When we say that the Holy Spirit “proceeds from the Father and the Son,” we are speaking about the eternal life and love within the Trinity itself. It’s not a phrase meant to confuse us, but to help us glimpse something beautiful and profound: that God’s very being is an eternal communion of love — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Many people have asked me, “Father, what does it mean for the Spirit to proceed?” In simple words, it means that the Holy Spirit comes forth eternally as the love shared between the Father and the Son. The Father is the source of all — He gives His very being to the Son. The Son receives all that the Father is, and in their perfect unity of love, the Spirit is breathed forth. This is why the Spirit is sometimes called the “Breath of God.”
In the Gospel of John, Jesus says, “When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father — the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father — He will testify about Me” (John 15:26). Here Jesus shows us both realities: the Spirit comes from the Father and is sent by the Son. The Church later expressed this mystery in the Creed: the Spirit “proceeds from the Father and the Son.” This phrase, though deeply theological, reveals that the Spirit is the bond of love uniting the Father and the Son eternally.
For us, this means the same love that unites the Trinity is the love that comes to dwell in our hearts. When the Spirit fills us, we are drawn into that divine communion. The Spirit teaches us to call God “Father” and to recognize Jesus as “Lord.” He brings unity, peace, and the joy of divine love within us.
To say that the Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son is to confess that all love, all holiness, all life that we experience from God comes from this one fountain of divine communion. The Spirit draws us into that same relationship, making us children of the Father and brothers and sisters of the Son.
The next time you pray, imagine the Holy Spirit breathing within you—the very love of the Father and the Son living in your heart. Let that divine breath fill you with peace, and know that you belong to the eternal love that never ends.
— Fr. John Matthew, for Christian Way
