(Christopher Wendt)
Good evening, everyone. I greet all the members of the Confraternity of Our Lady of Fatima, as well as everyone watching tonight, this morning, or this afternoon, wherever you may be. Welcome to another live broadcast brought to you by the Confraternity of Our Lady of Fatima.
Tonight’s format will be a catechism lesson with His Excellency, Bishop Athanasius Schneider. The topic will be: “I Believe in the Holy Ghost.”
Your Excellency, could you please start us off with a prayer?
(His Excellency)
In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. Amen.
Pater noster, qui es in caelis,
sanctificetur nomen tuum.
Adveniat regnum tuum.
Fiat voluntas tua, sicut in caelo et in terra.
Panem nostrum quotidianum da nobis hodie,
et dimitte nobis debita nostra,
sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris.
Et ne nos inducas in tentationem,
sed libera nos a malo. Amen.
In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. Amen.
(Christopher Wendt)
Thank you, Your Excellency.
Before you get started, I have a few updates on the apostolic prayer and some really exciting developments. We’ve been very busy at the Confraternity of Our Lady of Fatima, even in just the last few weeks.
First of all, I want to thank so many of you for your unbelievable generosity. To date, we’ve raised over $100,000 USD for people being persecuted by the vaccine mandates. Of that, $70,000 has already been disbursed to around 30 families.
This money is helping them bridge the gap between being fired for their faith and moving on to other work, where they will not be discriminated against for refusing abortion-tainted vaccines.
Thank you so much for your generosity. We are truly humbled. This is a clear sign of the reign of Mary, a clear sign of the love of Jesus and Mary. It is so profoundly generous that it truly points to the kingdom of God.
Thanks again for that.
Also, for the Rosary Apostolate, many of you have donated, and we’ve now raised over $25,000. That will help us spread and distribute tens of thousands of rosaries throughout 2022, along with His Excellency’s prayer that the Holy Father consecrate Russia.
So just think next year, all over the Philippines and even in Russia, tens of thousands of people will be praying that the Holy Father consecrate Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. If that doesn’t help hasten the reign of Mary, I don’t know what will. Thank you again for your incredible generosity.
Also, His Excellency has a new book coming out in just about five weeks. You can pre-order it now on Amazon. The book is titled:
The Catholic Mass: Steps to Restore the Centrality of God in the Liturgy.
I’ve already pre-ordered a copy, and I’m very excited about it. The release date is January 21, so don’t miss out on this important work.
The Novena of Reparation continues every day. Thousands of you are praying the St. Andrew’s Novena to help bring an end to the monstrous fetal industry. His Excellency, Bishop Athanasius Schneider, wrote a special prayer for that novena. If you haven’t seen it yet and would like a copy, please email us at:
???? info@livefatima.io
One final bit of news: I’ve been asked by the Diocese of Malaybalay to assist 25 seminarians in making the Consecration to Mary according to St. Louis de Montfort. I’ll also be teaching them true Marian devotion over the course of five Wednesdays in December.
I’ve had such a great time getting to know this group. These 25 young men are inspiring and filled with zeal for the faith.
And I want to thank His Excellency, the Bishop. I know well the rector, Father Duppy, and also Father JP. I want to thank Father Johann as well, and Brother Jumar. And I want to thank all the seminarians. It is a great honor. They will be making the Consecration to Mary according to St. Louis de Montfort on the Feast of the Mother of God, January 1, on the new calendar.
Those are some updates. There are many more, it has been very busy here.
And without further ado, I’m going to turn it over to His Excellency.
Thank you, Your Excellency.
(His Excellency)
Yes, welcome.
Today, we will speak about the article of our faith: I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Holy Spirit.
The appellation “Holy Ghost” or “Holy Spirit” is equally true when applied to the Father and to the Son, since both are spirit and both are holy. We confess that God is a spirit. This name may also be applied to angels, as they are spirits, and to the souls of the just. Care must be taken, therefore, that we are not led into error by the ambiguity of the term.
By the words “Holy Ghost” or “Holy Spirit,” we understand the Third Person of the Most Holy Trinity.
The term “Holy Spirit” is used at times in the Old Testament and frequently in the New Testament. David prays in the Psalm, Take not Thy Holy Spirit from me. And in the Book of Wisdom, we read: Who shall know Thy counsel, unless Thou give wisdom and send Thy Holy Spirit from above?
We are also commanded in the New Testament to be baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.
