TOS005 Who is the Holy Spirit? (Part 2) ; for Audio; Listennotes Podcasts Link
Life in the Spirit Series
Second show in the series on Life in the Spirit. Trust me, when the Holy Spirit came upon Jesus like a dove, He was not a pigeon. The Holy Spirit is a person. The Holy Spirit can come with the gentleness of a dove. The Holy Spirit can also manifest with sound, wind, power, fire, and life. The wind of the Spirit can be a gentle breeze or come like the strong wind of a tornado. The hounds of hell—the gates of hell cannot prevail against the Holy Spirit mirrored in nature by the tornadic winds that consumes all in the path that has become a barrier.
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Welcome to Truth of the Spirit, I am Patti Brunner. Thank you for joining me as we explore “Life in the Spirit”.
Today I have a question for you today. “Who is the Holy Spirit?” Did you notice that I asked “who” rather than “what”? Since we usually see the image of a dove when talking about the Holy Spirit, we could be confused and think God is a bird! The dove with the olive branch is NOT the Holy Spirit.
The Gospel of Matthew chapter 3 verse 16 says:
“After Jesus was baptized, he came up from the water and behold, the heavens were opened [for him], and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove [and] coming upon him. 17 And a voice came from the heavens, saying, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” NAB
Trust me, when the Holy Spirit came upon Jesus like a dove, He was not a pigeon.
The Holy Spirit is a person, one of three persons in the Trinity. This is how I described the three persons of the Trinity to some sixth graders one time. I took a match, and lit a candle. The Match symbolizes God the Father. It is complete. The Spark and the Fire is the Holy Spirit; the Light is Jesus. Just as you cannot separate the light from the fire or the match from the fire and the light you cannot separate the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Three persons-one God. I am not going to explain the Trinity—I cannot; better minds than mine have found it impossible—but like all Catholics of good standing I accept the Trinity as truth and I profess it every time I make a Sign of the Cross.
Listen to this from CCC paragraph #684:
“Through his grace, the Holy Spirit is the first to awaken faith in us and to communicate to us the new life, which is to “know the Father and the one whom he has sent, Jesus Christ.: [John 17:3] But the Spirit is the last of the persons of the Holy Trinity to be revealed. St. Gregory of Nazianzus, the Theologian, explains this progression in terms of the pedagogy of divine “condescension”: “The Old Testament proclaimed the Father clearly, but the Son more obscurely. The New Testament revealed the Son and gave us a glimpse of the divinity of the Spirit. Now the Spirit dwells among us and grants us a clearer vision of himself. It was not prudent, when the divinity of the Father had not yet been confessed, to proclaim the Son openly and, when the divinity of the Son was not yet admitted, to add the Holy Spirit as an extra burden, to speak somewhat daringly….By advancing and progressing “from glory to glory,” the light of the Trinity will shine in ever more brilliant rays. {St. Gregory of Nazianzus}”
In other words: Father revealed- Old Testament; Son revealed – New Testament; Holy Spirit revealed- in the church ; we are the Church. So the Holy Spirit reveals himself in us.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church, in paragraph 731, tells us that, on the day of Pentecost, Christ’s Passover is fulfilled in the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, manifested, given, and communicated as a divine person: of his fullness, Christ, the Lord, pours out the Spirit in abundance. (Acts 2:33-36)
CCC 732 “On that day, the Holy Trinity is fully revealed. Since that day, the Kingdom announced by Christ has been open to those who believe in him: in the humility of the flesh and in faith, they already share in the communion of the Holy Trinity. By his coming, which never ceases, the Holy Spirit causes the world to enter into the “last days,” the time of the Church, the Kingdom already inherited though not yet consummated.”
The coming of the Holy Spirit-which never ceases! Mmmmm!
Today I want to show you that the “like a dove” Holy Spirit that descends with gentleness brings power, fire, and life. We see those characteristics clearly in chapter 2 of the Acts of the Apostles, where we are told that at Pentecost the Holy Spirit came with sound, wind and fire.
