Holy Spirit, Paraclete, Spirit

See also: The Holy Trinity, God, Wise Men, Wisdom.

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Representation of the Holy Spirit as a dove by Bernini on a stained glass window of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, around 1660.

The Holy Spirit is more observed than defined. The mutual Love of the Father towards the Son and of the Son with the Father, it has that nature, Love. It is distinct from each divine person yet united to them all at once.

Love is at the origin of Creation and the Incarnation. This is why the Catechism of the Catholic Church says that the Holy Spirit works with the Father and the Son from the beginning to the fulfillment of the plan of our salvation.

But it is in the "last times" (the last hour, says Saint John), inaugurated with the redemptive Incarnation of the Son, that He is revealed and given.

Thus, continues the Catechism, following the Christ, the new creation and its attributes can take form: the Church, the communion of the saints, the remission of sins, the resurrection of the flesh, eternal life.

Pentecost marks this turning point.

The "Pentecosts"

It was not a unique and transcendent event, but as indicated by the Acts of the Apostles, two other Pentecosts renewed the strong action of the Holy Spirit: after the trial of Peter and John and at the Baptism of the centurion Cornelius.

"A new Pentecost" for the Church and the world, (or rather a similar event by its power and radiance), was announced by the Popes of the 20th century.

Pius XI was the first to use the term "new Pentecost" in the encyclical letter Ubi arcano Dei consilio which he wrote shortly after his accession to the pontificate. At a world eucharistic congress, he had a vision of the Eucharistic Christ entering in glory into the city of Rome, followed by a crowd of all nations.

More recently, Benedict XVI also implores the coming of this "new Pentecost" for the whole Church which he entrusts to the intercession of the Virgin Mary. The event is therefore yet to come.

The Breath of The Spirit

The Holy Spirit is like the wind whose origin and destination are unknown, for He gives way to the persons of the Father and the Son, with whom He forms the Trinity or one Triune God and not a triad of associated Gods as found in other Religions.

The words of God are Spirit and life, and this is why they can only be passed on and Homelied "in the Spirit". It is therefore in Him that we can enter, live, and commune with the very Love of God., but it is also in the spirit within us that we can receive Him or kill Him, for man is body, Soul and spirit, according to the teaching of Saint Paul which Maria Valtorta echoes. For her:

Within the body there is the soul and within the soul there is the spirit.

"This Soul of the soul" is for her the place of meeting with God, the place of revelations and visions, and the "nuptial chamber" of mystical unions.

The Gifts of The Spirit

The Holy Spirit manifests primarily through His gifts. The "seven gifts" of the Holy Spirit already appear in the Veni creator spiritus (see below), but it is Saint Thomas Aquinas who mainly codified them. He presents them as follows:

Wisdom: it makes one taste the Presence of God, in a closer fellowship with him, and awakens a greater missionary dynamism. It is the gift of contemplation par excellence.

Understanding: it helps to enter into the mystery of God, to understand the faith and the Scriptures from within, to distinguish error from truth. Through this gift, every Christian can become an authentic theologian.

Knowledge: it allows recognizing God at work in nature and history, to receive the world as a gift from God. It gives a sense of the grandeur of the universe.

Fortitude (Strength): it gives perseverance in Trials, the courage of witness. It supports martyrs but also helps daily to fulfill one’s state of life and to live the spiritual Struggle. It is the heroism of small things.

Counsel: it is the gift of spiritual Discernment. It helps to judge what should be done or avoided, spoken or kept silent. It disposes one to see clearly in oneself and in others.

Piety: it leads to the experience of God’s fatherhood, His closeness, His tenderness. It gives us the confidence of a child. It makes us close to others as well.

Fear of the Lord: it is not fear of God but the sense of His greatness. The awareness of the infinite distance between the All-Other and us, His creatures. This gift fosters an attitude of humility and wonder.

The gifts of the Holy Spirit, particularly active during Pentecost, are generally invoked in prayers to the Holy Spirit and in novenas, prayers over nine days, which Maria Valtorta practiced regularly.

