When my youngest child, Frances Clare, was in a primary grade, she was doing homework in a religion workbook. Her big sister, Kateri Grace, was helping her. Frances was having trouble with this fill-in-the-blank sentence: “God is the Supreme _____.” Kateri responded with her suggested answer. Frances became upset and exclaimed, “Kateri, that is a terrible thing to say! God is NOT a bean!” Kateri replied with her answer again and Frances repeated again her disgust. Then Kateri, realizing how she had been misunderstood, slowly spoke the two-syllable word be-ing with an emphasis on ing.

Pretty soon after that, I met my fellow charter member of our newly-formed parish Knights of Columbus council, my dear and late friend William Bean. I told him the story and said that, if he were to become the Supreme Knight of the Knights, people might call him the Supreme Bean.

There is a problem with calling God the Supreme Being and it is this: While the Supreme Being is at the top of the pyramid, the top of the hierarchy, this nomenclature tends to make God a being like other beings. When I read Paul Tillich’s The Courage to Be in my first year of college, I learned another way to conceive of God, namely, Being Itself. I hadn’t at that stage read anything by Aquinas whom I later learned had written the same: “God is being itself…” (“Deus est ens”) (Summa Theologiae, Part Ia, 4, 3, ad 3). God is, Aquinas wrote, Subsistent Being Itself (“ipsum esse subsistens”). This is in accord with Scripture where, when Moses asks God Whom he should tell the Israelites sent him to them, God does not answer with a name. Instead, He tells Moses to tell the Israelites: “I am Who am” sent him (Exodus 3:14).

If you haven’t heard that God is Being Itself or haven’t thought about it for a long time, it is well worth thinking about, meditating over.

God is a wondrous god. He made all that there is (see Ps. 33:6-9, 146:6; Job 38:4–7, Isaiah 42:5, Colossians 1:16; Nicene Creed). I think we human beings can somehow imagine a being that is so supreme that it made, and makes, all other beings. But I think you would agree that the phrase Being Itself takes us into a new dimension of human imagination.

I have two issues with the concept of Being Itself. For one thing, the temptation is to think that it renders heaven a realm where those of us who might enter heaven would blend with all being. We would lose our individual personality in some sort of cosmic soup. That of course will not be the case — but I won’t engage here on this topic. The second issue is this: We might begin to comprehend how we might have a relationship with the Supreme Being, especially with Whom we say are Three Persons, but how can we have a relationship with Being Itself?

I have the same problem with imagining having a relationship with the Holy Spirit. I can address God the Father as “Father,” as “Abba” as Jesus taught us (Matt. 6:9-13; Luke 11:2-4). I can address God the Son as “Lord” or “Jesus.” There is, however, no name for the Holy Spirit that is familial or personally endearing. I speak here of a term of endearment, not simply a name, or a title, or a function. We know some things (pneumatology) about the Holy Spirit; for example, the Nicene Creed calls Him the Lord and Giver of Life. We know His gifts and His fruits (Catechism of the Catholic Church, sections 1831 and 1832).

Christ Himself called the Holy Spirit “the Holy Spirit” or “the Spirit”:

• Matt. 28:19: baptize in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit (“the Great Commission”)
• Mark 13:11: “Be not anxious beforehand what ye shall speak: but whatsoever shall be given you in that hour, that speak ye; for it is not ye that speak, but the Holy Spirit” (Matt. 10:20: the “Spirit of your Father”)
• Luke 11:13: the Father would “give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him”
• John 16:7: “If I do not go away, the Counselor will not come to you”
• John 14:17, 15:26 and 16:13: Jesus called Him “the Spirit of Truth”
• John 20:22: “’As the Father has sent Me, even so I send you.’ And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit’”
• Acts 1:8: “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

In John 14:16, Jesus called the Holy Spirit the Paraclete. He said, “I will ask the Father and he will give you the parakletos and He will never leave you.” Parakletos literally is “he who is called to one’s side.” The word was not unfamiliar to the Jews of the First Century, especially as someone who helped a party in a law court.[1] This Greek word is translated into English as Paraclete, Advocate, Helper, Companion, Intercessor, and Comforter.