Listen to this scripture:
Acts 2:2-4 “2 And suddenly there came from the sky a noise like a strong driving wind, and it filled the entire house in which they were. 3Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire, which parted and came to rest on each one of them. 4 And they were all filled with the holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues, as the Spirit enabled them to proclaim.” NAB
Here in Arkansas, upon occasion, we have from the sky a noise like a strong driving wind that fills the entire house. It kinda sounds like a freight train heading right through your bedroom. It’s called a tornado. And when it gets real close everything in its path is changed. The wind is so strong it can drive debris projectiles through walls and roofs. It can strip the bark off a tree and the asphalt off of a street. I imagine that the driving wind of the Holy Spirit can strip the effect of sin from our souls and penetrate our hearts.
The Holy Spirit can come with the gentleness of a dove. The Holy Spirit can also manifest with sound, wind, power, fire, and life. As those 120 present that day on Pentecost were filled with the Holy Spirit they began to speak in different tongues as the Holy Spirit enabled them to proclaim. The Holy Spirit placed his words and languages into the hearts of these disciples and joined his voice with theirs to proclaim the kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. As they spoke that day: the breath of the Holy Spirit came forth and “Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand persons were added that day.” Acts 2:41 NAB
This gift of that first Pentecost continues to manifest in the people of God as they are baptized. When they are “Baptized in the Spirit” throughout the Church they also speak in tongues. Is this hard for you to accept? That the Holy Spirit speaks to and through people of God? Who do you think Moses heard in the burning bush?
In the Catechism #691 it says that: “The term “spirit” translates the Hebrew word “ruah”, which, in its primary sense, means” wind, air, breath.” Who is the Holy Spirit? The Holy Spirit is God’s Breath The “breath of God” has spoken to the hearts of many —you see this before you in scriptures and in the writings of God’s beloved people especially the saints and the leaders of his Church. Who do you think Samuel heard when he was told to anoint David as King of Israel? Who do you think spoke to Joseph when he dreamed to flee with Mary to Egypt to safety? It was the Voice of the Most Holy Spirit!
The Holy Spirit doesn’t always come like a tornado. When Elijah was in the cave waiting for God to pass by, God wasn’t in the strong and heavy wind, He wasn’t in the earthquake or the fire but God was in the tiny whispering sound. This story about God’s whisper is in 1 Kings chapter 9:11-12.
The Holy Spirit manifests in sound, wind, power, fire, and life. The Vatican II Weekday Missal says that: “As “breath” or “wind”, God’s “ruah” is a driving, divine force, known chiefly by its effects, particularly in Israel’s history. The gift of God’s Spirit enabled an individual, however insignificant or uncredentialed, to be God’s agent.”
Did you ever blow on a dandelion and watch its petals float through the air? You can also find the “breath of God” in the ‘movement’ of the Church for God’s sovereign grace ‘blows’ the direction of the proper path of the Way. The wind of the Spirit can be a gentle breeze or come like the strong wind of a tornado. The hounds of hell—the gates of hell cannot prevail against the Holy Spirit mirrored in nature by the tornadic winds that consumes all in the path that has become a barrier. A driving, divine force… When the Spirit of God leads us this way it’s pretty amazing! Today the ‘wind’ and ‘fire of the Spirit is again providing the movement of the Church.
It is the wind and the fire of the Holy Spirit that brings us together in this moment.
The Holy Spirit is God connected to man. The Holy Spirit is the power source that connects man to God. This is known as Life in the Spirit. We experience that initial power source connection through the sacrament of Baptism. Salvation clears the way for the Spirit of God to ‘take up his rest’ within man’s heart by the grace of the redemption of the cross.
