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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Abiding Presence of the Holy Ghost in the Soul + +Author: Bede Jarrett + +Release Date: January 5, 2011 [EBook #34855] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ABIDING PRESENCE OF HOLY GHOST *** + + + + +Produced by Michael Gray, Diocese of San Jose + + + + + +</pre> + + +<h1>THE ABIDING PRESENCE<br> +OF<br> +THE HOLY GHOST IN THE SOUL</h1> +<br> +<h2>BY<br> +BEDE JARRETT, O.P.</h2> +<br><br> + +<h3>THE NEWMAN BOOKSHOP<br> +Westminster, Maryland</h3> + + +<br><br><br> +<p>NIHIL OBSTAT</p> + +<p class="indent">A. R. P. RAPHAEL MOSS, O.P., S.T.L.<br> + R. P. AELRED WHITACRE, O.P., S.T.L.</p> + +<p>NIHIL OBSTAT</p> + +<p class="indent"> ARTHUR J. SCANLAN, D.D. <br> + + <i>Censor Deputatus</i></p> + +<p>IMPRIMATUR:</p> + +<p class="indent"><img src="images/cross.jpg" alt="A cross">JOHN CARD. FARLEY<br> + Archbishop of New York</p> + +<p>March 21st, 1918</p> + + +<br><br> +<p align="center">Printed in the United States of America</p> +<br><br> +<br><br> + + +<h1><a name="1">PREFACE</a></h1> + +<p>In English-speaking countries the Church has been at a disadvantage in the way in +which she has had to expound her doctrine, for she has been forced for many years to +limit her attention just to those parts of her teaching wherein the Protestant bodies +parted company from her. Without any desire to stir up barren controversy, she has +naturally in self-defence been at pains most precisely to define those portions of her +gospel most likely to be misunderstood. This has resulted, unfortunately, in her +leaving in the background the other mysteries of faith, often richer in themselves, +more helpful to her children. Now, however, that she is becoming more able to realize +herself to the modern world, an opportunity opens for explaining hidden doctrines, of +which the value to the Catholic in the development of his inner life is considerable. +</p><p> +It is to further this development that these meditations have been drawn up, since +hardly anything can render us more sensible of our worth and Christian dignity than +does the teaching of Our Lord on the indwelling of the Spirit of God. Cardinal Manning +has indeed made this the subject of two volumes, <i>The Internal Working of the Holy +Ghost</i> and <i>The Temporal Mission of the Holy Ghost</i>, which are still +obtainable, and there are also such books as <i>Sermons on the Holy Ghost</i> +(Cathedral Library Association). +</p><p>But as yet in English there is no such direct exposition of Catholic teaching +as Père Barthélemy Froget, O. P., has attempted in his <i>De l'Inhabitation +du S. Esprit dans les ames justes</i> (Lethielleux, Paris, 1890). Like nearly all the +doctrinal works of French origin, this treatise seems at times to suppose among the +laity a deeper knowledge of the rudiments of scholastic philosophy than usually +obtains among us, though the author has endeavored to help this out by occasional +notes or explanations. To avoid this difficulty (which a mere translation would not +lessen, but increase), the material of the book has been rearranged in a series of +meditations which will, it is hoped, bring out in an easier form what might otherwise +be too abstruse to be of general interest. +</p><p> +The wonderful beauty of the Church's teaching on this abiding presence of the Holy +Ghost, while it deepens our acquaintance with His mysterious governance of the +universe and discovers to us the hidden beauties of our soul's life, should bring also +its measure of comfort, for whatever makes us conscious of the intimacy of God's +dealing with us lessens life's greatest trouble, its loneliness. +</p><p class="indent2">BEDE JARRETT, O. P.</p> +<p class="indent">THE RECTORY OF OUR LADY OF LOURDES,</p> +<p><i>New York, February</i> 11, 1918</p> +<br><br> + +<h1>TABLE OF CONTENTS</h1> + +<p> +<a href="#1">PREFACE +</a><br><a href="#2">ENCYCLICAL LETTER OF LEO XIII, 9TH MAY, 1897 +</a><br><a href="#3">GOD'S PRESENCE +</a><br><a href="#4">DEGREES OF GOD'S PRESENCE +</a><br><a href="#5">GOD'S SPECIAL PRESENCE IN THE JUST +</a><br><a href="#6">NATURE OF THIS PRESENCE +</a><br><a href="#7">MODE OF THIS PRESENCE, KNOWLEDGE +</a><br><a href="#8">MODE OF THIS PRESENCE, LOVE +</a><br><a href="#9">THIS PRESENCE IS OF THE SAME NATURE AS THAT IN HEAVEN +</a><br><a href="#10">THIS PRESENCE COMMON TO THE WHOLE TRINITY +</a><br><a href="#11">THIS PRESENCE HAS CERTAIN EFFECTS +</a><br><a href="#12">FORGIVENESS OF SIN +</a><br><a href="#13">JUSTIFICATION +</a><br><a href="#14">DEIFICATION +</a><br><a href="#15">ADOPTED SONSHIP +</a><br><a href="#16">HEIRS OF GOD +</a><br><a href="#17">GUIDANCE IN SPIRITUAL LIFE +</a><br><a href="#18">GIFTS OF THE SPIRIT +</a><br><a href="#19">BEATITUDES +</a><br><a href="#20">FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT +</a><br><a href="#21">KNOWLEDGE +</a><br><a href="#22">UNDERSTANDING +</a><br><a href="#23">WISDOM +</a><br><a href="#24">COUNSEL +</a><br><a href="#25">FORTITUDE +</a><br><a href="#26">PIETY +</a><br><a href="#27">FEAR OF THE LORD +</a><br><a href="#28">GRACE</a> +</p> +<br><br> + +<h1>THE ABIDING PRESENCE +<br>OF THE HOLY GHOST +<br>IN THE SOUL</h1> +<br><br> + +<h2><a name="2">ENCYCLICAL</a> LETTER FOR PENTECOST, 1897 <sup><a +href="#trans">1</a></sup></h2> + +<h3> TO OUR VENERABLE BRETHREN,<br> +THE PATRIARCHS, PRIMATES, ARCHBISHOPS,<br> +BISHOPS, AND OTHER LOCAL ORDINARIES<br> +HAVING PEACE AND COMMUNION WITH THE<br> +HOLY SEE</h3> + +<h2>LEO XIII, POPE</h2> +<br> + +<p><a name="trans"><sup>1</sup></a> This translation is the official form that +appeared in the London <i>Tablet</i>, June 5, 1897.