Youcat commented through CCC. Question n. 38 – Part I.

YOUCAT Question n. 38 - Part I. Who is the “Holy Spirit”?

(Youcat answer) The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Holy Trinity and has the same divine majesty as the Father and the Son.    

A deepening through CCC

(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. (CCC 244) The eternal origin of the Holy Spirit is revealed in his mission in time. The Spirit is sent to the apostles and to the Church both by the Father in the name of the Son, and by the Son in person, once he had returned to the Father (Cf. Jn 14:26; 15:26; 16:14). The sending of the person of the Spirit after Jesus' glorification (Cf. Jn 7:39) reveals in its fullness the mystery of the Holy Trinity.     

Reflecting and meditating 

(Youcat comment) When we discover the reality of God in us, we are dealing with the working of the Holy Spirit. God sent “the Spirit of his Son into our hearts” (Gal 4:6), so that he might fill us completely. In the Holy Spirit a Christian finds profound joy, inner peace, and freedom. “For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the spirit of sonship [in whom] we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’ (Rom 8:15b)”. In the Holy Spirit, whom we receive in Baptism and Confirmation we are permitted to call God “Father”.     

(CCC Comment)

  (CCC 113)  Read the Scripture within "the living Tradition of the whole Church". According to a saying of the Fathers, Sacred Scripture is written principally in the Church's heart rather than in documents and records, for the Church carries in her Tradition the living memorial of God's Word, and it is the Holy Spirit who gives her the spiritual interpretation of the Scripture ("according to the spiritual meaning which the Spirit grants to the Church", Origen, Hom. in Lev. 5, 5: PG 12, 454D). (CCC 114)  Be attentive to the analogy of faith (Cf. Rom 12:6). By "analogy of faith" we mean the coherence of the truths of faith among themselves and within the whole plan of Revelation. (CCC 115) According to an ancient tradition, one can distinguish between two senses of Scripture: the literal and the spiritual, the latter being subdivided into the allegorical, moral and anagogical senses. The profound concordance of the four senses guarantees all its richness to the living reading of Scripture in the Church. (CCC 116) The literal sense is the meaning conveyed by the words of Scripture and discovered by exegesis, following the rules of sound interpretation: "All other senses of Sacred Scripture are based on the literal” (St. Thomas Aquinas, STh I, 1, 10, ad I).       

(This question: Who is the “Holy Spirit”? is continued)