1 John chapter 4 verse 8 tells us “God is Love”. The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches about God’s love on 795 pages. Paul writes in Romans chapter 5 verse 5: “God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” NAB
The Spirit of the Living God is God’s love—pure and ‘simple’. To invite God’s love into your heart is to invite the Holy Spirit. In paragraph #733 the Church teaches us that love is his first gift, containing all others. The Holy Spirit is love and life. “It is not I that live but Christ that lives in me.” Galatians 2:20 NAB Life comes to us through the Spirit to Spirit connection gained through Salvation. The gift of the Holy Spirit is the purpose of the coming of Christ. The Spirit to spirit connection is the purpose of salvation .
The whole reason Christ died for us was to reconnect our spirit with the Holy Spirit that was severed by sin. Baptism of the Holy Spirit takes that relationship towards a new depth that was intended by God from the beginning of creation. Catechism of the Catholic Church #686 says “The Holy Spirit is at work with the Father and the Son from the beginning to the completion of the plan for our salvation…..”
We can have the Father or the Son in us, but until we accept and unleash the power of the Holy Spirit we are missing the kingdom. We have a blank check and a million billion dollars in our account and we’re starving.
Paul wrote in Ephesians 3: “14 For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, 16 that he may grant you in accord with the riches of his glory to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner self, 17 and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have strength to comprehend with all the holy ones what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” NAB
Catechism of the Catholic Church #687 “No one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.” (1 Cor 2:11) Now God’s Spirit, who reveals God, makes known to us Christ, his Word, his living Utterance, but the Spirit does not speak of himself. The Spirit who “has spoken through the prophets” makes us hear the Father’s Word, but we do not hear the Spirit himself. We know him only in the movement by which he reveals the Word to us and disposes us to welcome him in faith. The Spirit of truth who “unveils” Christ to us “will not speak on his own.” (Jn 16:13) Such properly divine self-effacement explains why “the world cannot receive [him], because it neither sees him nor knows him,” while those who believe in Christ know the Spirit because he dwells with them. (Jn 14:17)
Why do we need the Holy Spirit? What does God expect us to do with his gift? Jesus also said, Acts 1:8 “you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” NAB
Jesus told us we would receive the power to be a witness when the Holy Spirit came upon us. I share this series with you only because I have received the power to witness from the Holy Spirit. In an earlier podcast I shared the beginning of my Life in the Spirit. Anything the Lord has done for me—a ‘normal ordinary person’ He can do for you.
One of the gifts the Holy Spirit has given me is the “word of Knowledge”. In this gift, the Lord reveals something about a person’s past to help with their healing. One night I was praying for my husband Rick. His childhood had much trauma in it, and he wanted to be healed. As I prayed for him the Lord started giving me words of knowledge of his traumatic memories.
One of the memories was of a childhood acquaintance, a couple of years older than Rick, who had climbed a tower close to his house and was electrocuted. Other memories about Rick’s family were just as painful. We continued to ask Jesus to heal these memories. Towards the end of our prayer session the Lord started putting joyful memories in my mind. Like Rick eating watermelon with his family and swimming and bathing in the nearby river together. The next morning, all Rick could recall from our prayer were the happy memories.
I have also prayed for strangers where the Lord has given a word of Knowledge that allowed for a breakthrough healing. The Holy Spirit uses many charisms or gifts of grace to allow us to know how much God wants to minister to our needs. I have met large numbers of Catholics who pray in tongues by the voice of the Holy Spirit. Several popes have prayed in tongues and had the gift of prophecy. Even though this may seem strange to you, this is very Catholic. The Holy Spirit has continues to lead and teach us. Countless saints have had gifts of miracles and healing, even raising people from the dead!
I invite you to read chapter 2 of the Acts of the Apostles to see how the Holy Spirit manifests in the Church. Then read 1st Corinthians chapters 12-14 to be reminded of the great manifestation gifts of the Spirit. Paul writes that the greatest of these gifts is love. God is love.
Our next show, as we continue this series to discover and discuss Life in the Spirit, will answer the question, “Does God love me?” Thanks for listening. See you next time on The Truth of the Spirit.