My hometown, Charlottesville, has a Catholic parish called the Church of the Holy Comforter. I don’t envision addressing the Holy Spirit as “our Paraclete” because it sounds too much like “parakeet.” I also don’t see addressing the Holy Spirit as “our Comforter” because of the current reference to a blanket. And “our Comfort” also doesn’t seem right because the Holy Spirit seems to be so much more than that. I don’t think any of the other translations of paraclete offer an endearing term to address the Holy Spirit.

In search of an endearing term that could be used in prayer specific to the Holy Spirit, I have looked at:

• the Sequence for Pentecost
• the Preface for Pentecost
• a sermon for Pentecost by St. Thomas Aquinas
• the Preface for the Baptism of Our Lord
• the Catechism of the Catholic Church (687-747)
• Pope St. John Paul’s 1986 encyclical in preparation for the Jubilee Year of 2000 Dominum et Vivicantem (Lord, Giver of Life)
• litanies of the Holy Spirit. There are three litanies in Fr. Albert J. Herbert, S.M.’s compilation: A Prayerbook of Favorite Litanies (1985). There are a number of additional litanies online;[2]
• two hymns: O Fons Amoris Spiritus (1736; O Spirit, Fount of Love) and Veni, Creator Spiritus (8^th).

I offer two possibilities. The first is: “O my Dove”/“My Dove”/“Our Dove”

There are a number of symbols of the Holy Spirit. The CCC (694-701) lists: water, anointing, seal, fire (including tongues of fire), finger of God, cloud, light, hand, and dove. Many of these symbols appear in the lyrics of the hymn Veni, Creator Spiritus. I don’t see calling the Holy Spirit in prayer any of these symbols, other than “dove.” Of the various biblical references to dove as a symbol of the Holy Spirit, the most important was on the occasion of the Baptism of Our Lord in:

• Matt. 3:16: “As soon as Jesus was baptized, He went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on Him.”
• Mark 1:10: “Just as Jesus was coming up out of the water, He saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on Him like a dove.”
• Luke 3:22: “The Holy Spirit descended on Him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are My Son, whom I love; with You I am well pleased.”
• John 1:32: “Then John gave this testimony: ‘I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on Him.’”

Let me bring to your attention additional biblical references to doves relevant to our quest:

• Genesis 8: The story of the dove going forth from Noah’s ark
• Song of Songs 2:14: “My dove in the clefts of the rock, in the hiding places on the mountainside, show me your face, let me hear your voice; for your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely.”
• Song of Songs 5:2: “I slept but my heart was awake. Listen! My beloved is knocking: ‘Open to me, my sister, my darling, my dove, my flawless one…’”
• Song of Songs 6:9: “My dove, my perfect one, is unique…”
• Matt 10:16: “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.”

And we can see what an English language dictionary says about the word “dove”:

1. a symbol of innocence, gentleness, tenderness, and peace
2. an innocent, gentle, or tender person

Based on the biblical references, the dictionary’s understanding, and of course numerous artistic examples of the Holy Spirit depicted as a dove, I think it would be highly appropriate for us to address the Holy Spirit in prayer with “O my Dove,” “My Dove,” or “Our Dove.”

The second form of address I suggest for prayer to the Holy Spirit would be: “O my Love” (or “My Love” or “Our Love”). One of the litanies in Father Herbert’s anthology uses “O my Eternal Love.” I suggest that we wouldn’t need the adjective “eternal.” Another thought: We know “God is love” (1 John 4:8) and “God’s very being is love” (CCC, 221). More specifically, the Holy Spirit is called “love.” Throughout his encyclical, Pope St. John II refers to the Holy Spirit as “love and gift” (10, 21, 22, 23, 34, 35, 39, 41, 50, 52, 54, 59).

In conclusion, I think addressing the Holy Spirit as “my Dove” or “my Love” engenders a feeling of tender warmth with the Holy Spirit when praying. This allows for a more intimate relationship with the oft-neglected Third Person of the Blessed Trinity.

[1] Margaret Mowczko, “‘Paraclete’” in Ancient Secular, Jewish, and Christian Texts,” Jan. 20, 2024; Dr. Faydra Shapiro, “Paraclete – Three Meanings of the Greek Word Hidden in the Old Testament,” Exaudi, May 14, 2023.

[2] These seven: Society Devoted to the Sacred Heart; National Shrine Grotto; Ascension Press; Saint Malachy Parish; Hozana; A Collection of Prayers (1400 prayers); and Savior.org.