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The Holy Spirit: Our Consolation - II part

2. The nature of the Holy Spirit

We cannot see the Holy Spirit with our eyes and we cannot recognize him with our reason. It is only through revelation that we know of his existence. What Scripture tells about the Holy Spirit, often with images and symbols, is brought together in the profession of faith with these words: “I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son is adored and glorified, who has spoken through the prophets.”
 
 
The Holy Spirit is “Lord”. This means: he is God, or more precisely, he is the third divine Person, who “proceeds from the Father and the Son.” He is the tie that binds, the embrace that unites the Father and the Son in the infinite love of the Most Holy Trinity. Yes, God is one and triune, he is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. He is eternal love, who gives of himself without limit. He is perfect sanctity, the one we are called to adore and glorify. In the same manner that we approach the Father and the Son, we can pray to the Holy Spirit.
 
This Spirit “gives us life”. We see this in creation. St Irenaeus says that God created all things, especially man, “with his own hands,” that is, with the Son and the Holy Spirit (cf. CCC, no. 704). And even if man had become disfigured by sin, God did not distance himself from him, but tried to attract him anew with his love. He chose the people of Israel and revealed the Ten Commandments as a way of life. He sent prophets who announced the coming of a Messiah that “the Spirit of the Lord will rest upon him” (Is 11:1) and that he will give to man “a new heart and a new spirit”. (Ezekiel 36:26). The prophesies were fulfilled in Jesus, the Son of God made man. He is “the Christ,” that is, the anointed one on whom the Spirit of God rests and reveals him to all of us. Always and everywhere the Holy Spirit acts. But only through Jesus do we know him, only through him the Spirit is given to us in all its fullness.
Primarily through his so-called farewell discourse before the passion Jesus reveals openly the Holy Spirit and promises his coming: “I will ask the Father and He will give you another Advocate to be with you always” (John 14:16). Our first comforter is Jesus himself, who intercedes for us with the Father. The other comforter is the Holy Spirit, who remains with us forever. In the midst of life’s difficulties we experience our own weakness, and the temptation to become discouraged even tugs at our hearts. We have need of the comforter, of his strength, of his light. Therefore, Mother Julia told us: “We have to pray often to the Holy Spirit, we should turn to him with great trust, to obtain his assistance, his light, his advice and help, above all in times that we experience temptation, darkness and the various difficulties that can arise in life.”
 
 
Jesus not only promised the Spirit’s coming, he also communi­cated this to his disciples on the day of his Resurrection as the first Paschal gift, and on the day of Pentecost he poured out the Holy Spirit on the young Church, reunited in prayer around Mary. Through baptism and confirmation, we have all received the same Holy Spirit. This Spirit is God’s first gift, the one that contains all the others. The Holy Spirit is the true reformer of the Church and of each of us. Mother Julia wrote: “Pentecost is the birth­day of the Church and of all Christians. By the coming of the Holy Spirit, the Church, washed clean in the blood of Christ and risen in him, was enriched with the fullness of new life. Everyone of us was reborn in her by the sacrament of baptism, nourished by Holy Communion, cleansed by the Sacrament of Reconciliation, and was fortified by the Sacra­ment of Confirmation.”
»I will ask the Father and He will give you another Advocate to be with you always. «
John 14:16

to read the I part - click here