The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 99: Symbols of the Holy Spirit (2026)

Episode Date: April 9, 2026

Fr. Mike explores the different symbols the faithful use when discussing the Holy Spirit, such as fire, water, and anointing. We examine how these symbols help us more fully apprehend the person of the Holy Spirit. Fr. Mike unpacks the meaning of each symbol, as well as each symbol's connection to the Old Testament. Today’s readings are Catechism paragraphs 694-701. This episode has been found to be in conformity with the Catechism by the Institute on the Catechism, under the Subcommittee on the Catechism, USCCB. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/ciy Please note: The Catechism of the Catholic Church contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.

Hi, my name is Father Mike Schmitz, and you're listening to the Catechism in a Year podcast, where we encounter God's plan of sheer goodness for us, revealed in Scripture and passed down through the tradition of the Catholic faith. The Catechism in a year is brought to by Ascension. In 365 days, we'll read to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, discovering our identity and God's family as we journey together toward our heavenly home. This is day 99. You guys, congratulations. They're almost there. Almost a day 100, which is amazing. We're reading paragraphs 694 to 701. I'm using, as always, the Ascension edition of the Catechism, which includes the foundations of faith approach.

You can follow along with any, any recent version of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. I'm also using the catechism in your reading plan what you can get at ascensionpress.com slash C-I-Y. You also can click follow or subscribe in your podcast app for daily updates and daily notifications. As I said, it is day 99, paragraph 694 to 7-1. Yesterday we talked about the joint mission of the sun and the spirit. So that, yeah, just although they are distinct, two different persons of the Holy Trinity, they are inseparable in their mission here.

Also, we talked about the proper name of the Holy Spirit being Holy Spirit and the titles of the Holy Spirit. Today, we're going to look at a number of symbols of the Holy Spirit. So we have everything from water, anointing, fire, cloud, and light. The seal is the symbol close to that of anointing, the hand, the finger, and the dove today. So we recognize that Jesus is the image of the invisible God. So Jesus is that full manifestation. that we actually, you know, in taking on flesh, God becomes visible. God becomes tangible in some ways, you know, incarnate, the incarnation, right? At the same time, you know, we think of the father,

you know, sometimes whether to our detriment or whether it's in a helpful way, we think of the father in the way we picture fatherhood. The Holy Spirit is unique because the Holy Spirit, I mean, while, again, all the persons of the Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are purely immaterial, except for at the son who was taken on humanity, right? He has a body now, even though he's more than just his human body. That's a whole mystery, obviously right there, that hypostatic union. But the symbols of the Holy Spirit, because how do we imagine the Holy Spirit? Well, typically in the terms we just mentioned, the symbols. So the Holy Spirit isn't water, but the Holy Spirit is symbolized many times by water. The Holy Spirit is symbolized by anointing. Remember the Holy Spirit is symbolized by fire. Remember

the Holy Spirit coming upon the Apostles at Pentecost in fire? Also, Elijah. who called down fire on Mount Carmel. You also have the Holy Spirit symbolized by cloud and light. Remember when, in the Old Testament, when that fire, that Holy Spirit, the cloud and lightning, storm came upon Mount Tabor. You also have, or Mount Sinai, I mean, to say. And also you have Jesus on the mountain transfiguration, where he enters into the cloud. And there's this light.

He's transfigured before them. You have the seal, which is a symbol just like anointing, because we're the anointing is that seal of the Lord. We have the hand. Jesus heals the sick and blesses little children by laying hands on them. And the apostles do the same in his name. We also have the finger in paragraph 700. It talks about even quotes Luke chapter 11, verse 20, where Jesus says, if he said, it is by the finger of God that Jesus casts out demons. So the finger. And then also lastly the dove from the very beginning in Genesis with Noah to that dove that comes upon the Lord Jesus at the baptism. The moment is baptism. So we have all these images, these symbols of the Holy Spirit.

