Youcat commented through CCC – Question n. 115 - Part I.

YOUCAT Question n. 115 - Part I. Under what names and signs does the Holy Spirit appear?

(Youcat answer) The Holy Spirit descends upon Jesus in the form of a dove. The first Christians experience the Holy Spirit as a healing ointment, living water, a raging storm, or a flaming fire. Jesus Christ himself speaks about the Counselor, Comforter, Teacher, and Spirit of Truth. In the sacraments of the Church, the Holy Spirit is bestowed through the imposition of hands and anointing with oil.       

A deepening through CCC

(CCC 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" (St. Irenaeus, Dem ap. 11: SCh 62, 48-49).      

Reflecting and meditating 

(Youcat comment) The peace that God established in his covenant with mankind after the flood was indicated to Noah through the appearance of a dove. Pagan antiquity, too, considered the dove to be a symbol of love. And so the early Christians understood immediately why the Holy Spirit, the love of God in person, came down in the form of a dove when Jesus allowed himself to be baptized in the Jordan. Today the dove is recognized worldwide as the sign of peace and as one of the great symbols for the reconciliation of man with God (cf. Gen 8:10-11).

(CCC Comment)

(CCC 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" (Rom 3:23) 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" (Cf. Jn 1:14; Phil 2:7) and restore it in the Father's "likeness" by giving it again its Glory, the Spirit who is "the giver of life."    

(This question: Under what names and signs does the Holy Spirit appear? is continued)