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We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of life, who proceeds from the Father. By this confession, the Church recognizes the Father as "the source and origin of the whole divinity". But the eternal origin of the Spirit is not unconnected with the Son's origin: The Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity, is God, one and equal with the Father and the Son, of the same substance and also of the same nature... Yet he is not called the Spirit of the Father alone,... but the Spirit of both the Father and the Son (CCC245). The Holy Spirit is eternally from Father and Son; He has his nature and subsistence at once (simul) from the Father and the Son. He proceeds eternally from both as from one principle and through one spiration... And, since the Father has through generation given to the only-begotten Son everything that belongs to the Father, except being Father, the Son has also eternally from the Father, from whom he is eternally born, that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Son (CCC246).
The Eastern tradition expresses the Father's character as first origin of the Spirit. By confessing the Spirit as he "who proceeds from the Father", it affirms that he comes from the Father through the Son [Jn 15:26]. The Western tradition expresses first the consubstantial communion between Father and Son, by saying that the Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son (filioque). It says this, "legitimately and with good reason", for the eternal order of the divine persons in their consubstantial communion implies that the Father, as "the principle without principle", is the first origin of the Spirit, but also that as Father of the only Son, he is, with the Son, the single principle from which the Holy Spirit proceeds (CCC248).
The term "Spirit" translates the Hebrew word ruah, which, in its primary sense, means breath, air, wind. Jesus indeed uses the sensory image of the wind to suggest to Nicodemus the transcendent newness of him who is personally God's breath, the divine Spirit [Jn 3:5-8] (CCC691). Besides the proper name of "Holy Spirit," which is most frequently used in the Acts of the Apostles and in the Epistles, we also find in St. Paul the titles: the Spirit of the promise, [Gal 3:14; Eph 1:13] the Spirit of adoption, [Rom 8:15; Gal 4:6] the Spirit of Christ, [Rom 8:9] the Spirit of the Lord, [2 Cor 3:17] and the Spirit of God [Rom 8:9, 14; 15:19; 1Cor 6:11; 7:40] - and, in St. Peter, the Spirit of glory [1 Pet 4:14] (CCC693).
The Church never ceases to proclaim her faith in one only God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit (CCC152). To believe in the Holy Spirit is to profess that the Holy Spirit is one of the persons of the Holy Trinity, consubstantial with the Father and the Son: "with the Father and the Son he is worshipped and glorified" (CCC685). The One whom the Father has sent into our hearts, the Spirit of his Son, is truly God [Gal 4:6]. Consubstantial with the Father and the Son, the Spirit is inseparable from them, in both the inner life of the Trinity and his gift of love for the world. In adoring the Holy Trinity, life-giving, consubstantial, and indivisible, the Church's faith also professes the distinction of persons. When the Father sends his Word, he always sends his Breath. In their joint mission, the Son and the Holy Spirit are distinct but inseparable. To be sure, it is Christ who is seen, the visible image of the invisible God, but it is the Spirit who reveals him (CCC689). Hence the whole Christian life is a communion with each of the divine persons, without in any way separating them. Everyone who glorifies the Father does so through the Son in the Holy Spirit; everyone who follows Christ does so because the Father draws him and the Spirit moves him [Jn 6:44; Rom 8:14] (CCC259).
From the beginning until "the fullness of time," [Gal 4:4] the joint mission of the Father's Word and Spirit remains hidden, but it is at work. God's Spirit prepares for the time of the Messiah. Neither is fully revealed but both are already promised, to be watched for and welcomed at their manifestation (CCC702). The mission of the Holy Spirit, sent by the Father in the name of the Son (Jn 14:26) and by the Son "from the Father" (Jn 15:26), reveals that, with them, the Spirit is one and the same God. "With the Father and the Son he is worshipped and glorified" (CCC263). The Word of God and his Breath are at the origin of the being and life of every creature [Pss 33:6; 104:30; Gen 1:2; 2:7; Eccl 3:20-21; Ezek 37:10]. It belongs to the Holy Spirit to rule, sanctify, and animate creation, for he is God, consubstantial with the Father and the Son.... Power over life pertains to the Spirit, for being God he preserves creation in the Father through the Son (CCC703).
The Spirit is the last of the persons of the Holy Trinity to be revealed. St. Gregory of Nazianzus, the Theologian, explains this progression in terms of the pedagogy of divine "condescension": The Old Testament proclaimed the Father clearly, but the Son more obscurely. The New Testament revealed the Son and gave us a glimpse of the divinity of the Spirit. Now the Spirit dwells among us and grants us a clearer vision of himself. It was not prudent, when the divinity of the Father had not yet been confessed, to proclaim the Son openly and, when the divinity of the Son was not yet admitted, to add the Holy Spirit as an extra burden, to speak somewhat daringly.... By advancing and progressing "from glory to glory," the light of the Trinity will shine in ever more brilliant rays (CCC684). The Holy Spirit is at work with the Father and the Son from the beginning to the completion of the plan for our salvation. But in these "end times," ushered in by the Son's redeeming Incarnation, the Spirit is revealed and given, recognized and welcomed as a person (CCC686).
