The Creed the Holy Spirit RCIA 2012
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The Creed: The Holy Spirit
Opening Prayer
Come, Holy Spirit fill the hearts of the faithful.
And kindle in them the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created.
And you shall renew the face of the earth.
Let us Pray:
Lord, by the light of the Holy Spirit you have taught the hearts of your faithful.
In the same Spirit, help us to know what is truly right and always to rejoice in your consolation.
We ask this through Christ our Lord. –Amen
references/sources
- CCC 687-ff
- U.S. Catholic Catechism for Adults pp.101-110.
- Pope Benedict XVI, Homily at Nationals Stadium, April 17, 2008. IN – Pope Benedict in America. San Francisco: Ignatius, 2008.
- Clark, Stephen B. Charismatic Spirituality. Cincinnati: Servant Books, 2004. Chapters 1 and 4.
- Prat SJ, Fernand. The Theology of St. Paul. Westminster MD: The Newman Press, 1950. vol. 1 pp. 127ff, 301ff, 423ff vol. 2 pp. 142ff, 288ff.
For further reading:
n.b. – have rosary guides for them for their h.w. in preparation for next week
Content
- Opening Video Clip from “The Apostle”
In the Creed:
And in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son is adored and glorified, who has spoken through the prophets.
- In BOLD: The Holy Spirit is equally God, co-eternal and consubstantial with the Father and the Son. Thus he is said to proceed from the Father an the Son (filioque) – Never give in to the temptation to modalism. (Pratt v.2, 143)
- Some call the OT the age of the Father, the NT the age of the Son and the Church the age of the Spirit… this should be avoided
- God is love (Deus caritas est) – so is the Holy Spirit. Indeed he is the love between the Father and the Son.
“The Holy Spirit is love, and the characteristic of love is to give, giving oneself with one’s gifts. The love with which God loves us is manifested by the gift of the Spirit, and at the same time by an outpouring of sanctifying grace, which is an effect of the Spirit present in us.” (–Pratt, v.2 pp. 289)
- In Italics – The Holy Spirit is the “giver of life” (vivificantem)
- He is the soul of the mystical body of Christ, the Church. Thus he is the animating feature of the Body whose head is Christ.
- Inseperable from the Church… always leading her.
- Dwells in deep intimacy with the Church
- Because he binds and animates the Church, it is only by the HS that we can begin to conform ourselves to the image of Christ.
- He is the soul of the mystical body of Christ, the Church. Thus he is the animating feature of the Body whose head is Christ.
All of us, gazing with unveiled face on the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, as from the Lord who is the Spirit. (II Cor. 3:18)
- Recall from the last meeting – the meaning of transformation (transfiguration / theosis)
- The window of St. Peter – from the Holy Spirit the entire Baslica, indeed all of Rome seems to explode forth. (See photo in iPhoto – Salvation History)
- Underlined: spoken through the prophets. The Holy Spirit was very much present in the OT, as were portents of his coming.
Pentecost and the Coming of the Holy Spirit
- Pentecost on Sinai – a preparation for the final Pasch.
- Exodus 19 – the covenant established on Sinai when the mountain was wreathed in smoke and fire, the giving of the X (Ex. 20)
- Clark Ch. 1
- Followed 50 days after the Passover/exodus
- End of the “feast of weeks”
- Elements: divine intimacy, law, recreation as a people
- Ezekiel 36:26-28
“A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will take out of your flesh the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you walk in my statutes and be careful to observe my ordinances. You shall dwell in the land which I gave your ancestors; and you shall be my people and I will be your God.”
The H.S. enables us to navigate life’s challenges/crises rather than deny their existence as do the moderns. Giving us fleshy, vulnerable hearts but also the courage/passion to make it through.
- The Spirit enables us to live in holy relationship with God
- Pentecost on Mt. Zion (Jerusalem)
- Acts 2
- Because the days line up (50 days after Passover), Jesus intends that the date of Pentecost should (as an OT phenom.) inform our understanding of it.
- Something new however: This time, God does not remain external… In Exodus those who touched the mountain would die… now, the fire touches each of the Apostles and dwells in them.