So we launch into them. We're going to learn a bit more about them. And also I'm going to invite you to, as you listen to them, these symbols and kind of the explanation, they're all rooted in scripture, but they're also have a place in the life of the church right now. My invitation is to be able to say, okay, this is how I can in some ways apprehend the holy and immaterial, the pure spirit of the Holy Spirit, that sometimes as being human beings, right? It helps us to least have symbols, even though we know, again, the Trinity

is pure spirit. We also know that there are these images that help us conceptualize. They're images that help us have access to who God is. And so that's what we're doing today, looking at these symbols, these images of the Holy Spirit. So we pray, Father in Heaven, we give you praise and glory. Thank you so much for revealing yourself as Father. Thank you for giving us your son as one of us in his humanity and divinity. And thank you for sending your Holy Spirit upon us. Thank you for your Holy Spirit's work in creation, your Holy Spirit's work in redemption, the Holy Spirit's work of sanctifying this world. We ask that you please make us new, create us anew, redeem us once again, and save us for your sake so that we can glorify you and so that we can be instruments of your salvation in this world

by the power of the Holy Spirit. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. As I said, it is. It is. day 99. We're reading paragraphs 694 to 701, Symbols of the Holy Spirit. Symbols of the Holy Spirit. Water. The symbolism of water signifies the Holy Spirit's action in baptism, since after the invocation of the Holy Spirit, it becomes the efficacious sacramental sign of new birth. Just as the gestation of our first birth took place in water, so the water of baptism truly signifies that our birth into the divine life is given to us in the Holy Spirit. As by one spirit we were all baptized, so we are also made to drink of one Spirit. Thus, the Spirit

is also personally the living water welling up from Christ crucified as its source, and welling up in us to eternal life. Anointing. The symbolism of anointing with oil also signifies the Holy Spirit to the point of becoming a synonym for the Holy Spirit. In Christian initiation, anointing is the sacramental sign of confirmation called chrismation in the churches of the east. Its full force can be grasped only in relation to the primary anointing accomplished by the Holy Spirit, that of Jesus. Christ in Hebrew, Messiah, means the one anointed by God's Spirit. There were several anointed ones of the Lord in the Old Covenant, preeminently King David. But Jesus is God's anointed in a unique way.

The humanity the Son assumed was entirely anointed by the Holy Spirit. the Holy Spirit established him as Christ. The Virgin Mary conceived Christ by the Holy Spirit who, through the angel, proclaimed him the Christ at his birth and prompted Simeon to come to the temple to see the Christ of the Lord. The Spirit filled Christ and the power of the Spirit went out from him in his acts of healing and of saving. Finally, it was the Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead. Now, fully established as Christ in his humanity victorious over death,

Jesus pours out the Holy Spirit abundantly until the saints constitute, in their union with the humanity of the Son of God, that perfect man to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, the whole Christ in St. Augustine's expression. Fire. While water signifies birth and the fruitfulness of life given in the Holy Spirit, fire symbolizes the transforming energy of the Holy Spirit's actions. The prayer of the prophet Elijah, who arose like fire and whose word burned like a torch, brought down fire from heaven on the sacrifice on Mount Carmel. This event was a figure of the fire of the Holy Spirit who transforms what he touches.

John the Baptist, who goes before the Lord in the Spirit and power of Elijah, proclaims Christ as the one who will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. Jesus will say of the Spirit, I came to cast fire upon the earth, and would that it were already kindled. In the form of tongues as of fire, the Holy Spirit rests on the disciples on the mourning of Pentecost and fills them with himself. The spiritual tradition has retained this symbolism of fire as one of the most expressive images of the Holy Spirit's actions. As St. Paul writes to the Thessalonians, do not quench the Spirit. Cloud and Light. These two images

occur together in the manifestations of the Holy Spirit. In the theophanies of the Old Testament, the cloud, now obscure, now luminous, reveals the living and saving God, while veiling the transcendence of his glory with Moses on Mount Sinai at the tent of meeting and during the wandering in the desert and with Solomon at the dedication of the temple. In the Holy Spirit, Christ fulfills these figures. The Spirit comes upon the Virgin Mary and overshadows her so that she might conceive and give birth to Jesus. On the mountain of Transfiguration, the Spirit in the cloud came and overshadowed Jesus, Moses, and Elijah, Peter, James, and John, and a voice came out of the cloud saying, This is my son, my chosen.

