A. Answer with one of the following words: angel, dove, God, baptism, confirmation, eucharist, Know, Unknow, purgatory, hell, heaven, Ascension, Whitsun, Easter.

  Main ideas

1. The Holy Spirit, third member of the Holy Trinity     The main idea of our Christian faith is the mistery of the Holy Trinity. That mistery- which, being all of us limited in our intelligence, we will never understand it- teaches us that there are three figure in God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The three members are God, the three are eternal and the three are omnipotent, but there are only one God.     The Holy Spirit is the third member of the Holy Trinity, and we profess his divinity when we pray the Creed: ‘I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Giver of Life; who proceeds from the Father and the Son; who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified’. We must believe, then, in God Holy Spirit. 2. God Father, Son and Holy Spirit bring salvation     We know that Jesus Christ, the second member of the Holy Trinity, became a man and died for all of us. With his life, death and resurrection we have been saved. But in our salvation take part the three Divine Persons: the Father, who sent his son; the Son, who died for us; the Holy Spirit, who came on Whitsun day to be the Church’s soul and to live inside each of us.

3. The Holy Spirit sanctify us

    We know that there are only one God: therefore, all the things made by God are also made by the three divine Persons. However, certain things are attributed to the Father, others to the Son and others to the Holy Spirit. Thus, sometimes we say that God Father is Creator of the world, because it is a work of the divine omnipotence and the power to do it is attributed to the Father, although the Son and the Holy Spirit also took part on it. In terms of Redemption, it is usually attributed to the incarnate Son. About the Holy Spirit, which has its origins in the love of the Father and the Son, it is traditionally believed that he embodies the sanctification of men, although santification is the work of the whole Trinity.

4. The Holy Spirit and the Church

    Just as Christ promised us, on Whitsun day- ten days after his ascension to Heaven and fifty days after his resurrection- the Holy Spirit descended upon the apostles and disciples, which were gathered in the Upper Room with the Blessed Virgin. With the coming of the Holy Spirit, the Church opened itself to the nations. The Holy Spirit, which is poured by Christ, builts, animates and sanctifies his church.

5. The Holy Spirit sanctify mainly by the sacraments

    The sanctification the Holy Spirit works within us unite ourselves with God, but, to achieve it, we must let it act in our soul. But how?

    - Always living in the grace of God: we are temples of the Holy Spirit, as St Paul said, which is living inside our soul and sanctify us.

    - That’s why we must receive the sacraments, primarily Penance and Eucharist. With the Penance we recover the sanctifying grace, if we lost it, and it also strenghten us. With the Eucharist, our soul is feeded and develops a supernatural life (grace, virtues and gifts of the Holy Spirit).

    - Besides, we must listen what He says: the Holy Spirit learns by the Sheperds of the Church and internally inspire us about what God wants and expects from us. When we are open to the inspirations of the Holy Spirit, we are better and sanctify ourselves.

  B. Answer with one of the following words: eternal, big, virtual, one, two, three, Persons, beings, forty, ten, fifty, Father, Son, Holy Spirit, friends, temples, acquaintance, Eucharist, Penance, Confirmation, talks, inspirations.

6. We must be in contact with the Holy Spirit

    We know that the Holy Spirit is the “sweet guest of the soul”. He is inside us when we live in grace. In the same manner we are in contact with the Father and Jesus, we must familiarize us to talk with the Holy Spirit, our sanctifier. We can ask the Holy Spirit for its seven gifts, all of them essential to live as true christians:

    - The gift of wisdom, which helps to enjoy God’s things.

    - The gift of understanding, which helps to a better understanding of the truths of our faith.

    - The gift of advice, which helps to know what God wants of us and of others.

    - The gift of spirit, which gives us strenght and courage to do what God wants.

    - The gift of science, which learns the things that help us to walk towards God.

    - The gift of piety, by which we love more and better God and our fellows.

    - The gift of fear of God, which helps to not offend God when our love is weak.

7. Some prayers to the Holy Spirit

    - ‘Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.’

    - ‘In the name of the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.’

    - ‘Come, Holy Spirit and enlighten our hearts with the flame and fire of your love.’

    - ‘Come, Holy Spirit, send us from heaven a ray of your light.’

Curso de Catequesis. Don Jaime Pujol Balcells and Don Jesús Sancho Bielsa. EUNSA. Navarra. 1982. Reproduced with the permission of the authors.

  C. Answer with one of the following words: wisdom, understanding, advice, fortitude, science, mercy or fear of God.

  Questions from the catechisms

1. What was promised by Christ when He ascended to Heaven?  Jesus Christ, while ascending to Heaven, promised us that He send us the Holy Spirit.

2. Who is the Holy Spirit?  The Holy Spirit is the third member of the Holy Trinity, who proceeds from the Father and the Son.

3. Why was the Holy Spirit sent by Jesus?  Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to sanctify our souls and help his church. The Holy Spirit is received in a privileged way in the sacrament of Confirmation.

  D. Choose the correct answer. The answers are below.

  Intentions for a Christian life

- Think about being in a state of grace, because then the Holy Spirit live in our soul like it is a temple; make a determined resolution of living in God’s grace.

- Repeat, particularly around the days of Whitsun, some of the prayers to the Holy Spirit.

 

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