We read that the Most Holy Virgin was conceived by the Holy Ghost, and we are told by Saint John the Baptist that Christ baptizes us in the Holy Spirit, in the Holy Ghost. There are many other passages in which the words “Holy Ghost” occur in the New Testament.
No one should be surprised that a proper name is not given to the Third Person, as it is to the First and Second Persons. The First Person in God is called the Father. The Second is the Son. The Second Person is designated and called Son because, as has been explained before, His eternal birth from the Father is properly called generation.
As therefore that birth is expressed by the word generation, so the Person who proceeds from that generation is properly called Son, and the Person from whom He proceeds is called Father.
But the origin of the Third Divine Person has no proper name of that sort. It is called spiration and procession.
The Person is consequently designated by no proper name. His emanation and procession have no proper name, simply because we are obliged to borrow from created objects the names given to God. We know no other created means of communicating nature and essence than the name generation.
So, in the case of the Second Divine Person, we can use that term. But we cannot discover a proper name to express the manner in which God communicates Himself entirely by the force of His love. Therefore, we call the Third Divine Person the Holy Ghost or Holy Spirit, a name forever peculiarly appropriate to Him, who infuses into our souls the spiritual life, the supernatural life of love, and without whose holy inspiration we can do nothing meritorious for eternal life.
Therefore, the Third Person of the Holy Trinity is also called Love. St. Thomas Aquinas refers to Him as Amor.
I believe in the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost is equal to the Father and to the Son. The people, once acquainted with the meaning of His name, should first of all be taught that the Holy Ghost is equally God with the Father and the Son equally omnipotent, equally eternal, infinitely perfect, the supreme good, infinitely wise, and of the same nature and substance as the Father and the Son.
All this is clearly implied by the force of the word in, when we say, We believe in the Holy Ghost. For this preposition is prefixed to each Person of the Most Holy Trinity in order to express the exact nature of our faith.
The divinity of the Holy Ghost is also clearly established by many passages of Scripture. In the Acts of the Apostles, when St. Peter says, Ananias, why hast thou conceived this thing in thy heart?, he immediately adds, Thou hast not lied to men, but to God, calling the Holy Spirit God. The One who was just given the name Holy Ghost.
The Apostle Paul, writing to the Corinthians, interprets what he says of God as being said also of the Holy Ghost. He writes: There are diversities of operations, but the same God worketh all in all. But then he continues, saying: All these things one and the same Spirit worketh, dividing to every one according as He will (1 Corinthians 12:11).
In the Acts of the Apostles, likewise, what the prophets attribute to God alone, St. Paul ascribes to the Holy Ghost. Thus, the prophet Isaiah had said: I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: Whom shall I send? And he said: Go, and thou shalt say to this people: Blind the heart of this people, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes, lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears.
Having cited these words, the Apostle adds: Well did the Holy Ghost speak through the prophet to our fathers. Again, Sacred Scripture frequently unites the Person of the Holy Ghost with those of the Father and the Son, for example, when the Lord commands that baptism be administered in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. (Matthew 28:19)
This leaves no room for doubt regarding the truth of this mystery. For if the Father is God, and the Son is God, we must likewise confess that the Holy Ghost, who is joined with them in the same act of divine worship and the same invocation, is also truly God. The phrase in the name of (not in the names of) the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost expresses the unity of essence among the Three Persons.
To administer baptism in the name of a creature would be utterly without efficacy for salvation. As St. Paul clearly teaches: Were you baptized in the name of Paul? (1 Corinthians 1:13), indicating that baptism in the name of any mere creature, no matter how holy, cannot confer the grace of the sacrament.
Since, therefore, we are baptized in the name of the Holy Ghost, we must acknowledge the Holy Ghost to be true God, equal in divinity to the Father and the Son. Just as baptism administered in the name of any creature would be powerless for salvation, as St. Paul notes when he asks rhetorically, “Were you baptized in the name of Paul?” so baptism in the name of the Holy Ghost affirms His divinity. This same divine equality is confirmed by the order of persons presented in Sacred Scripture. In the First Epistle of St. John, we read: “There are three who give testimony in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost; and these three are one” (1 John 5:7). Likewise, the Church from her earliest centuries has faithfully maintained this Trinitarian profession in the doxology: “Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost.”
The truth of the Holy Ghost’s divinity is also firmly established by the fact that Holy Scripture attributes to Him actions and attributes proper to God alone. To the Holy Ghost is ascribed the honor of temples, as St. Paul writes, “Know you not that your bodies are the temple of the Holy Ghost?” (1 Cor 6:19). He is said to sanctify, to give life, to search the deep things of God, to inspire the prophets, and to be present everywhere qualities that can be said of no creature, but only of God. Moreover, the form of baptism instituted by Christ “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost” clearly teaches that the Holy Ghost is a distinct Person within the one divine nature. Though consubstantial and co-eternal with the Father and the Son, the Holy Ghost is neither the Father nor the Son, but the third Person of the Most Holy Trinity, proceeding from their communion of love.
