Holy Spirit, Paraclete, Spirit

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

The Holy Spirit is more observed than defined. Mutual Love of the Father towards the Son and from the Son to the Father, He has the nature of Love. He is distinct from each divine person and united to them all at once.

Love is the origin of Creation and of the Incarnation. That is why the Catechism of the Catholic Church states 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 redeeming Incarnation of the Son, that He is revealed and given.

Thus, continues the Catechism, the new creation and its attributes can take shape following the Christ: the Church, the communion of the saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, the 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 of John and at the baptism of the centurion Cornelius.

"A new Pentecost" for the Church and the world, (or rather an event analogous in 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 written shortly after his accession to the pontificate. During a world eucharistic congress, he had a vision of Christ-Eucharist entering in glory into the city of Rome followed by a crowd from all nations.

More recently, Benedict XVI likewise implores the coming of this "new Pentecost" for the whole Church, entrusting it 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 yields before 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 known in other religions.

The words of God are Spirit and life, and that is why they can only be transmitted and received "in the Spirit." It is therefore through Him that we can enter, live, and commune in 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:

In the body there is the soul, and in the soul there is the spirit.

"This soul of the soul" is for her the place of encounter with God, the place of revelations and visions, and the "bridal chamber" of mystical unions.

The gifts of the Spirit

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

Wisdom: it makes one taste the presence of God, with a greater companionship with Him, and a greater missionary dynamism. It is the contemplative gift par excellence.

Understanding: it helps to enter into the mystery of God, to understand faith and Scripture from within, to distinguish error from truth. By 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 precariousness of the universe.

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

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

Piety: it makes one enter into the experience of God’s fatherhood, closeness, tenderness. It gives us the trust of the child. It also makes us close to others.

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

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

Invocations to the Holy Spirit

Veni, creator Spiritus and Veni, Sancte Spiritus

Veni, creator Spiritus Latin text	Veni, creator SpiritusFrench translation	Veni, Sancte Spiritus Latin text	Veni, Sancte SpiritusFrench translation
I Veni, creator Spiritus, mentes tuorum visita, imple superna gratia, quæ tu creasti pectora.	Come, Creator Spirit, visit the minds of your faithful, fill with heavenly grace the hearts that 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 Paraclete, 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, of sevenfold gifts, finger of the Father’s right hand, you who duly promised the Father, enriching speech on lips.	III Consolator optime, dulcis hospes animæ, dulce refrigerium.	Best Consoler, sweet guest of the soul, sweet refreshment.
IV Accende lumen sensibus, infunde amorem cordibus, infirma nostri corporis virtute firmans perpeti.	Kindle light in our senses, shed love in 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 give us peace at once: thus guided by you in front, we shall avoid all harm.	V O lux beatissima, reple cordis intima tuorum fidelium.	O most blessed light, fill the inmost hearts 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.
• Oh! If men knew what a perfect Friend the Holy Spirit is! What a Guide! What a Master! If they loved Him and invoked Him, this Love of the Most Holy Trinity, this Light from Light, this Fire from Fire, this Intelligence, this Wisdom! How much more instructed they would be in what needs to be known!
• To Nicodemus, the Sanhedrin member who came secretly to consult Him: You hear the wind blowing and you can rely on its direction to guide the maneuver. 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 he knows the voice of the Spirit, the spirit which was begotten by Him."
• It is the Spirit of God which, infused into you, gives you Life. Love Him, invoke Him, be faithful to Him. You will have Life and Peace. The first beyond the earth, the second starting now on this earth.
• I will send you the Fire, the Power that proceeds from the fact that I am begotten by the Father and that binds the Father and the Son with an indissoluble ring, making One, Three: Thought, Blood, 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 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 you have to answer to serve the Truth.-
• Here is the One who, if it were possible to establish a perfection among divine perfections, should be called the Perfection of Perfection. The Holy Spirit! The one whose mere thought fills with light, with joy, with peace...
• Pray assiduously to prepare yourselves for the coming of the Holy Spirit who will complete you for your mission. Remember that I, who was nevertheless God, prepared myself through severe penance for my ministry as an evangelist.
• The Holy Spirit will come without being veiled by the flesh, and He will rest upon you and descend into you with His seven gifts and He will counsel you.