Invocations to The Holy Spirit

Veni, creator Spiritus and Veni, Sancte Spiritus

Veni, creator Spiritus Latin text	Veni, creator Spiritus English translation	Veni, Sancte Spiritus Latin text	Veni, Sancte Spiritus English translation
I Veni, creator Spiritus, mentes tuorum visita, imple superna gratia, quæ tu creasti pectora.	Come, Creator Spirit, visit the souls of your faithful, fill with heavenly grace the hearts you have created.	I Veni, Sancte Spiritus, et emitte cælitus lucis tuæ radium.	Come, Holy Spirit, and send from heaven a ray of your light.
II Qui diceris Paraclitus, donum Dei altissimi, fons vivus, ignis, caritas, et spiritalis unctio.	You who are called the Comforter, the gift of the Most High God, living fountain, fire, charity, and spiritual anointing.	II Veni, pater pauperum, veni, dator munerum, veni, lumen cordium.	Come, father of the poor, come, giver of gifts, come, light of hearts.
III Tu septiformis munere, digitus paternae dexterae, tu rite promissum Patris, sermone ditans guttura.	You, with sevenfold gifts, the finger of the Father's right hand, you who rightly promised the Father, enriching the speech of lips.	III Consolator optime, dulcis hospes animæ, dulce refrigerium.	Best comforter, sweet guest of the soul, sweet refreshment.
IV Accende lumen sensibus, infunde amorem cordibus, infirma nostri corporis virtute firmans perpeti.	Kindle the light in our senses, infuse love into our hearts, strengthen the weakness of our body with lasting power.	IV In labore requies, in æstu temperies, in fletu solatium.	In labor, rest, in heat, temperance, in tears, solace.
V Hostem repellas longius, pacemque dones protinus: ductore sic te prævio vitemus omne noxium.	Drive the enemy far away, and grant us peace at once: thus guided by you as leader, we shall avoid all harm.	V O lux beatissima, reple cordis intima tuorum fidelium.	O most blessed light, fill the inmost heart of your faithful.

In "The Gospel as it was revealed to me"

• Outpouring of the Holy Spirit: The Spirit of God can, if He wills, thunder and shake like lightning and earthquake even the most closed Spirit. He can do it.
• Oh! If men knew what a perfect Friend the Holy Spirit is! What a Guide! What a Master! If they loved Him and invoked this Love of the Most Holy Trinity, this Light of light, this Fire of fire, this Intelligence, this Wisdom! How much more enlightened they would be about what is necessary to know!
• To Nicodemus, the Sanhedrist who came secretly to consult Him: You hear the wind blowing and you can base your maneuver on its direction. But you cannot say where it comes from, nor call the one you need. The Spirit also calls, He comes calling and passes by. But only the attentive can follow Him. The son knows the voice of the father and knows the voice of the Spirit, the Spirit that was begotten by Him."
• It is the Spirit of God who, infused in you, gives you life. Love Him, invoke Him, be faithful to Him. You will have life and Peace. The first beyond earth, the second already on this earth.
• I will send you the Fire, the strength that proceeds from the fact that I am begotten by the Father and which binds the Father and the Son by an indissoluble bond, making One, Three : the Thought, the Blood, the Love. When the Spirit of God, better the Spirit of the Spirit of God, the perfection of divine perfections, comes upon you, you will no longer be what you are.
• When we are alone and who knows how much tormented by the world?... Will You not help us by Your Presence?" "You will have the Paraclete with his lights."
• Do not worry about how to defend yourselves. The Spirit Himself will tell you what to answer to serve the Truth.-
• Here is He who, if it were possible to establish Perfection among divine perfections, should be called the Perfection of Perfections. The Holy Spirit! The one whose very thought fills with light, joy, Peace...
• Pray diligently to prepare yourselves for the coming of the Holy Spirit who will complete you for your Mission. Remember that I, who nevertheless was God, prepared myself by a severe penance for my ministry as evangelizer.
• The Holy Spirit will come without being veiled by the flesh, and He will rest upon you and He will descend into you with His seven gifts and He will counsel you.