This doctrine is also taught by the Apostle Paul when he says, “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the charity of God, and the communication of the Holy Ghost be with you all.” This same truth was even more explicitly declared in the words added to the article of the Creed by the Fathers of the First Council of Constantinople in 381, in order to refute the heresy of those who denied the divinity of the Holy Ghost. They proclaimed, “And we believe in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Giver of Life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who together with the Father and the Son is adored and glorified, who spoke by the prophets.” Thus, the Holy Spirit is rightly called Lord by confessing the Holy Ghost in the Symbol of Faith.
The Creed also shows how the Holy Ghost excels beyond the angels, who are the noblest of created spirits, for they are “all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall receive the inheritance of salvation.” The Holy Spirit, as Lord and Giver of Life, surpasses even these highest of created beings in glory and power.
Whereas the Holy Spirit, the Holy Ghost, is called Lord and Giver of Life, the Holy Ghost is designated the Giver of Life because the soul lives more by its union with God than the body is nourished and sustained by its union with the soul. Since the Sacred Scriptures ascribe to the Holy Ghost this union of the soul with God, it is clear that He is most rightly called the Giver of Life, the supernatural life. Regarding the expression “who proceeds from the Father and the Son,” with respect to the words immediately succeeding, “who proceeds from the Father and the Son,” the faithful are to be taught that the Holy Ghost proceeds by an internal procession from the Father and the Son, but proceeds as from only one principle and one spiration. Christ the Lord, speaking of the Holy Ghost, says, “He shall glorify me, because he shall receive of mine” (John 16:14). We also find that the Holy Ghost is sometimes called in Scripture the Spirit of Christ.
Sometimes the Spirit is called the Spirit of the Father; at other times, He is said to be sent by the Father, and again, that He is sent by the Son, all of which clearly signifies that He proceeds alike from the Father and the Son. St. Paul says, “Whoever does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to Christ.” In his Epistle to the Galatians, St. Paul also calls the Holy Spirit the Spirit of Christ, saying, “God has sent the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.” In the Gospel of St. Matthew, He is called the Spirit of the Father: “It is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you,” says Jesus (Matthew 10:20). Our Lord said at His Last Supper, “When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about me.” On another occasion, that the Holy Ghost will be sent by the Father, He declares, “Whom the Father will send in my name.” Understanding these words to denote the procession of the Holy Ghost, we come to the inevitable conclusion that the Holy Ghost proceeds from both the Father and the Son. Thus, certain divine works are appropriated to the Holy Ghost.
There are certain admirable effects and excellent gifts of the Holy Ghost which are said to originate and emanate from Him as from a perennial fountain of goodness. Although the intrinsic works of the Most Holy Trinity are common to the three persons, many of these works are specially attributed to the Holy Ghost to signify that they arise from the boundless charity of God towards us. The works of the Holy Trinity, outside the Trinity itself, are common to all three persons. The theologians say extra (outside) that, as the Holy Ghost proceeds from the Divine Will, inflamed as it were by this love, we can perceive that these effects, which are referred particularly to the Holy Ghost, are the results of God’s supreme love for us. Hence, it is the Holy Ghost that is called the Gift.
For by the word gift, we understand that which is freely and gratuitously bestowed, without expectation of any return. Whatever gifts and graces, therefore, have been conferred on us by God and what we have, says the Apostle, that we have not received from God we should piously and gratefully acknowledge as bestowed by the grace and gift of the Holy Ghost. In creation, government, and life, the gifts of the Holy Ghost are numerous. Not to mention the creation itself, the work of the world, the propagation and government of all created beings, and the giving of life are particularly attributed to the Holy Ghost. This is further confirmed by the testimony of the Prophet Ezekiel.
The Prophet Ezekiel says, “I will give your spirit, and you shall live.” Then there are the seven gifts of the Holy Ghost, which the Prophet Isaiah enumerates as the chief effects most properly ascribed to the Holy Ghost. We know them as the spirit of wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and the fear of the Lord. These effects are called the gifts of the Holy Ghost, and sometimes they are even called the Holy Ghost itself or the gift itself. It is from these gifts of the Holy Ghost that we derive the rules of our Christian life and are able to know if the Holy Ghost is developing within us. The Holy Ghost and the grace of justification, which sides with the Holy Spirit of promise, who, as Scripture says, is the pledge of our inheritance, transcend all His other most generous gifts. The gifts of grace and sanctification, of sanctifying grace, unite us to God in the closest bonds of love.