In other works by Maria Valtorta

The Notebooks of 1943

• Catechesis of June 7: Those who know how to remain in the Spirit bring forth the works of the spirit. Creatures possessed by the Spirit produce charity, gentleness, purity, knowledge and every good work united to great humility. From others come, like hissing vipers, vices, frauds, crimes, and lusts, for their heart is a nest 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 that sent me. And we are more present and active in a heart the more vivid love is in it. Hence the necessity to possess Love in you, that is to say the Holy Spirit. I said “one must be born again in the Spirit to possess eternal life.” The birth of flesh from another flesh does not differentiate you from beasts except in this: you will be judged for not having wanted 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 teach you." Even I, who am the thought of the Father made word, cannot make you understand as much as the Holy Spirit can in one flash. If 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 no limits or obstacles, no borders, no insufficiencies, no needs. He is powerful, free, instantaneous. He brings light and intelligence. Even someone uncultured or mentally handicapped, if invaded by the Holy Spirit, becomes learned, not by your poor human knowledge but by the sublime knowledge of God (p. 16).
• Catechesis of January 10, 1944: "Do not forget to recall the word of the one who is Wisdom and Love of God, who from eternity to eternity spreads over all that exists to sanctify it for God, who powerfully presided over all the works of our Trinity and is strangers to nothing that is holy in time and eternity; I am indeed the Sanctifier, the one who sanctifies you by his sevenfold gift, leads you to God and makes Him known to you by revealing His wills 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, who will not speak on His own authority but will tell you all that He has heard and announce the future to you.’"

The Book of Azarias

• Pentecost Sunday:

Here it is. The Spirit accomplishes these operations. He takes the nothing that knows how to love, that is obedient, faithful, that speaks to God in confident prayer, and He invades him with Himself, transforms him, and makes him God's instrument.
"You make a new creation," it is said. Yes. He operates the re-creation of man as an instrument, so that afterward the good will of the instrument, united with 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 vain because once descended, He could not make His dwelling there. The Holy Spirit would then promptly return to heaven, leaving dryness, 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 so for instruments. From men, the apostles were transformed into God's voice by the operation of the Paraclete and by their personal operation of obedience and prayer. Those called to a special mission — and every call is a trial, not a sure and immutable election — are transformed into "voices" by the operation of Love and their personal preparation in obedience and prayer.

The Notebooks

• November 8, 1944, on the Our Father : The Most High Lord wanted to make you 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 there, and that even before time began. She was the Tabernacle of the Trinity, since she contained within herself the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit by carrying the Blessed Fruit of her virginal womb, Jesus, in whom was the unity of the Word with the Father and Holy Spirit. Mary is therefore the love of God one and triune, Revelation is her treasure, she is its gentle and beloved Queen, dispenser of Wisdom, and she gives the Word. She is the Spouse and Mother of Wisdom and the Word, the virginal Source fertilized by a God and who gives the rivers of Living Water, which is eternal life for those who drink from it.
• November 8, 1944, on the Our Father: You believe you do not live in times of religious peace under the pretext that 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 will know the current times will be able to say: "They were at peace, but for us it is a cruel war." Superstructures will no longer be possible. They will not resist the catapult of the satans. And the faithful will not have time to rebuild them once they have fallen.
  But the essential will remain, the immutable: 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, about the work: Keep these words in your most precious papers, and be sure that whatever the current judgment of men, God does not change yours towards it; a day will come when the truth will be perfectly known.
  Better, God has already judged you, you as well as them. My indications are proof of this. The work sieves you and all, from the shepherds 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: “Whoever despises Me and does not receive My words already has his judge.”
  I am that One: the Holy Spirit who will one day convince of sin those who, despite their outward appearance, are “world”. He will convince them of their sin against the Master of all truth.
• 'March 7, 1948: The divine Author tells me: "Do not call me that. Call me 'the gentle Guest.' For I am truly the gentle Guest of your soul, and I find sweet hospitality there."
  I say to Him in thought: "I do not know how this can happen. I am miserable and sinful, whereas You are the Perfection of God, the Spirit of the Spirit of God.'"
  He answers me:
  "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 so early capable of passionately loving Jesus the passionate One. You believed to love 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 too serves to obtain a crown of glory because temptation is only temptation, it is not sin. A conquered temptation 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 again about this in the Pauline epistles.
• July 2, 1948: In these cases, I am always helped by Our Lord, by Mary, or by the Holy Spirit, who come to aid the weaknesses of my memory by repeating to me what I must say or by suggesting how to say it, whether it is about spoken words or contemplative visions […] Therefore, one must consider it certain that what I have written 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, or other lessons concerning the Bible).
• July 25, 1948: Because it is Love that makes these two distinct Persons be one. What makes the unity of the Trinity is the Holy Spirit of God, in other words, the Love which is the Spirit of the Lord. The most holy Spirit of the most holy God.
• July 25, 1948 (addition): The Holy Spirit is the most holy Spirit of the uncreated and very 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 very perfect fire of Divine Love, which begets the Son, and through the Son all creatures, mortal or perishable as well as 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 a divine nature, as some who poorly understand and cling to the letter — because they do not know how to read with life, which is spirit — thus wanting to start from the exact words I pronounced, 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 recognizable.
  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, you have seen everything about me and have written everything about me.
  Nevertheless, I still forbid you to read other works dealing with the epistles or 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 other wisdom than mine penetrates your virgin ignorance, your always virgin ignorance, which becomes such 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 that satisfies your hunger for supernatural wisdom.
  Remember: I am in Josefa as in you. In Anne-Catherine, on the other hand, interfere those who wanted to adorn what was perfect, and gave perfection a face that was no longer its own.

