The origin of our belief in the work of the Holy Spirit can be traced back to the writings of the Old Testament. For example, in the Prophet Isaiah (11: 1-3) we are told: A shoot springs from the stock of Jesse, a scion thrusts from his roots: on him the Spirit of Yahweh rests,

a spirit of wisdom and insight, a spirit of counsel and power; a spirit of

knowledge and the fear of Yahweh. (The fear of Yahweh is equated with

reverence and piety that includes the love for God and hatred for sin).

He does not judge by appearances, he gives no verdict on hearsay, but

judges the wretched with integrity, and with equity gives a verdict to the

poor of the land.
In his letter to the Galatians (5:18-23) St Paul makes two lists.

The first is the bad things inflicted on men and women who do not make the guidance of the Holy Spirit the centre of their lives. When self indulgence is at work, the results are obvious: fornication, gross indecency and sexual irresponsibility, idolatry and sorcery; feuds and wrangling, jealousy, bad temper and quarrels; disagreements, factions, envy; drunkenness, orgies and similar things. I warn you now, as I warned you before: those who behave like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
On the other hand, the fruits of the Holy Spirit bring a very different outcome. They are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, trustfulness, belief in the work of the Spirit, gentleness and self control.
St. Paul concludes this chapter with the brilliant summary: Since the Spirit is our life, let us be directed by the Spirit. We must stop being conceited, provocative and envious.
Building and enlarging on these ideas of Paul, St Thomas Aquinas considered that some of the gifts of the Holy Spirit serve the supernatural virtues and others the cardinal virtues which are prudence, justice, temperance and fortitude.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church (733) tells us that God’s first gift to us is love, and this gift of love contains all others. Quoting Romans 5: 5, it tells us that ‘God’s love has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit who has been given to us’. It continues (734) by saying that because we are either dead or at least wounded through sin, the first effect of this gift of love is the forgiveness of sins.
St Basil, in his work, De Spiritu Sancto, says: ‘Through the Holy Spirit we are restored to Paradise, led back to the Kingdom of Heaven, and adopted as children, given confidence to call God: 'Father' and to share in Christ’s grace; called children of light and given a share in eternal glory’.
The Catechism also tells us (737) that Christ’s and the Holy Spirit’s mission is completed in the Church, which is the Body of Christ and the Temple of the Holy Spirit.
When we say in the Creed that we believe in the Holy Spirit, we acknowledge that the Spirit helps us in our weakness, interceding for us when we do not know how to pray and, to acknowledge the Blessed Trinity, Father, Son and Spirit as the central point of our eternal inheritance.
Christ promised his followers, and that means you and me and all who have lived under his banner for the past 2,000 years, that when he returned to his Father, he would not leave us alone or orphaned, but would send the Holy Spirit, the enlightener, to be with us, to guide and protect us at all times.
This role of illuminator and sanctifier was recognized increasingly in the early Church particularly by the mid fourth century.
This devotion has developed as the years and the centuries passed by, particularly towards the Third Person of the Trinity as our sanctifier.
There have been many prayers and hymns dedicated to the Holy Spirit. The encyclicals of many Popes including Pius XII, in Mystici Corporis in 1943, have been responsible for ever-increasing devotion to the Holy Sprit.
When we say in the Creed that we believe in the Holy Spirit, we echo the teaching and the devotion of the Church over the past 2,000 years.
The Church relies very heavily on the intercession of the Holy Spirit for all the tasks it undertakes. These include the guidance of the cardinals in electing a pope, in the ordination of a bishop, priest or deacon and the consecration of a man or woman who gives his or herself to God in the consecrated or religious life.
All these things are a reflection of the love of God the Father and God the Son being seen in the third person of the Trinity. This love has its rich harvest of fruits in our love as Christians, for God first of all, and then also for all members of the human race.
These thoughts are reflected in a the opening prayer of the Mass of the Holy Spirit: Lord; may the Helper, the Spirit who comes from you, fill our hearts with light and lead us to all truth as your Son promised; for he lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God; for ever and ever.
The Third Person of the Trinity has been represented in all periods of Christian art, particularly in the form of a white dove.
This use of a dove to symbolize the Holy Spirit was formally approved by a local council of Constantinople in 536.
The symbol of the Holy Spirit as a dove occurs in three main events and has emerged strongly in art form.
The first of these is at the Annunciation where the virgin is present along with the Angel Gabriel and the dove of the Holy Spirit. While the dove is not present in all works of art depicting the Annunciation, he is included in the full and elaborate ones.
There are also several representations of Our Lady with the dove. Some of these examples are not actually connected with the Annunciation.
In depictions of art for Christ’s Baptism in the Jordan, the three essential figures are God the Son, St John the Baptist and the dove of the Holy Spirit.
Most of us connect the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost with tongues of fire resting over Our Lady and the Apostles. When Pentecost day came round, they had all met in one room, when suddenly they heard what sounded like a powerful wind from heaven, the noise of which filled the entire house in which they were sitting, and something appeared to them that seemed like tongues of fire; these separated and came to rest on the head of each of them. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak foreign languages as the Spirit gave them the gift of speech. (Acts of the Apost1es 2: 1-4)
The art forms until about the sixth century depicted this scene. The great artist, Titian, in 1543, combined the tongues of fire with the dove.
These representations of the Holy Spirit in art form were designed to guide and lead us to a closer and clearer understanding of the Third Person of the Trinity.
Just as in material matters we are driven and directed by the spirit of an organization, and through that spirit we reach out with dedicated love to those connected with us, so also does the Holy Spirit of God enrich us and enable us to spread the saving message of the Father and the Son through the Third Person of the Trinity.
It is with confidence, therefore, that we should mould our lives to say: Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and enkindle in them the fire of your love.