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 [Jn 14:26; 15:26; 16:14]. The sending of the person of the Spirit after Jesus' glorification [Jn 7:39] reveals in its fullness the mystery of the Holy Trinity (CCC244). Jesus' public life begins with his baptism by John in the Jordan. The Holy Spirit, in the form of a dove, comes upon Jesus and a voice from heaven proclaims, "This is my beloved Son" [Mt 3:13-17] (CCC535). Jesus is Christ, "anointed," because the Spirit is his anointing, and everything that occurs from the Incarnation on derives from this fullness [Jn 3:34]. When Christ is finally glorified, [Jn 7:39] 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, [Jn 17:22] that is, the Holy Spirit who glorifies him [Jn 16:14]. 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 (CCC690).
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" [Gen 1:2; Jn 14:17, 26; 16:13]. The Holy Spirit is thus revealed as another divine person with Jesus and the Father (CCC243). 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. [Jn 14:16, 26; 15:26; 16:7] "Paraclete" is commonly translated by "consoler," and Jesus is the first consoler [1 Jn 2:1]. The Lord also called the Holy Spirit "the Spirit of truth" [Jn 16:13] (CCC692). Jesus does not reveal the Holy Spirit fully, until he himself has been glorified through his Death and Resurrection. Nevertheless, little by little he alludes to him even in his teaching of the multitudes, as when he reveals that his own flesh will be food for the life of the world [Jn 6:27, 51, 62-63]. He also alludes to the Spirit in speaking to Nicodemus, [Jn 3:5-8] to the Samaritan woman, [Jn 4:10, 14, 23-24] and to those who take part in the feast of Tabernacles [Jn 7:37-39]. To his disciples he speaks openly of the Spirit in connection with prayer [Lk 11:13] and with the witness they will have to bear [Mt 10:19-20] (CCC728).
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 [Jn 14:16-17, 26; 15:26; 16:7-15; 17:26]. 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 (CCC729). At last Jesus' hour arrives: [Jn 13:1; 17:1] he commends his spirit into the Father's hands [Lk 23:46; Jn 19:30] at the very moment when by his death he conquers death, so that, "raised from the dead by the glory of the Father," [Rom 6:4] he might immediately give the Holy Spirit by "breathing" on his disciples [Jn 20:22]. From this hour onward, the mission of Christ and the Spirit becomes the mission of the Church: "As the Father has sent me, even so I send you" [Jn 20:21; Mt 28:19; Lk 24:47-48; Acts 1:8] (CCC730).
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 (CCC2671). The Holy Spirit, whose anointing permeates our whole being, is the interior Master of Christian prayer. He is the artisan of the living tradition of prayer. To be sure, there are as many paths of prayer as there are persons who pray, but it is the same Spirit acting in all and with all. It is in the communion of the Holy Spirit that Christian prayer is prayer in the Church (CCC2672). Every time we begin to pray to Jesus it is the Holy Spirit who draws us on the way of prayer by his prevenient grace. Since he teaches us to pray by recalling Christ, how could we not pray to the Spirit too? That is why the Church invites us to call upon the Holy Spirit every day, especially at the beginning and the end of every important action. If the Spirit should not be worshiped, how can he divinize me through Baptism? If he should be worshiped, should he not be the object of adoration? (CCC2670).
The Holy Spirit is like the sap of the Father's vine which bears fruit on its branches [Jn 15:1-17; Gal 5:22] (CCC1108). By this power of the Spirit, God's children can bear much fruit. He who has grafted us onto the true vine will make us bear "the fruit of the Spirit:... love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control" [Gal 5:22-23]. "We live by the Spirit"; the more we renounce ourselves, the more we "walk by the Spirit" [Gal 5:25; Mt 16:24-26]. 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 (CCC736). If we do not believe that God's love is almighty, how can we believe that the Father could create us, the Son redeem us and the Holy Spirit sanctify us? (CCC258).
"No one can say 'Jesus is Lord' except by the Holy Spirit." [1 Cor 12:3] "God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, 'Abba! Father!"' [Gal 4:6]. This knowledge of faith is possible only in the Holy Spirit: to be in touch with Christ, we must first have been touched by the Holy Spirit. He comes to meet us and kindles faith in us. By virtue of our Baptism, the first sacrament of the faith, the Holy Spirit in the Church communicates to us, intimately and personally, the life that originates in the Father and is offered to us in the Son. Baptism gives us the grace of new birth in God the Father, through his Son, in the Holy Spirit. For those who bear God's Spirit are led to the Word, that is, to the Son, and the Son presents them to the Father, and the Father confers incorruptibility on them. And it is impossible to see God's Son without the Spirit, and no one can approach the Father without the Son, for the knowledge of the Father is the Son, and the knowledge of God's Son is obtained through the Holy Spirit (CCC683).
"God is Love" [1 Jn 4:8, 16] and love is his first gift, containing all others. "God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us" [Rom 5:5] (CCC733). Because we are dead or at least wounded through sin, the first effect of the gift of love is the forgiveness of our sins. The communion of the Holy Spirit [2 Cor 13:14] in the Church restores to the baptized the divine likeness lost through sin (CCC734). He, then, gives us the "pledge" or "first fruits" of our inheritance: the very life of the Holy Trinity, which is to love as "God [has] loved us" [1 Jn 4: 12; Rom 8:23; 2 Cor 1:21]. This love (the "charity" of 1 Cor 13) is the source of the new life in Christ, made possible because we have received "power" from the Holy Spirit [Acts 1:8; 1 Cor 13] (CCC735).
"No one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God" [1 Cor 2:11]. 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" [Jn. 16:13]. 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 [Jn 14:17] (CCC687).