CCC 91 All the faithful share in understanding and handing on revealed truth. They have received the anointing of the Holy Spirit, who instructs them1 and guides them into all truth.2
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”.3 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.4 The sending of the person of the Spirit after Jesus’ glorification5 reveals in its fullness the mystery of the Holy Trinity.
CCC 485 The mission of the Holy Spirit is always conjoined and ordered to that of the Son.6 The Holy Spirit, “the Lord, the giver of Life”, is sent to sanctify the womb of the Virgin Mary and divinely fecundate it, causing her to conceive the eternal Son of the Father in a humanity drawn from her own.
CCC 687 “No one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.”7 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.”8 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.9
CCC 690 Jesus is Christ, “anointed,” because the Spirit is his anointing, and everything that occurs from the Incarnation on derives from this fullness.10 When Christ is finally glorified,11 he can in turn send the Spirit from his place with the Father to those who believe in him: he communicates to them his glory,12 that is, the Holy Spirit who glorifies him.13 From that time on, this joint mission will be manifested in the children adopted by the Father in the Body of his Son: the mission of the Spirit of adoption is to unite them to Christ and make them live in him:
The notion of anointing suggests. .. that there is no distance between the Son and the Spirit. Indeed, just as between the surface of the body and the anointing with oil neither reason nor sensation recognizes any intermediary, so the contact of the Son with the Spirit is immediate, so that anyone who would make contact with the Son by faith must first encounter the oil by contact. In fact there is no part that is not covered by the Holy Spirit. That is why the confession of the Son’s Lordship is made in the Holy Spirit by those who receive him, the Spirit coming from all sides to those who approach the Son in faith.14
CCC 692 When he proclaims and promises the coming of the Holy Spirit, Jesus calls him the “Paraclete,” literally, “he who is called to one’s side,” ad-vocatus.15 “Paraclete” is commonly translated by “consoler,” and Jesus is the first consoler.16 The Lord also called the Holy Spirit “the Spirit of truth.”17
CCC 729 Only when the hour has arrived for his glorification does Jesus promise the coming of the Holy Spirit, since his Death and Resurrection will fulfill the promise made to the fathers.18 The Spirit of truth, the other Paraclete, will be given by the Father in answer to Jesus’ prayer; he will be sent by the Father in Jesus’ name; and Jesus will send him from the Father’s side, since he comes from the Father. The Holy Spirit will come and we shall know him; he will be with us for ever; he will remain with us. The Spirit will teach us everything, remind us of all that Christ said to us and bear witness to him. The Holy Spirit will lead us into all truth and will glorify Christ. He will prove the world wrong about sin, righteousness, and judgment.
CCC 1117 As she has done for the canon of Sacred Scripture and for the doctrine of the faith, the Church, by the power of the Spirit who guides her “into all truth,” has gradually recognized this treasure received from Christ and, as the faithful steward of God’s mysteries, has determined its “dispensation.”19 Thus the Church has discerned over the centuries that among liturgical celebrations there are seven that are, in the strict sense of the term, sacraments instituted by the Lord.
CCC 1287 This fullness of the Spirit was not to remain uniquely the Messiah’s, but was to be communicated to the whole messianic people.20 On several occasions Christ promised this outpouring of the Spirit,21 a promise which he fulfilled first on Easter Sunday and then more strikingly at Pentecost.22 Filled with the Holy Spirit the apostles began to proclaim “the mighty works of God,” and Peter declared this outpouring of the Spirit to be the sign of the messianic age.23 Those who believed in the apostolic preaching and were baptized received the gift of the Holy Spirit in their turn.24
CCC 1615 This unequivocal insistence on the indissolubility of the marriage bond may have left some perplexed and could seem to be a demand impossible to realize. However, Jesus has not placed on spouses a burden impossible to bear, or too heavy – heavier than the Law of Moses.25 By coming to restore the original order of creation disturbed by sin, he himself gives the strength and grace to live marriage in the new dimension of the Reign of God. It is by following Christ, renouncing themselves, and taking up their crosses that spouses will be able to “receive” the original meaning of marriage and live it with the help of Christ.26 This grace of Christian marriage is a fruit of Christ’s cross, the source of all Christian life.
CCC 2466 In Jesus Christ, the whole of God’s truth has been made manifest. “Full of grace and truth,” he came as the “light of the world,” he is the Truth.27 “Whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness.”28 The disciple of Jesus continues in his word so as to know “the truth [that] will make you free” and that sanctifies.29 To follow Jesus is to live in “the Spirit of truth,” whom the Father sends in his name and who leads “into all the truth.”30 To his disciples Jesus teaches the unconditional love of truth: “Let what you say be simply ‘Yes or No.’”31
CCC 2671 The traditional form of petition to the Holy Spirit is to invoke the Father through Christ our Lord to give us the Consoler Spirit.32 Jesus insists on this petition to be made in his name at the very moment when he promises the gift of the Spirit of Truth.33 But the simplest and most direct prayer is also traditional, “Come, Holy Spirit,” and every liturgical tradition has developed it in antiphons and hymns.
Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and enkindle in them the fire of your love.34
Heavenly King, Consoler Spirit, Spirit of Truth, present everywhere and filling all things, treasure of all good and source of all life, come dwell in us, cleanse and save us, you who are All Good.35
1 Cf. 1 Jn 2:20,27.
2 Cf. Jn 16:13.
3 Cf. Gen 1:2; Nicene Creed (DS 150); Jn 14:17, 26; 16:13.
4 Cf. Jn 14:26; 15:26; 16:14.
5 Cf. Jn 7:39.
6 Cf. Jn 16:14-15.
7 1 Cor 2:11.
8 Jn 16:13.
9 Jn 14:17.
10 Cf. Jn 3:34.
11 Jn 7:39.
12 Cf. Jn 17:22.
13 Cf. Jn 16:14.
14 St. Gregory of Nyssa, De Spiritu Sancto, 16: PG 45, 1321A-B.
15 In 14:16, 26; 15:26; 16:7.
16 Cf. I Jn 2:1.
17 In 16:13.
18 Cf. Jn 14:16-17, 26; 15:26; 16:7-15; 17:26.
19 Jn 16:13; cf. Mt 13:52; 1 Cor 4:1.
20 Cf. Ezek 36:25-27; Joel 3:1-2.
21 Cf. Lk 12:12; Jn 3:5-8; 7:37-39; 16:7-15; Acts 1:8.
22 Cf. Jn 20:22; Acts 2:1-14.
23 Acts 2:11; Cf. 2:17-18.
24 Cf. Acts 2:38.
25 Cf. Mk 8:34; Mt 11:29-30.
26 Cf. Mt 19:11.
27 Jn 1:14; 8:12; Cf. 14:6.
28 Jn 12:46.
29 Jn 8:32; Cf. 17:17.
30 Jn 16:13.
31 Mt 5:37.
32 Cf. Lk 11:13.
33 Cf. Jn 14:17; 15:26; 16:13.
34 Roman Missal, Pentecost Sequence.
35 Byzantine Liturgy, Pentecost Vespers, Troparion.