1. The Third Person of the Blessed Trinity
The Holy Spirit
The Third Person of the Blessed Trinity

2. What is the Holy Spirit?
The Third Person of the Blessed Trinity (aka the Triune God)
The Holy Spirit is the very presence of the Risen Lord in the lives of Christians.
The primary mission of the Holy Spirit is to bring people to Jesus Christ and help Christians live authentically Christian lives.

3. Symbols of the Holy Spirit
All of the following are symbols of the Holy Spirit, which appear in the Bible and in the ritual worship of the Church:
Fire
Wind (ruach, the Divine Wind)
Breath
A Dove
Anointing with Oil
Water
Hands

4. The Holy Spirit in Scripture
“The Holy Spirit has spoken through the prophets” (Nicene Creed)
The Holy Spirit guided the Biblical authors to reveal God’s Word. (Remember the canon?)
Pentecost celebrates the Holy Spirit’s descent on Jesus’ disciples in Jerusalem, 50 days after The Resurrection
Yet Christians believe that the Holy Spirit was present before the coming of Jesus (e.g. at Creation, the burning bush)

5. More about the Pentecost
The Apostles, the Virgin Mary and some of the women disciples were hiding and praying in a room in Jerusalem when…
A driving wind appeared and “tongues of fire” came to rest on each of them, filling them with the Holy Spirit and enabling them to speak in different languages (tongues).
Fulfills Jesus’ promise to send the Holy Spirit (John 13:16-17)
Fully reveals the mystery of the Blessed Trinity (Father, Son, Holy Spirit)

6. Holy Spirit & Christianity
Grace: God’s gift of friendship and life that enables us to share in His life and love.
The Holy Spirit transmits and enables God’s gifts of grace in us.
The Holy Spirit gives us 3 main types of gifts that enable us to live like Jesus and build the Kingdom of God:
Gifts that make us holy
Gifts that serve the Church
Gifts that result in spiritual fruit for all people
LOVE is the greatest gift of the Holy Spirit.

7. Presence of the Holy Spirit
Catholic Christians believe that the Holy Spirit is present in:
Sacred Scripture (The Bible)
Sacred Tradition of the Church
The Magisterium: The Official teaching authority of the Church (Pope, Cardinals, Bishops)
The Sacraments
Prayer
The ministries of the Church
The Saints

8. The Blessed Trinity The central mystery of Christianity
Something totally beyond our ability to understand
Human experience and language can only remotely begin to understand it
God has one Divine Nature but Three Persons (Father, Son and Holy Spirit)

9. The Blessed Trinity
It is helpful to distinguish the Persons of the Trinity by what they do as God:
The Father = The Creator (since the Father created the universe)
The Son = The Savior (since the Son saved humankind from sin)
The Holy Spirit = The Sanctifier (since it is the one that helps us and the whole world to become holy)
The Blessed Trinity has always existed for all of eternity (in other words, Son and the Holy Spirit were present with the Father during Creation).

10. Theology of the Blessed Trinity
The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit share the same “substance” or “essence.”
HOWEVER, they are distinct from one another.
HOWEVER, they are inseparable from one another.
They are three different Persons, not three gods or Gods, and not one God with three “jobs”

11. 3 Leaves = Clover
(St. Patrick’s example)

12. H20 can be LIQUID…
H20 can be SOLID…
H20 can be GAS…
But the substance (or “essence”) of H2O doesn’t change.

13. SEED
+ FRUIT
+ SKIN
= PEACH

14. A man can be:
A son to his father
A husband to his wife
A father to his child
But he is always a man

15. The Matrix Trinity Morpheus: “Father to us all”
Neo: The “one” who comes to save the world
Trinity: Links Neo to Morpheus, the power of Love, is present at his rebirth, resurrects Neo

16. The River Analogy The source of the river = The Father
The river itself = The Son
The good effects of the river (crops growing, etc.) = The Holy Spirit

17. The Sun Analogy The Sun in the sky = The Father
The Sun’s rays coming to earth = the Son
The Sun’s capacity to warm us = Holy Spirit