Has anybody seen the Holy Spirit?

[Pythagoras]

I already read that some Catholics saw Jesus, Mama Mary and even their Guardian Angel.

Does anybody have seen the Holy Spirit. What does He look like, aside from the traditional dove shown in the Bible…

Does He show Himself to us as a Living Light?

 

[midori]

Periodically, I take an icon-writing class from a professional iconographer. Once I remember her mentioning in class about how Western art and Eastern art diverged with their artistic conventions. One example is the depiction of God the Father as a gray-bearded man. While that doesn’t raise any eyebrows in Western art, it’s highly controversial in the Eastern churches.

I asked her about Rublev’s “Trinity”, and other examples of the famous icon depicting the Hospitality of Abraham. Although the three guests are depicted as angels in the Bible, the icon represents the Trinity.

She said that in that case, they all possessed the same face— the face of Christ-- because God the Son was the only one who incarnated, became enfleshed, etc. The Incarnation allows us to make a visible image of the uncreated, invisible God.

The Holy Spirit has been represented by, or likened to, various things through the ages— tongues of fire; a rushing, burning wind; living water; a cloud; a seal; a dove. But he’s none of those things. St. Gregory Thaumaturgeus theorized that, just as Jesus is the image of the Father, that the Holy Spirit is the image of the Son. So, while I can’t think of anyone who said, “I’ve seen the face of the Holy Spirit, and he looked like ______,” that’s probably a good place to start contemplating. Usually, though, I tend to think of being able to perceive the Holy Spirit in the same way you perceive the wind— you see the effects it causes around you, even if you don’t see it, specifically, yourself.

 

[brian_custer]

the classic physical appearance of the Holy Spirit is as of a White Dove

that is possibly allegorically how the Holy Spirit has chosen to reveal Himself in a way we mortal humans can understand

 

[AKDee]

During the Mass and sometimes other ceremonies I see the Priest/Bishop begin to take on a definitely glow around them, a white aura. It happens to a different extent at different times and some exude it more than others. I have always assumed that it was the Holy Spirit I was perceiving. One time was particularly strong and the whole room actually became infused with it. The first time I perceived it I felt it was a trick of the light, and the next week deliberately sat in a different area of the Church to see if I could still see it, but I have seen it in more than one Church and from many different angles and at nearly every Mass.

 

[bsy]

I cannot remember the exact day, but it was during the 9-Day Novena to the Holy Spirit in 2013.

I usually attend Mass in our Parish, but that morning, I went to another Parish. The Mass had not started so I decided to pray the Rosary. I haven’t finished the decades when the Mass began. After the Mass and the pews emptied, I stayed to finish the Rosary when I heard a group of people gathered in the pews to my right. I was seated in the center pew. I glanced and saw women, nuns, and some men. They began praying the Novena to the Holy Spirit.

I was about to continue praying the Rosary when I saw Jesus wearing a black robe with a bright form of a Dove on His Chest standing in front of the group praying the Novena. My eyes were closed at that time, and thought to myself, “Could this be my imagination?” So I turned my head to the center of the altar, and did not see Jesus there. I turned my head to where Jesus was, and saw Him once again. He was still standing in front of the group praying the Novena. I cannot remember if my eyes were now opened or closed, but continue to see Jesus. He was looking at me and smiling. His Face was very beautiful.

After the group finished the Novena, I quickly walked to where Jesus was standing, but He was no longer there. I then felt the urge to look up, and saw a large print “Peace.”

---

 

[cjforJesus]

During the Mass and sometimes other ceremonies I see the Priest/Bishop begin to take on a definitely glow around them, a white aura. It happens to a different extent at different times and some exude it more than others. I have always assumed that it was the Holy Spirit I was perceiving. One time was particularly strong and the whole room actually became infused with it. The first time I perceived it I felt it was a trick of the light, and the next week deliberately sat in a different area of the Church to see if I could still see it, but I have seen it in more than one Church and from many different angles and at nearly every Mass.

That is a beautiful and amazing grace to receive! Only once I experienced that same phenomena,but it was when an older priest was substituting for the regular priest at a parish I often attend. I don’t know that I would use the word “aura” though as this wonderful living light surrounded his body and became more intense as the consecration was completed.

When I first returned to the Church about 7 years ago my daughter and I visited a Marian shrine and basilica. She took a picture of the facade of the building and when she sent it to my email I was astounded to see the beautiful form of a Dove emanating from a stream of light whose source appeared to be the center of the church where the tabernacle is. I showed this ethereal image to many and they were as surprised as me!

 

[hazcompat]

Yes.

Peace

 

[Pythagoras]

That is a beautiful and amazing grace to receive! Only once I experienced that same phenomena,but it was when an older priest was substituting for the regular priest at a parish I often attend. I don’t know that I would use the word “aura” though as this wonderful living light surrounded his body and became more intense as the consecration was completed.

When I first returned to the Church about 7 years ago my daughter and I visited a Marian shrine and basilica. She took a picture of the facade of the building and when she sent it to my email I was astounded to see the beautiful form of a Dove emanating from a stream of light whose source appeared to be the center of the church where the tabernacle is. I showed this ethereal image to many and they were as surprised as me!