In other works of Maria Valtorta

The Notebooks of 1943

• Catechesis of June 7: He who knows how to remain in the Spirit produces the works of the spirit. Creatures possessed by the Spirit radiate charity, gentleness, purity, knowledge, and every good work joined with great humility. Others produce, like hissing vipers, vices, fraud, crimes, and lusts, for their hearts are nests of infernal serpents.
• Catechesis of June 8: Without the Father, I would not have been. But without the Spirit, I would not have come. Because it is the Love of the Father who sent me. And we are all the more present and active in a heart the more vivid love is in it. Hence the need to possess in you Love, that is, the Holy Spirit. I have said that one ‘must be born again in the Spirit to possess eternal life’. The birth of flesh from flesh does not differentiate you from beasts except in this: you will be judged for not wanting to be born again in the Spirit, which the beasts are not responsible for (p. 58).
• Catechesis of July 1: "When the Paraclete comes, he will instruct you". Even I, who am the thought of the Father made word, cannot make you understand as much as the Holy Spirit can in a single flash. As every knee must bow before the Son, every spirit must bow before the Paraclete, for the Spirit gives life to the spirit.

The Notebooks of 1944

• Catechesis of January 4: For the Spirit, there are neither limits nor obstacles, nor borders, nor insufficiencies, nor needs. He is powerful, free, instantaneous. He brings light and understanding. Even someone with disability or mental handicap, if invaded by the Holy Spirit, becomes wise, not by your poor human knowledge but by the sublime knowledge of God (p. 16).
• Catechesis of January 10, 1944: "Do not fail to recall the word of the one who is Wisdom and Love of God, the One who, from eternity to eternity, spreads over all that exists to sanctify it for God, the One who presided powerfully over all the works of our Trinity and is not foreign to anything holy in time and in eternity; I am indeed the Sanctifier, the One who sanctifies you by His sevenfold gift, leads you to God and makes Him known by revealing His will on earth and His glory in heaven. I am the Wisdom of God. I am the one whom the second Person of our Most Holy Trinity calls "the Master of all truth, the one who will not speak on his own authority but who will tell you everything he has heard and announce the future".

The Book of Azarias

• Pentecost Sunday:

Here it is. The Spirit performs these operations. He takes the nothing that knows how to love, that is obedient, faithful, that speaks to God in trustful prayer, and invades it with Himself, transforms it, and makes it the instrument of God.
"You make a new creation," it is said. Yes. He operates the re-creation of man as instrument, so that then the goodwill of the instrument, united to Love, creates the saint.
[…]
To deserve Love, every Soul must desire it by its own will and keep itself worthy of it by tireless obedience and prayer. Without this, the descent of The Holy Spirit upon it would be in vain because once descended, He could not make His dwelling there. The Holy Spirit would then quickly rise back to heaven, leaving aridity, frost, darkness and silence where there could have been fruitfulness, warmth, light and divine teachings.
But if this is true for all the faithful, it is even more true for the instruments. From men, the Apostles were transformed into the Voice of God by the operation of the Paraclete and by their personal operation of obedience and prayer. Those who are called to a special Mission – and every calling is a trial, not a sure and immutable election – are transformed into “voices” by the operation of Love and their personal preparation of obedience and prayer.