Listen to him. Finally, the cloud took Jesus out of the sight of the disciples on the day of his ascension and will reveal him as son of man in glory on the day of his final coming. The seal is a symbol close to that of anointing. The Father has set his seal on Christ and also seals us in him. Because this seal indicates the indelible effect of the anointing with the Holy Spirit in the sacraments of baptism, confirmation, and holy orders, the image of the seal, Svrages, has been used in some theological traditions

to express the indelible character imprinted by these three unrepeatable sacraments. The hand. Jesus heals the sick and blesses little children by laying hands on them. In his name, the apostles will do the same. Even more pointedly, it is by the apostles in position of hands that the Holy Spirit is given. The letter to the Hebrews lists the imposition of hands among the fundamental elements of its teaching. The church has kept this sign of the all-powerful outpouring of the Holy Spirit in its sacramental epiclesis. The finger.

It is by the finger of God that Jesus cast out demons. If God's law was written on tablets of stone by the finger of God, then the letter from Christ entrusted to the care of the apostles is written with the spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone, but on tablets of human hearts. The hymn Veni Creator Spiritus invokes the Holy Spirit as the finger of the father's right hand. The dove. At the end of the flood, whose symbolism refers to baptism,

a dove, released by Noah, returns with a fresh olive tree branch in its beak as a sign that the earth was again habitable. When Christ comes up from the water of his baptism, the Holy Spirit, in the form of a dove, comes down upon him and remains with him. The spirit comes down and remains in the purified hearts of the baptized. In certain churches, the Eucharist is reserved in a metal receptacle in the form of a dove, columbarium, suspended above the altar.

Christian iconography traditionally uses a dove to suggest the spirit. All right, there we have it in Day 99. All of these images of the Holy Spirit, again, from water to the dove. Some of them, probably you were very familiar with. When it comes to water, one of the most present images of the Holy Spirit's actions, right, we have not only the fact that in our first birth, we have our gestation, as it says, took place in water. So the water of baptism truly signifies our birth into the divine life given to us by the Holy Spirit. So that makes sense also the flood, right?

We have the recognition that St. Peter is going to say that just as Noah was saved through the water, so we are saved, you know, by the ark, so we are saved from death to sin through baptism. And so there's this recognition of, again, be saved through the water. Again, you have anointing, which is so clear. Anointing is one of those symbols of the Holy Spirit. In fact, go back to yesterday when we talked about how that the anointing and the presence of the Lord, there's no separation, right? But the moment the body comes in contact with Christ is the moment it comes in contact with

the anointing, with the Holy Spirit, which is just that image that St. Gregory of Nissa had used yesterday. But today we talk about this recognition that Jesus, the Messiah, or again, in Hebrew, Messiah, right, means the anointed by God's spirit. So every time there's an anointing, this is a symbol and image of the Holy Spirit, primarily here in the old covenant with King David. But other times, we have prophets and kings who are anointed and then fully established in Jesus Christ. Now, fire is remarkable because it's kind of set in contrast to water. It says, while water in paragraph 696, while water signifies birth and the fruit, of life given by the Holy Spirit, fire symbolizes the transforming energy of the Holy Spirit's

actions, which is, and I love the fact that the catechism references the prophet Elijah, who not only arose like fire and whose word burned like a torch, but also he brought down fire on the sacrifice at Mount Carmel, which is just, again, so, so powerful and so such an incredible image that Jesus even later on, he says, I came to cast fire upon the earth, and would that it were already kindled. And then the Holy Spirit does come down upon the apostles. And disciples in Pentecost in the form of tongues as a fire, right? So just incredible. And that's one of the reasons why St. Paul writes to the Thessalonians and says, do not quench the Holy Spirit. Why? Because you quench fire. You don't quench other things. You just quench fire. I guess you could quench

thirst. Anyway, anyways, back to our story. We have fire, anointing, water. And then these last five images, we have cloud and light. That's kind of one image together. They occur together in the ancient manifestations of the Holy Spirit. Remember how that cloud by day led the people of Israel through the wilderness? Remember how that cloud was luminous at night and it was a pillar of fire. And that just reveals not only the presence of the saving God, but also the transcendence of his glory. That the cloud, you know, light and the Holy Spirit overshadows the Virgin Mary when she conceives Jesus Christ in her womb. And again, that same kind of thing where when Jesus is on the Mount of Transfiguration and they enter into the cloud and the voice came from the cloud saying,

this is my son, my chosen, listen to him. That cloud is a symbol of the Holy Spirit. So even on the mount of transfiguration, we have the Father speaking. We have the Word Jesus Christ himself and we have the Holy Spirit in the form of a cloud, which is remarkable. The seal, of course, same kind of thing. we're going to talk more and more about seal as a symbol that's close to the anointing when we talk about the sacraments. That's going to come up in quite a few days from now, but it's worth just noting, okay, today we have the anointing. That's a very clear symbol of Jesus, or the Holy Spirit, but also the seal being very, very incredible, powerful symbol of the Holy Spirit and Holy Spirit's actions. The last three here, we have the hand, the finger, and the dove. The hand is the hand of

