People of God, and thus of the Church, which
Mary in her canticle[104] lifts up to the Father in the Holy Spirit while
carrying within her the eternal Son.
723 In Mary, the Holy Spirit fulfills the plan of the Father's loving
goodness. 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.[105]
724 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. It is to the poor and the first representatives of
the gentiles that she makes him known.[106]
725 Finally, through Mary, the Holy Spirit begins to bring men, the
objects of God's merciful love,[107] into communion with Christ. And the
humble are always the first to accept him: shepherds, magi, Simeon and
Anna, the bride and groom at Cana, and the first disciples.
726 At the end of this mission of the Spirit, Mary became the Woman, the
new Eve ("mother of the living"), the mother of the "whole Christ."[108]
As such, she was present with the Twelve, who "with one accord devoted
themselves to prayer,"[109] at the dawn of the "end time" which the Spirit
was to inaugurate on the morning of Pentecost with the manifestation of
the Church.
Christ Jesus
727 The entire mission of the Son and the Holy Spirit, in the fullness of
time, is contained in this: that the Son is the one anointed by the
Father's Spirit since his Incarnation - Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah.
Everything in the second chapter of the Creed is to be read in this light.
Christ's whole work is in fact a joint mission of the Son and the Holy
Spirit. Here, we shall mention only what has to do with Jesus' promise of
the Holy Spirit and the gift of him by the glorified Lord.
728 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, as when
he reveals that his own flesh will be food for the life of the world.[110]
He also alludes to the Spirit in speaking to Nicodemus,[111] to the
Samaritan woman,[112] and to those who take part in the feast of
Tabernacles.[113] To his disciples he speaks openly of the Spirit in
connection with prayer[114] and with the witness they will have to
bear.[115]
729 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.[116] The Spirit of truth,
the other Paraclete, will be given by the Father in answer to Jesus'
prayer; he will be sent by the Father in Jesus' name; and Jesus will send
him from the Father's side, since he comes from the Father. The Holy
Spirit will come and we shall know him; he will be with us for ever; he
will remain with us. The Spirit will teach us everything, remind us of all
that Christ said to us and bear witness to him. The Holy Spirit will lead
us into all truth and will glorify Christ. He will prove the world wrong
about sin, righteousness, and judgment.
730 At last Jesus' hour arrives:[117] he commends his spirit into the
Father's hands[118] at the very moment when by his death he conquers
death, so that, "raised from the dead by the glory of the Father,"[119] he
might immediately give the Holy Spirit by "breathing" on his
disciples.[120] From this hour onward, the mission of Christ and the
Spirit becomes the mission of the Church: "As the Father has sent me, even
so I send you."[121]
Pentecost
731 On the day of Pentecost when the seven weeks of Easter had come to an
end, Christ's Passover is fulfilled in the outpouring of the Holy Spirit,
manifested, given, and communicated as a divine person: of his fullness,
Christ, the Lord, pours out the Spirit in abundance.[122]
732 On that day, the Holy Trinity is fully revealed. Since that day, the
Kingdom announced by Christ has been open to those who believe in him: in
the humility of the flesh and in faith, they already share in the
communion of the Holy Trinity. By his coming, which never ceases, the Holy
Spirit causes the world to enter into the "last days," the time of the
Church, the Kingdom already inherited though not yet consummated.
We have seen the true Light, we have received the heavenly Spirit, we have
found the true faith: we adore the indivisible Trinity, who has saved
us.[123]
The Holy Spirit - God's gift
733 "God is Love"[124] and love is his first gift, containing all others.
"God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who
has been given to us."[125]
734 Because we are dead or at least wounded through sin, the first effect
of the gift of love is the forgiveness of our sins. The communion of the
Holy Spirit[126] in the Church restores to the baptized the divine
likeness lost through sin.
735 He, then, gives us the "pledge" or "first fruits" of our inheritance:
the very life of the Holy Trinity, which is to love as "God [has] loved
us."[127] This love (the "charity" of 1 Cor 13) is the source of the new
life in Christ, made possible because we have received "power" from the
Holy Spirit.[128]
736 By this power of the Spirit, God's children can bear much fruit. He
who has grafted us onto the true vine will make us bear "the fruit of the
Spirit: . . . love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, gentleness, self-control."[129] "We live by the Spirit"; the
more we renounce ourselves, the more we "walk by the Spirit."[130]
Through the Holy Spirit we are restored to paradise, led back to the
Kingdom of heaven, and adopted as children, given confidence to call God
"Father" and to share in Christ's grace, called children of light and
given a share in eternal glory.[131]
The Holy Spirit and the Church
737 The mission of Christ and the Holy Spirit is brought to completion in
the Church, which is the Body of Christ and the Temple of the Holy Spirit.
This joint mission henceforth brings Christ's faithful to share in his
communion with the Father in the Holy Spirit. The Spirit prepares men and
goes out to them with his grace, in order to draw them to Christ. The
Spirit manifests the risen Lord to them, recalls his word to them and
opens their minds to the understanding of his Death and Resurrection. He
makes present the mystery of Christ, supremely in the Eucharist, in order
to reconcile them, to bring them into communion with God, that they may
"bear much fruit."[132]
738 Thus the Church's mission is not an addition to that of Christ and the
Holy Spirit, but is its sacrament: in her whole being and in all her
members, the Church is sent to announce, bear witness, make present, and
spread the mystery of the communion of the Holy Trinity (the topic of the
next article):
All of us who have received one and the same Spirit, that is, the Holy
Spirit, are in a sense blended together with one another and with God. For
if Christ, together with the Father's and his own Spirit, comes to dwell
in each of us, though we are many, still the Spirit is one and undivided.
He binds together the spirits of each and every one of us, . . . and makes
all appear as one in him. For just as the power of Christ's sacred flesh
unites those in whom it dwells into one body, I think that in the same way
the one and undivided Spirit of God, who dwells in all, leads all into
spiritual unity.[133]
739 Because the Holy Spirit is the anointing of Christ, it is Christ who,
as the head of the Body, pours out the Spirit among his members to
nourish, heal, and organize them in their mutual functions, to give them
life, send them to bear witness, and associate them to his self-offering
to the Father and to his intercession for the whole world. Through the
Church's sacraments, Christ communicates his Holy and sanctifying Spirit
to the members of his Body. (This will be the topic of Part Two of the
Catechism.)
740 These "mighty works of God," offered to believers in the sacraments of
the Church, bear their fruit in the new life in Christ, according to the
Spirit. (This will be the topic of Part Three.)
741 "The Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray
as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes with sighs too deep for
words."[134] The Holy Spirit, the artisan of God's works, is the master of
prayer. (This will be the topic of Part Four.)
IN BRIEF
742 "Because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our
hearts, crying, 'Abba! Father!"' (Gal 4:6).
743 From the beginning to the end of time, whenever God sends his Son, he
always sends his Spirit: their mission is conjoined and inseparable.
744 In the fullness of time the Holy Spirit completes in Mary all the
preparations for Christ's coming among the People of God. By the action of
the Holy Spirit in her, the Father gives the world Emmanuel "God-with-us"
(Mt 1:23).
745 The Son of God was consecrated as Christ (Messiah) by the anointing of
the Holy Spirit at his Incarnation (cf. Ps 2:6-7).
746 By his Death and his Resurrection, Jesus is constituted in glory as
Lord and Christ (cf. Acts 2:36). From his fullness, he poured out the Holy
Spirit on the apostles and the Church.
747 The Holy Spirit, whom Christ the head pours out on his members,
builds, animates, and sanctifies the Church. She is the sacrament of the
Holy Trinity's communion with men.
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