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Holy Spirit

St. Ambrose of Milan tells newly baptized Christians the meaning of the post-baptismal rites: the clothing with a white garment and the anointing with sacred chrism which we call the sacrament of confirmation or, in the Eastern churches, chrismation....

Ambrose here treats of the Holy Spirit as the abundant river of grace that flows from Jesus, the Font of life, in the form of seven channels which are the seven gifts that overflow the banks of our minds leading us to supernatural knowledge of...

What makes a particular Church Council Ecumenical? How many have fit this definition down through history, and what is their importance and authority? The Catholic and Orthodox Churches have related but somewhat different answers to these questions....

Gregory of Nyssa here identifies the glory that Jesus speaks about in the Last Supper discourse of the Gospel of John with the Holy Spirit, the source of Christian unity. He also sees a reference to the Holy Spirit in the Song of Songs...

Here St. Cyril of Alexandria comments on the promise of God the Father to pour out his Holy Spirit on all mankind in order to renew and restore our wounded human nature.  In his baptism, the Lord Jesus Christ, "the first-fruits of our restored nature," receives...

Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa, preacher to the papal household from 1980 to the present, here discusses the experience known in charismatic and Pentecostal circles as "the baptism in the Holy Spirit" and how it relates to the sacraments of baptism and confirmation....

Procopius of Gaza on Proverbs declaration that wisdom has built herself a house. His explanation touches on many topics-- the divinity and humanity of Christ, the seven gifts of the holy Spirit, the value of prudence, and the gift of Christ's body and blood...

Cyril of Alexandria discusses the words of Jesus "I am the vine, you are the branches" (John 15:5)l; how the Holy Spirit is the bond uniting us with Christ & one another, making us bear fruit....

This article on the importance of the charisms of the Holy Spirit, the supernatural gifts of grace, is helpful for all Christians at all stages of development. But it is especially valuable for those preparing for or teaching about the sacrament of confirmation....