of God except the Spirit of God. 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.’ 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” (CCC 687).8 It is through the power of the Holy Spirit that Mary conceived and gave birth to God’s Son. It is through the Spirit that God’s love has been poured into our hearts. God’s love gives us new life in Christ. It not only effects the forgiveness of sins, heals its wounds, and restores to divine likeness, but also makes possible a life of deep and intimate communion with God. Through the power of the Holy Spirit dwelling within us we are capable of bearing His fruit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (cf., CCC 733-36). The Holy Spirit draws our hearts to Christ, inspires and prepares them to receive and offer forgiveness. “The Spirit manifests the Risen Lord to us, recalls His word, and opens our minds to the understanding of His Death and Resurrection. He makes present the mystery of Christ in the Eucharist,” so that we may be one with God and with one another (cf., CCC 738). “Because the Holy Spirit is the anointing of Christ, it is Christ who, as the head of the Body, pours out 49
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