The Holy Spirit — God’s gift.
“God is Love” and Love is his first gift, containing all other.
Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. 1 John 4:8
“God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”
and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us. Romans 5:5
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 in the Church restores to the baptized the divine likeness lost through sin.
Pursue love and strive for the spiritual gifts, and especially that you may prophesy. 1 Corinthians 13:14
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.”
No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us. 1 John 4:12
And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. Romans 8:23
But it is God who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us,.. 2 Corinthians 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.
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Acts 1:8
1 Corinthians 13 — St Paul’s Canticle on Love
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.
“We live by the Spirit”; the more we renounce ourselves, the more we “walk by the Spirit.”
If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit. Galatians 5:25
Then Jesus told his disciples, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 25 For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. 26 For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will they give in return for their life? Matthew 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.
