47. Who is the Holy Spirit revealed to us by Jesus Christ? (part 1)

47. Who is the Holy Spirit revealed to us by Jesus Christ? (part 1)

(Comp 47) The Holy Spirit is the third Person of the Most Blessed Trinity. He is God, one and equal with the Father and the Son. He “proceeds from the Father” (John 15:26) who is the principle without a principle and the origin of all trinitarian life. He proceeds also from the Son (Filioque) by the eternal Gift which the Father makes of him to the Son. Sent by the Father and the Incarnate Son, the Holy Spirit guides the Church “to know all truth” (John 16:13).

“In Brief”

(CCC 263) The mission of the Holy Spirit, sent by the Father in the name of the Son (Jn 14:26) and by the Son "from the Father" (Jn 15:26), reveals that, with them, the Spirit is one and the same God. "With the Father and the Son he is worshipped and glorified" (Nicene Creed).

To deepen and explain

(CCC 245) The apostolic faith concerning the Spirit was confessed by the second ecumenical council at Constantinople (381): "We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of life, who proceeds from the Father" (Nicene Creed; cf. DS 150). By this confession, the Church recognizes the Father as "the source and origin of the whole divinity" (Council of Toledo VI (638): DS 490). But the eternal origin of the Spirit is not unconnected with the Son's origin: "The Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity, is God, one and equal with the Father and the Son, of the same substance and also of the same nature… Yet he is not called the Spirit of the Father alone,… but the Spirit of both the Father and the Son" (Council of Toledo XI (675): DS 527). The Creed of the Church from the Council of Constantinople confesses: "With the Father and the Son, he is worshipped and glorified" (Nicene Creed; cf. DS 150). (CCC 246) The Latin tradition of the Creed confesses that the Spirit "proceeds from the Father and the Son (filioque)". The Council of Florence in 1438 explains: "The Holy Spirit is eternally from Father and Son; He has his nature and subsistence at once (simul) from the Father and the Son. He proceeds eternally from both as from one principle and through one spiration... And, since the Father has through generation given to the only-begotten Son everything that belongs to the Father, except being Father, the Son has also eternally from the Father, from whom he is eternally born, that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Son" (Council of Florence (1439): DS 1300-1301).

On reflection

(CCC 243) Before his Passover, Jesus announced the sending of "another Paraclete" (Advocate), the Holy Spirit. At work since creation, having previously "spoken through the prophets", the Spirit will now be with and in the disciples, to teach them and guide them "into all the truth" (Cf. Gen 1:2; Nicene Creed (DS 150); Jn 14:17, 26; 16:13). The Holy Spirit is thus revealed as another divine person with Jesus and the Father. (IT CONTINUES)

(The question: “Who is the Holy Spirit revealed to us by Jesus Christ?” continues)