Autobiography

• On May 30, 1905, I received holy confirmation from the hands of His Eminence Cardinal Archbishop Andrea Ferrari. They say he is a saint. Personally, I gladly believe it, because the mere touch of his hands truly transmitted to me the Spirit of Love and established in me a close bond of love with the Paraclete, whose presence, assistance, and gentle comfort I constantly feel […] Of fire, I only love that which burns with love. So yes, here is a fire I love. And I wish that it burns me and melts me entirely with its ardor!!! Thus 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).
• (About her last retreat at college) He (Jesus) descended into me with the Father and the Spirit, each bringing His gifts to little Maria, who was to face ever greater and harsher 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 in His lights and the flames of His Charity (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 stirs these forces in hearts — breathes His divine breath in us, He invests us and whirls us in a supernatural whirlwind towards the heights where God lives and from which come the splendors that illuminate the poor soul oppressed by its mortal shell. The soul must sing, at certain hours, not to explode under the pressure and incandescence of love (page 144).
• I have not learned to meditate in great books, nor even in ascetic manuals. Ultimately, I read them as good readings and that’s it. But with the Gospel it is quite different! If I am pierced by doubt, 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 suitable to comfort me, or to enlighten me, or to 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 I love this third person of the Most Holy Trinity! I would feel my day deprived of light if I did not begin it with the “Veni Sancte Spiritus”! And even during the day, when I am overwhelmed by some worries, or when something troubles or concerns me, I address the Paraclete with the trust 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 grasping of the dazzling light of Pentecost morning.
• Most Catholics commit a grave error when they too frequently forget the first and third persons of the Most Holy Trinity. Even when 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 dull spirit of our nature is so strong that very few can 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 spreads from inside outwards. This is how one loves one’s neighbor, not because of the value he represents in himself, but because of what he is, I mean God’s work, redeemed by Christ, dwelling place of the Holy Spirit. And one necessarily loves him because, due to carrying God within oneself — the one who possesses charity possesses God — we exercise His mercy which covers all of others’ filth, 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, despair tries to overwhelm me.”
• “Fear nothing. It will not prevail.”
• “I feel torn from You.”
• “It is not true. If our Father withdrew into the depths of the heavens, I remained near you, and Love, the Paraclete, spreads His wings over you. Think, creature, that our Father — and I say ‘our’ because I am your Brother — has to resist against Himself not to hold you to His heart. One day you will know what your suffering was for... Look below, see the crowd of poor who need holocausts to be saved. Turn your gaze towards the sky 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, you adore and you atone. The angels can only adore” (page 455).

In fundamental Christian texts

In the Catechism of the Catholic Church

• CCC 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.