</p> +<br> + +<p><font size="+1">VENERABLE BRETHREN,<br> +HEALTH AND APOSTOLIC BENEDICTION</font></p> + +<p>That divine office which Jesus Christ received from His Father for the welfare of +mankind, and most perfectly fulfilled, had for its final object to put men in +possession of the eternal life of glory, and proximately during the course of ages to +secure to them the life of divine grace, which is destined eventually to blossom into +the life of heaven. Wherefore, our Saviour never ceases to invite, with infinite +affection, all men, of every race and tongue, into the bosom of His Church: "Come ye +all to Me," "I am the Life," "I am the Good Shepherd." Nevertheless, according to His +inscrutable counsels, He did not will entirely to complete and finish this office +Himself on earth, but as He had received it from the Father, so He transmitted it for +its completion to the Holy Ghost. It is consoling to recall those assurances which +Christ gave to the body of His disciples a little before He left the earth: "It is +expedient to you that I go: for if I go not, the Paraclete will not come to you: but +if I go, I will send Him to you" (1 John 16.7). In these words He gave as the chief +reason of His departure and His return to the Father, the advantage which would most +certainly accrue to His followers from the coming of the Holy Ghost, and, at the same +time, He made it clear that the Holy Ghost is equally sent by—and therefore +proceeds from—Himself and the Father; that He would complete, in His office of +Intercessor, Consoler, and Teacher, the work which Christ Himself had begun in His +mortal life. For, in the redemption of the world, the completion of the work was by +Divine Providence reserved to the manifold power of that Spirit who, in the creation, +"adorned the heavens" (Job 26.13), and "filled the whole world" (Wisdom 1.7).</p> + +<p align="center">THE TWO PRINCIPAL AIMS OF OUR PONTIFICATE</p> + + +<p>Now We have earnestly striven, by the help of His grace, to follow the example of +Christ, Our Saviour, the Prince of Pastors, and the Bishop of our Souls, by diligently +carrying on His office, entrusted by Him to the Apostles and chiefly to Peter, "whose +dignity faileth not, even in his unworthy successor" (St. Leo the Great, Sermon 2, On +the Anniversary of his Election). In pursuance of this object We have endeavored to +direct all that We have attempted and persistently carried out during a long +pontificate towards two chief ends: in the first place, towards the restoration, both +in rulers and peoples, of the principles of the Christian life in civil and domestic +society, since there is no true life for men except from Christ; and, secondly, to +promote the reunion of those who have fallen away from the Catholic Church either by +heresy or by schism, since it is most undoubtedly the will of Christ that all should +be united in one flock under one Shepherd. But now that We are looking forward to the +approach of the closing days of Our life, Our soul is deeply moved to dedicate to the +Holy Ghost, who is the life-giving Love, all the work We have done during Our +pontificate, that He may bring it to maturity and fruitfulness. In order the better +and more fully to carry out this Our intention, We have resolved to address you at the +approaching sacred season of Pentecost concerning the indwelling and miraculous power +of the Holy Ghost; and the extent and efficiency of His action, both in the whole body +of the Church and in the individual souls of its members, through the glorious +abundance of His divine graces. We earnestly desire that, as a result, faith may be +aroused in your minds concerning the mystery of the adorable Trinity, and especially +that piety may increase and be inflamed towards the Holy Ghost, to whom especially all +of us owe the grace of following the paths of truth and virtue; for, as St. Basil +said, "Who denieth that the dispensations concerning man, which have been made by the +great God and our Saviour, Jesus Christ, according to the goodness of God, have been +fulfilled through the grace of the Spirit?" (Of the Holy Ghost, c. 16, v. 39.)