36 Word & Life|Vol. XXVI, No. 1

“I BELIEVE IN THE HOLY SPIRIT, THE LORD, THE GIVER OF LIFE,

WHO PROCEEDS FROM THE FATHERAND THE SON,

WHO WITH THE FATHERAND THE SON

IS ADORED AND GLORIFIED,WHO HAS SPOKEN THROUGH

THE PROPHETS.”(Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed)

THE HOLY SPIRIT IN THE LIFE OF INDIVIDUAL CHRISTIANS

(Section Three of the article on the Holy Spirit)

We have already seen the important role that the Holy Spirit had in the creation of the universe and still has in its preservation and the attainment of the purpose for which it was brought into being. We have also seen his role in mankind’s history of salvation and especially in the life of the

THIS IS

OUR FAITH

Part 11• Fr. Sal Putzu, SDB Messiah, Jesus Christ, the Word-made-fl esh. (See

February-March 2014 issue of WL.) Likewise, we have seen the role of the Holy Spirit in the life of the Church as the mystical Body of Christ: how he gives her life; unifi es, moves and directs her in the fulfi llment of her mission. (See April-May 2014 issue of WL.) Now we still have to see the role which the Holy Spirit has in the life of each Christian. This role is immensely important, for on it depends the attainment of the perfect development of all the potentials of each of us, and especially our eternal salvation. Our guide, as usual, will be the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) and the Catechism for Filipino Catholics (CFC). In this short article, we will outline what the Holy Spirit does for us in our LIFE OF FAITH, our MORAL LIFE. In the following issue of WL we will present the role of the Holy Spirit in our LIFE OF PRAYER and WORSHIP.

The Role of the Holy Spirit in Our Life of Faith

Our faith is a gift from God before being a response/commitment on our part. We believe in God because the Holy Spirit gives us the grace

37June-July 2014

to do so. We believe because he empowers us to know the truths revealed by God and to accept them as such. This is the foundation of all other aspects and manifestations of our faith. We can entrust ourselves to God as our Lord, Provider and Savior, and commit ourselves to serve Him only because we are sure that He is truthful and trustworthy. The Holy Spirit is the one who gives us such certainty. Briefl y, as the apostle Paul states, “No one can say ‘Jesus is Lord!’ except by the Holy Spirit” (1 Cor 12:3). The same Holy Spirit also makes us, in bap-tism, adopted children of the Father, brothers/sis-ters of Jesus Christ, and sacred temples in which the Spirit of adoption and all holiness himself dwells, together with the other two Persons of the Blessed Trinity. (See CFC 1322-23 and 1346.) He also draws all the baptized into a closer union with the Church and among themselves. (See CFC 1314, 1626, 1658, 1723 and 1758.) Being the one who inspired the prophets and other channels of divine revelation in the past, the Holy Spirit is also the one who enables us to understand those revealed truths, accept them in all humility and freedom, and love them as a precious treasure. By enabling us to understand, accept and love the truths we believe in, the Holy Spirit also leads us to become docile DISCIPLES of the Lord Jesus, our divine Teacher. The Holy Spirit, likewise, continuously speaks to us through the offi cial teachers of the Church – the Magisterium – and other persons who, through study, refl ection and prayer, under the guidance of the same “TEACHER WITHIN,” have acquired ever-deeper insights into the truths of

the faith and their rel-evance to our daily life. In that way, he em-powers us to grow every day in the knowledge and appreciation of the teach-ing of Jesus in all the depth, height, and spread of its magnifi cence and infallibility. He thus fash-ions us into “profi cient disciples,” who have suf-fi ciently assimilated the divine truths. He then sends us on mission – He makes us “APOSTLES,” i.e., heralds of the faith we have learned to love and live by. He gently im-

pels us to go out not only of our environments to bring Jesus to others, but even “out of ourselves” in an attitude of self-off ering to the call to share the Good News with as many as we can reach. He also empowers us to bear witness to Jesus, the truth. (See CFC 586, 1312-15, 1484.)

In this way, our faith becomes a “Missionary Faith”– a faith that is passed on to others, under the sublime impulse of the Holy Spirit, the “Mis-sionary Within.” He, who was the great Protago-nist of the fi rst Pentecost, is also the Author of the “Eternal Pentecost” that brings the Good News to all nations and to every life. (See CFC 1658.)

The Role of the Holy Spirit in Our Moral Life

The same Spirit who has enabled us to believe the truth, love it and share it with oth-ers, makes us also know the LAW OF LOVE which guides the life of all believers. As the mutual love of the Father and of the Son, the Holy Spirit ena-bles us to understand that the whole of our moral life must be rooted in love, be lived with love and out of love. In other words he teaches and ena-bles us to live an authentic Christian life. (See CFC 1315 and 1343.) That was the way Jesus Christ lived his life. That was the way he wanted his disciples to live – a “life in the Holy Spirit” because He gave them the enlightenment to understand such a vital truth and the grace/strength needed to live it out, and witness to it. (See CCC 740, 1699 and 2917;

38 Word & Life|Vol. XXVI, No. 1

and CFC 586, 1312-15, and 1484.) What He did with the original dis-ciples, the same Spirit has been doing with all the new believers up to the present. To that eff ect, he gives us the guidance and strength that we need to LIVE the demands of the faith of the apostles, i.e., to live as DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. In particular, through his gifts of Wisdom, Understanding, Knowledge and Counsel, the Holy Spirit endows our minds and hearts with the capability of KNOWING the good to be done and the evil to be shunned. Through the gifts of Strength and Holy Fear of the Lord He grants us the power to DO the good ex-pected of us and to AVOID whatever is incompatible with our dignity as disciples and apostles of the Lord. (See CFC 1315 and 1343.) And when the violence of temptation to fol-low the “ways of the fl esh” listed by the apostle Paul in his letter to the Galatians (see Gal 5:19-21), and the treacherous persuasiveness of an unfriendly environment test our mettle and even seem to overpower us, the Holy Spirit gives us the grace that we need to resist all temptations and overcome them. (See CFC 677.) He also keeps us in the safe harbor of the Church, the communi-ty of the disciples where we fi nd protection from the clutches of evil, and the encouragement to follow the law of Christ.

He thus preserves us from the enslavement of sin and enables us to grow in the tested spir-itual freedom and moral steadfastness of God’s children. And if ever we fall or go astray, it is still the Spirit of all Holiness who calls us to conver-sion and leads us to recapture our lost dignity. (See CCC 1433 and CFC 1762.) Through the healing power of the sacrament of Reconciliation, He recreates in us the divine likeness that had been imprinted in us at Baptism, and which sin had de-faced. (See CCC 976, and CFC 1726.) He also is the source of our charisms (see CFC 1428) and fi lls us with the abundance of the fruits of His sanctifying presence: love, joy, peace, endurance, kindness, generosity, faith, mildness, and charity. (See Gal 5:22-23.) Then does our life become like a garden decked not only with good dispositions and aspirations, but also with the virtues that are so pleasing to the Blessed Trinity. The Holy Spirit thereby makes our existence an example and an inspiration to many.

And he does even more than that. Thanks to his work in us, our life becomes not just a collec-tion of “good deeds” but a continuous OFFERING to God, the Source of all Goodness. At the same time, it becomes also a generous self-off ering and service to our neighbor, the “sacrament” of Christ’s presence among us. The Holy Spirit, therefore, is the one who makes the fulfi llment of our duties, our suff erings and our dashed hopes a living SACRIFICE that we off er on the altar of our daily duties, in union with the redemptive sacri-fi ce of Christ.

(To be continued next issue.)