Lights up within us, the Sacred Flame of faith and piety, forms as to newness of life, renders us partakers of the divine nature, and enables us to be called and really to be the children of God. So the Holy Ghost is the Third Person of the Blessed Holy Trinity, and therefore God himself. As we said, the holy ghost appeared in the form in the scripture of a death, or of a fire of tongues, to signify his office in the church. The Holy Ghost says St. Gregory to great, the pope appeared in the form of a dove, and of fire, because his work is done gently and zealously. And whoever is wanting in gentleness and zeal is not under the influence of the Holy Spirit.
He appeared in the form of tongues because He gives to man the gift of speech, by which he may inflame others to the love of God. So says St. Gregory the Great: the Holy Ghost appeared under the form of fire because He consumes the dross of our sin, drives the darkness of ignorance out of our souls, melts the icy coldness of our hearts, and inflames us with love-the love of God and of our neighbor. Because He hardens and strengthens the hearts of men, who are made from the clay of the earth, He is also called “Our God is a consuming fire,” a title especially appropriated to the Holy Ghost, as is written in the Letter to the Hebrews (12:29).
The Holy Ghost, as Julianne, a writer from the third century, states, is “God of God, as light is of light.” Another Church Father commenting on the words of Christ, “I drive out devils through the finger of God,” explains that as the finger is one of the same nature as the body, so the Holy Ghost is of the nature of God. St. Augustine writes that the Holy Ghost is called the “finger of God” because it is only through Him that the Father and the Son enter into communion and intercommunication with man. Through the Holy Ghost, the tablet of stone of the Ten Commandments was written, as by the “finger of God.”
Thus, the Holy Ghost dispenses graces which Christ merited by the sacrifice of the Cross. The Holy Ghost produces nothing in addition to what Christ gained for us; He only increases and perfects the work of Christ, just as the sun, when shining on a field, does not sow new seed but develops what is already sown. Grace is a favor granted to a person who has no claim to it. God acts toward men by granting them numerous favors without any merit on their part. These favors may be temporal, such as health or riches, or spiritual, such as the forgiveness of sins and the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
Therefore, the assistance of the Holy Ghost is absolutely necessary for our salvation. No mere natural act of man can gain for him eternal salvation.
The following illustration may help us: our little boy longs to reach some fruit on a tree. He stretches out his arms to the utmost, but the fruit is still out of reach; he is too small, too short. The child’s father then lifts him up so that the boy can pluck the fruit for himself. So too, men cannot attain salvation by their own efforts until the Holy Ghost, like the Father, takes them and gives them supernatural strength. Just as the eye cannot discern distant objects without a telescope, and the arm cannot lift heavy weights without a lever, so the natural powers of man require supernatural help for salvation to be obtained.
Hence the words of Christ: “Unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” Without the help of the Holy Ghost, we cannot do the least work deserving of salvation. We can do nothing without God’s help. St. Paul says, “Our sufficiency is from God.” And as St. Thomas Aquinas says, since the fall of Adam, we are like a sick man who cannot leave his bed without help.
The following may serve as illustrations: a man cannot work without light; thus, he cannot do any good work without the light of the Holy Ghost. The body is helpless unless animated by the soul. In like manner, man can do no good unless the Holy Ghost, the Holy Spirit, who is the life of the soul, comes to his aid.
Our souls bring forth no fruit unless they are watered by the rain of the grace of the Holy Spirit. As grace can do nothing without the cooperation of the will, so neither can the will achieve any result without grace. Consider the action of the earth: it can produce no fruit without rain, and the rain cannot produce fruit without the earth, just as ink is required for the pen to write. Similarly, the grace of the Holy Ghost is necessary to inscribe virtues in our souls. St. Thomas Aquinas says every good work is the effect of two coordinate principles: the Holy Ghost and our free will. Thus, we can never ascribe the merit of our good works to ourselves alone. The earth does not bring forth flowers by itself, but rather the sun acts by means of the earth. Just as we ascribe the activity of the body to the soul, so we should ascribe our good works to the grace of God. With the help of the Holy Ghost, we can carry out the most difficult works. St. Paul says, “I can do all things in Him who strengthens me.”
