The Holy Spirit and the bedrock virtues: faith, hope, and love

In Scripture, we hear less about the Holy Spirit than we hear through the Holy Spirit. If we consider the Father as the God we cannot see, and Christ as God with us, then the Spirit can be considered God within us. There we see Christ most clearly, and through Christ we see the Father; but the Spirit is scarcely seen. At times in the New Testament when someone is said to be filled with the Holy Spirit, the Spirit-filled person is generally not speaking about the Spirit, but about Christ. The Spirit is less of a focus, and we often learn of the Spirit only by pausing on verses where the Spirit is pointing us toward God, or a presence in our lives. 

We learn that the Spirit knows the mind of God, reveals the things of God, and speaks through the prophets. And we learn that the greatest gifts of the Spirit are faith, hope, and love: the great life-affirming virtues, the virtues fullest of joy and wisdom. 

I'm beginning to see the "gifts of the Spirit" in a different light. I had for many years supposed that "gifts of the Spirit" are things that the Spirit gives us in some sort of relay, where the Father gives us the Spirit, then the Spirit in good time may give us gifts of faith. I wonder now if those gifts are simply an aspect of the Spirit of God. As for faith: if the Spirit of God knows the mind of God, then the Spirit has no doubt about God's goodness or his intentions, so understanding the mind of God gives faith. As for hope: If the Spirit of God knows what God will accomplish, then the Spirit of God is unwavering in hope, so confidence in the knowledge of God gives hope. As for love: if God is love and the Spirit of God knows the heart and mind of God, then of course the Spirit of God is full of love, so sharing the Spirit of God gives us love. 

It seems that the gifts of the Spirit are not a separate thing from the Spirit. If I look for the gifts apart from the Spirit I will come up empty. If I look for the Spirit, there are the gifts too.