Day 99: Symbols of the Holy Spirit

There are many symbols of the Holy Spirit: living water which springs from the wounded Heart of Christ and which quenches the thirst of the baptized; anointing with oil, which is the sacramental sign of Confirmation; fire which transforms what it touches; the cloud, dark or luminous, in which the divine glory is revealed; the imposition of hands by which the Holy Spirit is given; the dove which descended on Christ at his baptism and remained with him. CC #139

In today's reading, the Catechism lists a bunch of different symbols for the Holy Spirit, drawn from Scripture and in the life of the Church. As this list and the accompanying explanations are a bit lengthy, I thought I'd use the summary from the Catechism Compendium instead to quote above. There is much I could say about each of these symbols, but will really only highlight one:

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. CCC 694

It is fitting that water is the symbol of baptism, given that this is the sacrament by which we become a follower of Jesus, the stain of original sin is washed away, and our salvation comes (barring a fall from mortal sin). Through baptism, the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ become real in our lives. 

There is only one other symbol for the Holy Spirit I'd like to mention: the finger in CCC 700. The Catechism here mentions how this is used to drive out demons (Lk 11:20) and that the Law inscribed on stone tablets (Ex 31:18) is now written in the hearts of men (2 Cor 3:3). In the 9th century hymn Veni Creator Spiritus, it is the "Finger of the Hand Divine". I wonder though, is the finger seen by King Belshazzar and his guests writing in Aramaic, "MENE TEKEL PERES" (Dan 5), clearly a divine sign, also that of the Holy Spirit?

Depiction of the Christian Holy Spirit as a dove, by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, in the apse of Saint Peter's Basilica