- God also needs cooperation : “God who created us

GENUINE CONVERSION: FOLLOWING THE PATH TO LOVE AND without us will not save us without us” - St. Augustine of
THE SPIRIT CONFIGURES MAN TO THE PERSON OF CHRIST Hippo

WHAT IS CONVERSION? CONVERSION AND PRAYER

- In the Synoptics, John the Baptist calls people to - For us to grow in grace. We need to pray always
conversion and repentance especially to the Holy Spirit
- Metanoia - Greek word means changing one’s mind - Train ourselves to listen to his promptings in our
conscience and to obey his guidance in our life
- In every moment let us say, Come, Holy Spirit!
CONVERSION: METANOIA

● Total change or turn of heart

● Turning away from sin and turning towards God
● Experience of being in love with God without
reservations
● This love reorients one’s life for the better
● Christ now becomes the center and model of life

CHRIST OUR MODEL

- Jesus ask us to follow him and to imitate him along the

path of love which gives itself completely to the
WHAT IS THE ROLE OF HOLY SPIRIT IN OUR LIVES?
brethren out of love for God
- “This is my commandment, that you love one another as
I have loved you” REVEALS GOD

WORD “AS” REQUIRES IMITATION ● The spirit makes known to us Christ, his word, his living
utterance, but the spirit does not speak of himself.
● Imitation of Jesus and of his love, of which the watching ● Has spoken through prophets to makes us hear the word
of feet is a sign and disposes us to welcome him in faith.
● His deeds and his precepts constitute the moral rule of
Christian life DIVINE SPIRIT

WORD “AS” INDICATES DEGREE ● Ruah - Hebrew word means breath, air, and wind
● Jesus indeed uses the sensory image of the wind to
● The degree of Jesus’ love, and of the love which his suggest to Nicodemus the transcendent newness of him
disciples are called to love one another who is personally God’s breath, the divine spirit

CALL TO HOLINESS TITLES OF HOLY SPIRIT

- Jesus is inviting all of us to become saints, no less - PARACLETE

follow him
- Holiness or Sanctity can be achieved by following Jesus ● When he proclaims and promises the coming of the Holy
faithfully in our daily life Spirit, Jesus calls him Paraclete - he who is called to
- Holiness is loving God and loving our neighbor one’s side - ad-vocatus
● Commonly translated as consoler
CONVERSION DOES NOT HAPPEN OVERNIGHT:
SPIRIT OF TRUTH
- It is a particular act but also lifelong process
- Daily Conversion ● Lord called the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of truth

HOLY SPIRIT AND GRACE OTHER NAME USED IN ST. PAUL

- Conversion is not of our own doing but it is God’s gift ● Spirit of Christ
- It happens through His grace = help of the Holy Spirit ● Spirit of adoption
● Spirit of promise
● Spirit of the Lord
 ● Spirit of God
DOVE
OTHER NAME IN ST. PETER
● At the end of the flood, whose symbolism refers to
● Spirit of glory Baptism, a dove released by Noah returns with a fresh
olive-tree branch in its beak as a sign that the earth was
SYMBOLS OF HOLY SPIRIT again habitable.
● When Christ comes up from the water of his baptism,
the Holy Spirit, in the form of a dove, comes down upon
WATER
him and remains with him.
● Remains in the purified hearts of the baptized
● Signifies Holy Spirit’s action in baptism
● Efficacious sacramental sign of new birth
HOLY SPIRIT: SOURCE AND MEANS OF MORAL LIFE
● sBaptism signifies that our birth into the divine life is
given to us in Holy Spirit
● God is love and love is his primary gift, containing all
others, through the Holy Spirit
ANOINTING
● In Baptism, he restores in us the divine likeness lost due
to sin and makes us children of God
● Anointing is the sacramental sign of confirmation, called
● In our daily life, the Holy Spirit helps us to grow in
chrismation in the Churches of East
holiness and enter more deeply i n the life of Trinity.
● Full force can be grasped only in relation to the primary
anointing accomplished by the Holy Spirit
● Christ means anointed by God’s Spirit LIVING BY THE SPIRIT

FIRE - 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
● Symbolizes transforming energy of the Holy Spirit’s
actions
FRUIT OF SPIRIT
CLOUD AND LIGHT
● Love
● Joy
● Occur together in manifestation of Holy Spirit
● Peace
● In old testament, the cloud, now obscure, now
● Patience
luminous, reveals the living and saving God, while veiling
● Kindness
the transcendence of his glory
● Goodness
● Faithfulness
SEAL
● Gentleness
● Self-control
● The father has set his seal on Christ and also seals us in
Him
HOLY SPIRIT AND VIRTUES
● Indicates the indelible effect of anointing with the Holy
Spirit in the sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation, and
Holy Orders - Christ’s gift of salvation offers us the grace necessary to
● Image of seal = sphragis has been used in some persevere in the pursuit of the virtues
theological traditions to express the indelible character
imprinted by the three unrepeatable sacraments EVERYONE SHOULD ALWAYS:

THE HAND ● Ask for the grace of light and strength

● Frequent the sacraments
● Jesus heals the sick and blesses little children by laying ● Cooperate with the Holy Spirit
hands on them ● Follow his calls to love what is good and shun evil
● The apostle’s imposition of hands that the Holy Spirit is
given
● The church has kept this sign of the all-powerful
outpouring of the Holy Spirit in its sacramental epicleses VIRTUE

THE FINGER ST. AUGUSTINE

● It is by the finger of God that [Jesus] cast out demons

 ● a fixed/stable disposition of the soul, making connatural ● Discernment and choice of right course of action in a
the response to what is right given situation
● art of living rightly and properly ● According to Aquinas: “right reason in action”
Sometimes called mother, but is in fact the driver of the
ST. THOMAS AQUINAS virtues (auriga virtutum)
● carries all the virtues to their right destination or goal
● good operative habit, or a habit that is good and
productive of good JUSTICE

CCC 1803 ● Being fair and honest in our relationship with God and
others
● Habitual firm disposition to do good ● Giving what is due to God and to fellow man
● Right thinking and upright conduct
● Justice and mercy always go together: Lord is merciful
CULTIVATING VIRTUES
and just

- Human virtues acquired by education, by deliberate

FORTITUDE
acts, and by a perseverance ever-renewed in repeated
efforts are purified and elevated by divine grace.
● Courage to do the right thing even in the face of
- With God's help, they forge character and give facility in
the practice of the good difficulties and temptations; firmness and constancy
● Strength in the face of trial
● Readiness to die for one’s faith and morals
KINDS OF VIRTUES

TEMPERANCE
THEOLOGICAL VIRTUES
● According to Aristotle; The golden mean
- The sole origin and object of these virtues is God ● Moderation and balance
- Gifts of God to help us fulfill our supernatural destiny ● Self mastery and ordering the appetites

TRIA HEIC ( THESE THREE)

● Faith
○ enables us to believe in God and in what he
has revealed
● Hope
○ enables us to trust that God’s promises to us
will be fulfilled.
● Charity / Love
○ enables us to love God above all things, and
our neighbor as we love ourselves for the love
of God

MORAL / HUMAN VIRTUES

- Developed by habit
- Help us to be good human persons

FOUR CARDINAL / HINGE VIRTUES

● CARDO (Latin word) = hinge

● These four virtues guide the others by giving them order,
rule, and measure
● All other human virtues are related to or hinged to one
of the cardinal virtues. When lacking these cardinal
virtues, they easily turn into vices (lack or excess of
virtue)

PRUDENCE