The Notebooks

• November 8, 1944, on the Our Father : The Most High Lord wanted you to understand the meaning of Mary's words at Tre Fontane. The Virgin is in the embrace of The Holy Trinity, I could even say that she is contained therein, and that even before time was. She was the Tabernacle of the Trinity, since she enclosed within her womb the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit carrying the blessed Fruit of her virginal womb, Jesus, in whom was the unity of the Word with the Father and the Holy Spirit. Mary is therefore the love of God one and triune, Revelation is her treasure, she is its sweet and beloved Queen, dispenser of Wisdom, and she gives the Word. She is the Spouse and the Mother of Wisdom and the Word, the virginal Source whom a God fertilizes and who gives the rivers of living Water, which is eternal life for those who drink of it.
• November 8, 1944, on the Our Father: You believe you are not living in times of religious Peace because you are slandered and despised, or because some priests fall under the fury of a son of Satan? You know nothing! When the prophesied times come, those who will be believers and understand the current times will say: “They were at Peace, but for us it is an atrocious War.” The superstructures will no longer be possible. They will not withstand the catapult of the Satans. And the faithful will not have time to rebuild them when they have fallen.
  But the essential, the unchanging, will remain: the Breaking of the Bread, the Assembly of the faithful, because they come from me and the Holy Spirit who inspired the Apostles. What comes from us is eternal.
• Night of February 20 to 21, 1948, concerning the work: Keep these words among your most precious papers, and be sure that, whatever the current judgment of men, God does not change yours towards it; one day the truth will be perfectly known.
  Indeed, God has already judged you, you as well as them. My indications are proof. The work scrutinizes you and all, from the pastors of the Church hierarchy to the priests, and from these to the faithful. It is said: “Satan has asked to sift you.” And also: “My sheep know me, and they recognize my voice.” Or again: “Who despises me and does not hear my words already has his judge.”
  I am that one: the Holy Spirit who will one day convince of sin those who, despite their external appearance, are "worldly." He will convince them of their sin against the Master of all truth.
• March 7, 1948: The divine Author says to me: "Do not call me that. Call me “the gentle Guest.” For I am truly the gentle Guest of your soul, and I find a sweet hospitality there."
  I say to Him in thought: "I do not know how this can happen. I am wretched and sinful, while you are the Perfection of God, the Spirit of the Spirit of God."
  He replies:
  "I find it because you love me. Of the three divine Persons, I am the one you loved first, and without interruption. Later, you understood the Word with wisdom. Later still, the Father. But you loved the Holy Spirit from the first rays of your intelligence, and I loved you. That is why I made you capable so early of loving Jesus the passionate one passionately. You thought you loved Him. But you loved me in Him. And it is from me that you drew the light and flame that allowed you to love Him.
• March 13, 1948: But do not grieve. This also serves to obtain a crown of glory, because Temptation is only Temptation, it is not sin. A Temptation overcome is a victory. Enduring a secret thorn, without the will consenting to its seductions, is heroic patience.
  But the Holy Spirit will speak to you about it in the Pauline epistles again.
• July 2, 1948: In these cases, I am always assisted by Our Lord, by Mary or by the Holy Spirit, who come to the aid of the weaknesses of my memory by repeating to me what I must say or by suggesting how to do so, whether it concerns heard words or contemplative visions [...] That is why it must be taken for certain that what I have put in the notebooks corresponds exactly to the truth. The same applies to corrections made to the typed copies: I have the assistance of Our Lord for what concerns the Gospel, and that of the Holy Spirit for the other lessons (the Masses of Angels and the epistles of Saint Paul, as well as other lessons concerning the Bible).
• July 25, 1948: For it is Love that makes these two distinct Persons one. What makes the unity of the Trinity is the Holy Spirit of God, in other words Love which is the Spirit of the Lord. The most holy Spirit of the most holy God.
• July 25, 1948 (complement): The Holy Spirit is the most holy Spirit of the uncreated and most pure Spirit, who is the Lord. The essence of God, His principal attribute, is love. The Holy Spirit of God is the Fire of divine love, the immense and perfect Fire of divine Love, who begets the Son, and through the Son all creatures, both mortal or perishable and immortal (our spirit and the Angels); He sees all in divine love and provides for all.
  Just as the soul, in us, is our spirit, the Soul of God (forgive me this comparison) is love; it is love that animates God in all His actions, just as, in us, it is the spirit that animates our flesh and makes us like God.
  Without His Holy Spirit, God would no longer be God because He would no longer be love.
• September 8, 1948: If she (the Virgin Mary) had had a divine nature, as some, who misunderstand and only stick to the letter – because they do not know how to read with the life, which is spirit – so want to start from the exact words I have spoken, she would not have needed to be saved. Therefore, Mary, filled with the Holy Spirit, would not have called God “her Savior.”
• June 28, 1949: I (Jesus) have only one style. I can amplify my words to make a complete work like the one I gave you, or reduce them as for Josefa (Ménendez), but I am recognized.
  You will show this to Father (Berti). And also read, if you can, what speaks of my divine life. From now on, you can read. For two years now, you have seen all of me and written all about me.
  Nevertheless, I forbid you to read other works dealing with the epistles or the Acts of the Apostles. I want to be the only one to teach you. Me, as God, as Father, as Son, as Holy Spirit.
  For you alone or for all, I am your only Master. I refuse that any wisdom other than mine should enter your virgin ignorance, your ignorance always virgin, which becomes so again as soon as God’s teaching ceases. This is how I want you to be. I want you “small,” I want you “poor,” to be the only one to make you grow, the only one to enrich you. I want you hungry for me, but I want to be the only bread to satisfy your hunger for supernatural wisdom.
  Remember: I am in Josefa as in you. In Anne-Catherine, on the other hand, those who wanted to adorn what was perfect interfere, giving to the perfect a Face that was no longer its own.

