Posted on 05/05/2018 1:41:50 PM PDT by Salvation
Question: I have difficulty relating to the Holy Spirit. Is the Spirit a person? Are there any suggestions that you can make? — Name, location withheld
Answer: Many do struggle to relate to the Holy Spirit as a person for two reasons. First, the images of Father and Son speak to our human experience of personhood. A father or a son is person whom we can see and relate to. But in English, “spirit” more usually speaks to the notion of a force, or a power, an inspiration or a thought, not a person. Thus, it is harder for many to relate personally to the Holy Spirit. Images of the Holy Spirit also are less personal: a dove, tongues of fire, a rushing wind, fire and so forth. So, it is more of a challenge to a have a personal relationship with the Holy Spirit.
Yet, to be sure, Jesus speaks of the Holy Spirit as a person. He uses personal and masculine pronouns to refer to the Holy Spirit. For example, “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come” (Jn 16:13).
Thus, Jesus calls the Holy Spirit “he” and “him,” not “it.”
There also is a significant emphasis on the use of the masculine pronouns. When Jesus referred to the Holy Spirit as “Comforter” or “Counsellor” (masculine nouns in Greek), the grammatically necessary masculine form of the Greek pronoun autos (he, him) is used. And yet, when Jesus speaks of the Holy Spirit simply as Pneuma (spirit, which is grammatically neuter in Greek), he uses the masculine form of the demonstrative pronoun ekeinos (“that masculine one”). This breaks the expectation of native Greek speakers and indicates both the personhood of the Holy Spirit and that the Holy Spirit is understood as masculine in relation to us. Thus, it is not appropriate to call the Holy Spirit “she,” or “her.”
In terms of developing a deeper relationship to the Holy Spirit, the usual approach is to learn of him through his fruits and works. The Holy Spirit is the love of God, the joy of God, the wisdom of God, the beauty of God. Let him bring you alive and draw you to know Jesus as Lord and the Father as Abba. Let him place a divine affection within you to love God powerfully and your neighbor with the Love of God. Let the Holy Spirit dwell within you, as in a temple.
Monsignor Pope Ping for OSV column.
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The Holy Spirit is wonderfully Present whenever anything of eternal value is happening. He brooded over the waters at Creation; He came upon the prophets; He inspired the scriptures, introducing us to God; He brought about the Conception of Jesus Christ (Praise God!); He is the One Who brings about the New Birth of every Christian; He is the One Who is always with us and in us, helping us; He is the One whereby we worship God in prayer, in praise, in devotion, in presenting ourselves to be used of God.
The Holy Spirit generates in us the love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness, humility and self control which should characterize every believer. The Holy Spirit energizes our knowledge, wisdom, miracles, tongues, interpretation, discernment, healings and so much more. He guides us into all truth.
Even at that, we can only scratch the surface in our attempts to fully fathom Him. There are 1000 times more that we don’t know about the Holy Spirit than what we do know. But for now, we know enough!
Thanks for the ping
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