The Holy Spirit: Unbounded Gift of Joy (Michael Glazier Books) - Tapa blanda

To the urgent question, "What is the greatest need of the Church today?" Pope Paul VI responded, "The Holy Spirit." For it is the Holy Spirit who is the font of the Church's—our—life and holiness, unity and gifts, comfort and strength, and, most of all, joy. In a world marked not only by technological progress but also by growing sources of anxiety, people today search for the secret to a happy heart. The Holy Spirit: Unbounded Gift of Joy reflects on the theological foundations for this understanding of the Holy Spirit as the answer to our thirst for joy. As in her previous work, The Triune God of Christian Faith, Mary Ann Fatula reminds in The Holy Spirit that our faith calls us into a joyful relationship with each divine person. Here she teaches about the Holy Spirit, the least known and most elusive of the three divine persons. She stresses that the Holy Spirit is not something but Someone, not a feeling but the divine person through whom we grow close to the Creator and Son. She helps us know the Holy Spirit as giver and gift of true joy. Inspired by the sentiments of the Pentecost Sequence, the poem used at the Eucharist for Pentecost, the chapters in The Holy Spirit ponder the insights of Christian saints, mystics, and theologians of East and West—especially the Doctors of the Church, whose writings are inspired by Scripture and are full of the Holy Spirit's anointing. Chapters include "Spirit of Joy," "Spirit of God Poured Out by the Risen Lord," "Spirit of Life," "Spirit of Love," "Holy Spirit at the Heart of the Church," "Contemporary Theological Approaches to the Holy Spirit," "Spirit of Healing," "Our Inner Teacher," "Spirit of Prayer," "Intimate Friendship with the Holy Spirit," and "Pledge of Heaven's Glory."