Autobiography

• On May 30, 1905, I received the holy Confirmation from His Eminence Cardinal Archbishop Andrea Ferrari. He is said to be a saint. Personally, I readily believe it, because the simple touch of his hands really transmitted to me the Spirit of Love and established in me a close bond of love with the Paraclete, whose permanent Presence, assistance and sweet comfort I feel [...] Of fire I only love that which burns with love. So yes, there is a fire that I love. And I wish it to burn me and melt me completely with its ardors!!! So I received the Holy Spirit. He descended into me and left His seed there. There is no doubt. But I felt nothing at the moment (page 40 and following).
• (Regarding her last retreat at school) He (Jesus) descended into me with the Father and the Spirit, each bringing His gifts to little Maria, who would have to face increasingly great and more severe Trials. The Father entered, offering this young Soul the vision of His Majesty and Power. The Son brought with Him all the treasures of His Mercy and Wisdom. The Holy Spirit poured His lights and the flames of His Charity there (Page 127).
• Grateful love is like the wind that carries very far and very high... When the Holy Spirit—for I believe it is the Paraclete who inspires these forces in hearts—breathes His divine breath in us, He invests us and carries us in a supernatural whirlwind to the heights where God lives and from where come the splendors that illuminate the poor soul oppressed by its mortal envelope. The soul must sing, at certain hours, not to explode under the pressure and incandescence of love (page 144).
• I did not learn to meditate in great books, nor even in ascetic manuals. Eventually I read them as good readings and that’s all. But with the Gospel it is quite different! If I am seized by doubt, by nostalgia, I invoke the Holy Spirit, to whom I am very devoted, then I open the Gospel at random. And I always find a phrase apt to comfort me, or enlighten me, or answer the “why” that assails me (page 265).
• After this period, which ends for me on the day of the Ascension, comes Pentecost. It is again a feast very dear to me. The Holy Spirit! Love! Light! Fire! Ah! How much I love this third person of the Most Holy Trinity! I would feel my day is deprived of light if I did not start it with the “Veni Sancte Spiritus”! And even during the day, when I am invaded by some concerns or when something troubles or worries me, I address the Paraclete with the confidence of a child towards the Wise One, who knows all. The novena of the Holy Spirit always fills me with spiritual delight and joy culminating in the grasp of the dazzling light of Pentecost morning.
• Most Catholics make a grave error when they too frequently forget the first and third persons of the Most Holy Trinity. Even making the sign of the Cross, many say: “In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.” But in reality they think only of the Son. The obtuse spirit of our nature is so strong that very few know how to conceive what is only spirit, which is why they cling to the Son, who alone has a bodily form (Page 298).
• When one loves God, warmth extends from the inside to the outside. This is how one loves the Neighbor, not because of the value he represents in himself, but because of what he is, that is to say the work of God, redeemed by Christ, dwelling place of the Holy Spirit. And one loves him necessarily because, since we carry God within ourselves—he who possesses charity possesses God—we exercise His mercy that covers all the filth of others, clothes bodies, even the most repulsive of moral tabes, with a supernatural garment (page 405).
• “Jesus, I am alone.”
• “I too am alone. Souls do not love me.”
• “Jesus, bewilderment tries to overwhelm me.”
• “Fear not. It will not win.”
• “I feel torn from You.”
• “It is not true. If Our Father has withdrawn to the depths of heavens, I have remained close to you and Love, the Paraclete, spreads His wings over you. Think, creature, that Our Father—and I say “our” because I am your Brother—must resist Himself not to hold you to His Heart. One day you will know what this suffering of yours was for... Look down, see the crowd of poor who need holocausts to be saved. Turn your gaze to heaven and see the punishments held back by an act of love. So smile, little sister, my poor little sister! What you can do is not even granted to Angels. You immolate yourself, adore, and atone. The Angels can only adore” (page 455).

In fundamental Christian texts

In the catechism of the Catholic Church

• CEC Article 683 and following.

In other sources

Dom Guéranger

• The Gifts of the Holy Spirit.

YouTube Videos

• Veni, Sancte Spiritus, Medjugorje.
• Veni Sancte Spiritus, Taizé.
• Veni Creator Spiritus, Taizé.
• Veni Sancte Spiritus, Gregorian.
• Veni Creator Spiritus, Gregorian.

Catechism of the Catholic Church (1992).