Wow! Do you have a photo of this uploaded in the internet?

 

[SAVINGRACE]

I have an amazing photo taken of a monstrance in a Catholic procession in Argentina.

What the secular photographer captured will blow you away.

Unfortunately it is in a jpeg format and I have no idea how to upload that on a post.

Spent the last 20minutes trying to figure it out. Only an image with a url address can be uploaded.

 

[oldgraymare2]

Yes.

I saw Him in the form of a white dove too, years ago when I was praying at home outside.

This was back when I was still in high school. I was feeling particularly sad, because a close friend of mine from school had just died from cancer, and I was mourning her death. On top of that, I didn’t have the best home life, either, so I was feeling down about that, too. I had been feeling very alone at that time in my life, due to a particular combination of experiences.

So, I was out in the back yard, trying to enjoy the nice day, but feeling very sad at the same time, and I was talking to God, and was being very earnest, and I remember talking to Him and pouring my young heart out and saying something to Him like, “Can you just show me you’re here?”

Then the next thing that you know, out of nowhere, this beautiful white dove appears in our yard, and lands on the clothes line that we had out back. It sat there for a few minutes, and then it was gone.

I had felt in my heart back then that it was a visit from the Holy Spirit, and I remember feeling very happy for what I had just seen.

 

[StGerardMajella]

Does He show Himself to us as a Living Light?

A pure, white living dove that shows up in the most unusual of circumstances, places, and times.

 

[AKDee]

I have an amazing photo taken of a monstrance in a Catholic procession in Argentina.

What the secular photographer captured will blow you away.

Unfortunately it is in a jpeg format and I have no idea how to upload that on a post.

Spent the last 20minutes trying to figure it out. Only an image with a url address can be uploaded.

If you open up a free photobucket account you can upload your photo there, and then use the photobucket link to share the photo here.

Thank you to everyone who shared their stories, these are amazing and serve to strengthen my own faith.

 

[Richca]

I already read that some Catholics saw Jesus, Mama Mary and even their Guardian Angel.

Does anybody have seen the Holy Spirit. What does He look like, aside from the traditional dove shown in the Bible…

Does He show Himself to us as a Living Light?

The Holy Spirit is God of the same substance and essence as the Father and Son. These three persons constitute the one God we believe in. To see the Holy Spirit would be to see God’s essence, face to face. This is the beatific vision which is not granted to us in this life but which we hope to attain in the next life in heaven. In the book of Exodus, Moses asked God to show him His glory. But the Lord answered "you cannot see my face, for no one can see me and live.(33: 20). Without a very special grace from God such as what some fathers and doctors of the Church say was giving to St Paul when he was caught up to the third heaven, we cannot see God face to face in this life.

God is an immaterial, pure spirit like the angels. If we try to imagine what a pure spirit looks like, we simply draw a blank for our imagination can only imagine corporeal or bodily images. We have no idea what God looks like as it is written “What eye has not seen, and ear has not heard,
and what has not entered the human heart,
what God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Corinthians 2:9).

The manifestations of the Holy Spirit we have in Holy Scripture such as the dove at Jesus’ baptism and the tongues of fire at Pentecost are manifestations that we has humans on this earth can relate too but they are not the Holy Spirit as He is in Himself, one God with the Father and Son.

 

[Robert_Sock]

With my “spiritual eyes,” yes I have seen the Holy Spirit.

 

[Pythagoras]

The Holy Spirit is God of the same substance and essence as the Father and Son. These three persons constitute the one God we believe in. To see the Holy Spirit would be to see God’s essence, face to face. This is the beatific vision which is not granted to us in this life but which we hope to attain in the next life in heaven. In the book of Exodus, Moses asked God to show him His glory. But the Lord answered "you cannot see my face, for no one can see me and live.(33: 20). Without a very special grace from God such as what some fathers and doctors of the Church say was giving to St Paul when he was caught up to the third heaven, we cannot see God face to face in this life.

During the time in which Paul lay prostrate up
on the earth, he was entirely renewed by sanctifying
grace and other infused gifts, restored and illumined pro
portionately in all his interior faculties, and thus he was
prepared to be elevated to the empyrean heaven, which is
called the third heaven. He himself confesses, that he
did not know whether he was thus elevated in body or only
in spirit (I Cor. 12, 4). But there, by more than ordi
nary vision, though in a transient manner, he saw the
Divinity clearly and intuitively. Besides the being of
God and his attributes of infinite perfection, he recog
nized the mystery of the Incarnation and Redemption,
and all the secrets of the law of grace and of the state
of the Church. He saw the peerless blessing of his justi
fication and of the prayer of saint Stephen for him ; and
still more clearly was he made aware of the prayers of
the most holy Mary and how his conversion had been
hastened through Her; and that, after Christ, her merits
had made him acceptable in the sight of God. From
that hour on he was filled with gratitude and with deep
est veneration and devotion to the great Queen of heaven,
whose dignity was now manifest to him and whom he
thenceforth acknowledged as his Restorer.

From the Mystical City of God by Sister Mary of Agreda