- Transforms them… from hiding to preaching (USCCA – 102-103)
“When we learn how to be open to the Holy Spirit, he shares with us the gift of understanding that contains the power to know Jesus and to give witness to him.” (contemplation and action)
- Transforms them… from hiding to preaching (USCCA – 102-103)
Peter’s witness – Acts 2:14-ff No man recognizes Christ without the Holy Spirit “No one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ except by the Holy Spirit.” (I Cor. 12:3)
Completing our incorporation into Trinitarian Life
Manifestations of the Holy Spirit Today
- Virtues (BRIEF coverage… more to come in moral theology) Qua dispositions (As the “guest of our souls” he influences us w/o forcing us. –Pratt, v.2, 289)
- Theological
- Natural
- Charisms for the building up of the Church
- Paul’s 4 Lists (Pratt v.1, 423)
- I Cor. 12:8-10
- I Cor. 12:28-30
- Rom. 12:6-8
- Eph. 4:11
- Apostles (bishops)
- Prophets, Evangelists, Doctors (Teachers of various types)
- Charismatic Gifts
- What’s the deal with
- Speaking in tongues? (Pratt v.1,129,pt.2)
- For praise of God’s glory… not preaching
- Glossolalia (Acts 2:4), Preaching (2:14)
- Sleeping in the spirit?
- What’s the deal with
- “Catholic charismatic renewal”
- Always to be regulated by prudence (I Cor. 14)
- Pray with spirit and mind (I Cor. 14:15)
- Paul’s 4 Lists (Pratt v.1, 423)
- Gifts Wisdom, Understanding, Counsel [Right Judgment], Fortitude, Knowledge, Piety, Fear of the Lord [awe of God’s presence]
- Fruits. Charity, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, generosity, gentleness, faithfulness, modesty, self-control, chastity (cf. Gal. 5:22-23)
- Moments in the life of the Church (CCC 688)
- Praying with Scripture (inspired by the HS)
- The Tradition of the Church (partic. as set down by the Fathers)
- Magisterium (which is assisted by the HS)
- Sacraments (in which the HS puts us in communion with Christ)
- In prayer (wherein the advocate intercedes for us)
- Charisms and ministries for the building up of the Church
- Apostolic and Missionary life (every good deed we do for Christ)
- In the witness of the saints manifesting the Spirit’s holiness and continuing his work of Salvation.
- From the Pope’s visit to the US (April 2008)
In the exercise of my ministry as the Successor of Peter, I have come to America to confirm you, my brothers and sisters, in the faith of the Apostles (cf. Lk 22:32). I have come to proclaim anew, as Peter proclaimed on the day of Pentecost, that Jesus Christ is Lord and Messiah, risen from the dead, seated in glory at the right hand of the Father, and established as judge of the living and the dead (cf. Acts 2:14ff.). I have come to repeat the Apostle’s urgent call to conversion and the forgiveness of sins, and to implore from the Lord a new outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the Church in this country. As we have heard throughout this Easter season, the Church was born of the Spirit’s gift of repentance and faith in the risen Lord. In every age she is impelled by the same Spirit to bring to men and women of every race, language and people (cf. Rev 5:9) the good news of our reconciliation with God in Christ…
…At the same time she senses, often painfully, the presence of division and polarization in her midst, as well as the troubling realization that many of the baptized, rather than acting as a spiritual leaven in the world, are inclined to embrace attitudes contrary to the truth of the Gospel.
“Lord, send out your Spirit, and renew the face of the earth!” (cf. Ps 104:30). The words of today’s Responsorial Psalm are a prayer which rises up from the heart of the Church in every time and place. They remind us that the Holy Spirit has been poured out as the first fruits of a new creation, “new heavens and a new earth” (cf. 2 Pet 3:13; Rev 21:1), in which God’s peace will reign and the human family will be reconciled in justice and love. We have heard Saint Paul tell us that all creation is even now “groaning” in expectation of that true freedom which is God’s gift to his children (Rom 8:21-22), a freedom which enables us to live in conformity to his will. Today let us pray fervently that the Church in America will be renewed in that same Spirit, and sustained in her mission of proclaiming the Gospel to a world that longs for genuine freedom (cf. Jn 8:32), authentic happiness, and the fulfillment of its deepest aspirations! …
…Saint Paul speaks, as we heard in the second reading, of a kind of prayer which arises from the depths of our hearts in sighs too deep for words, in “groanings” (Rom 8:26) inspired by the Spirit. This is a prayer which yearns, in the midst of chastisement, for the fulfillment of God’s promises. It is a prayer of unfailing hope, but also one of patient endurance and, often, accompanied by suffering for the truth. Through this prayer, we share in the mystery of Christ’s own weakness and suffering, while trusting firmly in the victory of his Cross. With this prayer, may the Church in America embrace ever more fully the way of conversion and fidelity to the demands of the Gospel. And may all Catholics experience the consolation of hope, and the Spirit’s gifts of joy and strength.
Closing Prayer
Terms
Cultural Applications
Homework for next session
- Discussion Questions from USCCA p. 108
- pray, meditate on and journal the Rosary
- Get Scriptural Rosary reflections