Jesus that blesses. But also, I think it's really important for us. us to note that it is by the Apostles imposition of hands that the Holy Spirit is given. We have that in Acts Chapter 8, verse 17, and Acts chapter 13, verse 3, and in Acts chapter 19, verse 6, where we have this recognition that the Holy Spirit is imparted to others to the imposition of hands. And the letter to the Hebrews, paragraph 699, highlights that the imposition of hands are listed among the fundamental elements of its teaching. So we recognize this. Happens. The imposition of hands happens over the gifts at every mass, right, where the priest extends his hands over the bread and wine that are about to become the body and blood of Jesus. We know that the

imposition of hands happens in every ordination, that every time a man is ordained a deacon or a priest or a bishop, there's a laying on of hands there. And that's so clear. It goes all the way back to Jesus, goes all the way back to the apostles. Last two, the finger. And we recognize, I love this because it is by the finger of God that Jesus cast out demons. Now remember in the Old Testament that God's law was written on tablets of stone by the very finger of God. That's the image that was used. And yet here we are in the new covenant. And we have the spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone, but on tablets of human hearts,

which means that that was written by the finger of God on your heart and on my heart as an image. The last, of course, is the image of the dove, which goes all the way back, as we said, to Noah, and refers to baptism. A dove released by Noah returns with a fresh olive tree branch in its beak as a sign. The earth was again habitable. when Jesus comes up from the water of his baptism, Holy Spirit, and the form of a dove comes down upon him, it remains with him. I love this last note. It just reminds us of the diversity in the church that in certain churches, particularly I familiar, I think, with churches in the east, that they're tabernacle, right? That they might not call it a tabernacle, but the Euchar is reserved and in metal receptacle, all we'll call it a tabernacle.

They might call it a columbarium, but it's in the form of a dove. Now, a lot of in the West our tabernacles are typically not in the form of a dove. They could be just in the form of some kind of box that could be in a form of like maybe even something that would make it look like the ark of the covenant. I've heard, I've seen tabernacles that are made to look like the womb of the Virgin Mary. So, or even that are embedded into a crucifix. But in some churches, the Eucharist is reserved in the middle of receptacle in the form of a dove called a columbarium. And that is to highlight what. Well, let's highlight many things, but one of the things it's to highlight is what I mentioned, I think, yesterday or the day before, that what Jesus has made possible by his incarnation, life, death, and resurrection, ascension to heaven.

The Holy Spirit makes actual. And here's Jesus who at the last supper and on the cross gives us, gives his body and blood, right? Offers it to the father as a sacrifice. offers it to us as that perpetual covenant that it's made real brought present, I say, to us by the Holy Spirit. So it makes sense that that Eucharist would be reserved in the form of a dove. I don't know. That seems to make sense to me. If there's another reason for that, I'll have to look it up and check it out. But gosh, those today here, day 99. You guys, we are one day, one day away from day 100. If you're stuck this long, I'm just, it's amazing.

because I've said this before. I will say it again. Sometimes when we just have the catechism, it is different. It's kind of different sometimes to find our place in the story, although we know that this is, you know, this is Acts chapter 29. This is the life of the church that has existed now for 2,000 years. And this is the wisdom the church has fought for. The wisdom of the church has been revealed to us and began it on to us. And now we're receiving that.

And that's what an incredible gift that you and I are in this place. where after 99 days, we know what we didn't know before. Hopefully, hopefully we love the Lord in a way that we didn't necessarily, maybe weren't able to love him before. We are praying right now for the Holy Spirit to enter our hearts so that we can love God as he truly deserves, that we can love God as he has willed us to love him so that we can love God with all of our heart, mind, soul, and strength.

We can only do this by the power of the Holy Spirit. And so we just ask the Holy Spirit to come upon every person listening to these words so that we can say yes to the Lord. We can know him more truly and follow him more closely. I'm praying for you. Please pray for me. My name is Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow.

God bless.