And this is the power of the Holy Ghost, God who is love, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, and who dwells in us. We are the temple of the Holy Ghost. We conclude with a short prayer known to the Holy Ghost:
Holy Spirit, breathe in me.
Holy Spirit, that my thoughts may all be holy.
Act in me, Holy Spirit, that I may love what is holy.
Strengthen me, Holy Spirit, to defend all that is holy.
Guide me, Holy Spirit, that I may always be holy.
(Christopher Wendt)
Thank you, Your Excellency, for walking us through the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity. It is always inspiring to return to the Fathers of the Council of Trent and reflect on the basic truths we believe as Catholics.
I have one question for you: As a Byzantine Catholic, I noticed that the Creed was changed. Originally, when I first became Byzantine Catholic canonically, we professed that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son. But then, about five or ten years later, probably around 2000, the Son was removed from the procession clause. Is that something that, in your estimation, needs to be fixed later?
(His Excellency)
Well, we need to distinguish one important truth: the Holy Spirit proceeds from both the Father and the Son, but from one origin, one principle, not two. Even the Greek Fathers of the East almost always preferred the formula that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father through the Son. However, there are also some expressions, though fewer, where Greek Fathers simply say the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son.
Before the Schism between the Oriental and Greek Churches in the 11th century, it was a common belief that the Holy Spirit does not proceed exclusively and solely from the Father. Even the Greeks never said otherwise. The difference was more about how to emphasize the truth that the Holy Spirit is also the Spirit of the Son and therefore proceeds from the Son as well.
Later, the Catholic Church clarified this doctrine in two important councils: the Council of Lyons I in France, the Second Council of Lyons, and then the Council of Florence in the 15th century. These councils declared that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son as from one principle, principally from the Father, but still from one origin and one spiration.
This explanation has been accepted by almost all Greek Orthodox bishops.
So, the other question is a liturgical one: how can the liturgy be changed to add new words to a very old formula, such as the Creed, the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed, which was just quoted today? The Creed says that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father. This phrase is a quotation from the Gospel of John, but it is not meant to be an exclusive affirmation in the New Testament. It is simply a quotation.
The Fathers of the Council of Constantinople only wanted to emphasize that the Holy Spirit is a true God. Just as the Son proceeds from the Father, and therefore is true God, so also the Holy Spirit, who proceeds from the Father, is true God. It was not intended as an exclusive formulation.
However, out of reverence for the antiquity of this liturgical text, the Greek Church and the Popes of the first millennium did not accept adding the phrase “and from the Son” to this formulation in the Creed, even though they believed this truth.
So, it makes a difference to change the liturgy only if necessary; otherwise, it’s best to keep the formula intact as it was, because it is an ancient formula. The proper way to express the truth that the Holy Spirit proceeds from both the Father and the Son is through the Catechism and preaching. So, it was a question of prudence.
In the Roman Church, the phrase “and from the Son” (Filioque) was added to the Creed only at the beginning of the 11th century, in the formula used during the Holy Mass. Therefore, the most important thing is the faith that we believe in.
(Christopher Wendt)
Thank you, Your Excellency, that was very helpful for me to understand. I had always been trying to make sense of that idea of changing the formula.
Well, let’s conclude with our prayer. I’m going to pull up the prayer that the Holy Father will focus on for Russia. And to all of you watching tonight, if you have questions, please feel free to email us. We’ll send out an email and gather questions over the next 30 days. We will come back again on January 30th, and the format will be a question-and-answer session with your latest questions.
Let me pull up the prayer here.
(His Excellency)
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Immaculate Heart of Mary, you are the holy Mother of God and our tender mother. Look upon the distress in which the Church and all of humanity live, due to the spread of materialism and the persecution of the Church. In Fatima, you warned against these errors, especially the errors of Russia. You are the Mediatrix of all graces; we implore your Divine Son to grant a special grace to the Pope, that he might consecrate Russia to your Immaculate Heart, so that Russia may be converted, a period of peace be granted to the world, and your Immaculate Heart may triumph through an authentic renewal of the Church in the splendor of the purity of the Catholic faith, the sacredness of divine worship, and the holiness of the Christian life.
With the Holy Rosary in hand, our sweet Mother, turn your merciful eyes to us and graciously hear this trusting prayer. Amen.
Dominus vobiscum.
(Christopher Wendt)
I wish to all of you, my dear brothers and sisters, a very joyful and blessed Feast of the Nativity of Our Lord. May this Christmas feast fill you with delight, joy, and the consolation of the Divine Child Jesus in your lives and families.
May God bless all of you.
Thank you, Your Excellency.