</p> +<p align="center">THE CATHOLIC DOCTRINE OF THE BLESSED TRINITY</p> +<p>Before we enter upon this subject, it will be both desirable and useful to say a +few words about the Mystery of the Blessed Trinity. This dogma is called by the +doctors of the Church "the substance of the New Testament," that is to say, the +greatest of all mysteries, since it is the fountain and origin of them all. In order +to know and contemplate this mystery, the angels were created in Heaven and men upon +earth. In order to teach more fully this mystery, which was but foreshadowed in the +Old Testament, God Himself came down from the angels unto men: "No man hath seen God +at any time; the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He hath +declared Him" (John 1.18). Whosoever then writes or speaks of the Trinity must keep +before his eyes the prudent warning of the Angelic Doctor: "When we speak of the +Trinity, we must do so with caution and modesty, for, as St. Augustine saith, nowhere +else are more dangerous errors made, or is research more difficult, or discovery more +fruitful" (<i>Summ. Th.</i> 1a, q. 31. <i>De Trin.</i> 1. 1, c. 3). The danger that +arises is lest the Divine Persons be confounded one with the other in faith or +worship, or lest the one Nature in them be separated: for "This is the Catholic Faith, +that we should adore one God in Trinity and Trinity in Unity." Therefore Our +predecessor Innocent XII absolutely refused the petition of those who desired a +special festival in honor of God the Father. For, although the separate mysteries +connected with the Incarnate Word are celebrated on certain fixed days, yet there is +no special feast on which the Word is honored according to His Divine Nature alone. +And even the Feast of Pentecost was instituted in the earliest times, not simply to +honor the Holy Ghost in Himself, but to commemorate His coming, or His external +mission. And all this has been wisely ordained, lest from distinguishing the Persons +men should be led to distinguish the Divine Essence. Moreover, the Church, in order to +preserve in her children the purity of faith, instituted the Feast of the Most Holy +Trinity, which John XXII afterwards extended to the Universal Church. He also +permitted altars and churches to be dedicated to the Blessed Trinity, and, with the +divine approval, sanctioned the Order for the Ransom of Captives, which is specially +devoted to the Blessed Trinity and bears Its name. Many facts confirm this truth. The +worship paid to the saints and angels, to the Mother of God, and to Christ Himself, +finally redounds to the honor of the Blessed Trinity. In prayers addressed to one +Person, there is also mention of the others; in the litanies after the individual +Persons have been separately invoked, a common invocation of all is added: all psalms +and hymns conclude with the doxology to the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; blessings, +sacred rites, and sacraments are either accompanied or concluded by the invocation of +the Blessed Trinity. This was already foreshadowed by the Apostle in those words: "For +of Him, and by Him, and in Him, are all things: to Him be glory for ever" (Rom. +11.36), thereby signifying both the Trinity of Persons and the Unity of Nature: for as +this is one and the same in each of the Persons, so to each is equally owing supreme +glory, as to one and the same God. St. Augustine, commenting upon this testimony, +writes: "The words of the Apostle, <i>of Him, and by Him, and in Him</i>, are not to +be taken indiscriminately; <i>of Him</i> refers to the Father, <i>by Him</i> to the +Son, <i>in Him</i> to the Holy Ghost" (<i>De Trin</i>. 1. vi, c. 10; 1. i, c. 6). The +Church is accustomed most fittingly to attribute to the Father those works of the +Divinity in which power excels, to the Son those in which wisdom excels, and those in +which love excels to the Holy Ghost. Not that all perfections and external operations +are not common to the Divine Persons; for "the operations of the Trinity are +indivisible, even as the essence of the Trinity is indivisible" (St. Aug. <i>De +Trin</i>., 1. 1, cc. 4-5); because as the three Divine Persons "are inseparable, so do +they act inseparably" (St. Aug., <i>ib</i>). But by a certain comparison, and a kind +of affinity between the operations and the properties of the Persons, these operations +are attributed or, as it is said, "appropriated" to One Person rather than to the +others. "Just as we make use of the traces of similarity or likeness which we find in +creatures for the manifestation of the Divine Persons, so do we use Their essential +attributes; and this manifestation of the Persons by Their essential attributes is +called <i>appropriation</i>" (St. Th. 1a, q. 39, xxxix, a. 7). In this manner the +Father, who is "the principle of the whole God-head" (St. Aug., <i>De Trin</i>., 1. +iv, c. 20), is also the efficient cause of all things, of the Incarnation of the Word, +and the sanctification of souls; "of Him are all things": <i>of Him</i>, referring to +the Father. But the Son, the Word, the Image of God, is also the exemplar cause, +whence all creatures borrow their form and beauty, their order and harmony. He is for +us the Way, the Truth, and the Life; the Reconciler of man with God. "By Him are all +things": <i>by Him</i>, referring to the Son. The Holy Ghost is the ultimate cause of +all things, since, as the will and all other things finally rest in their end, so He, +who is the Divine Goodness and the Mutual Love of the Father and Son, completes and +perfects, by His strong yet gentle power, the secret work of man's eternal salvation. +"In Him are all things": <i>in Him</i>, referring to the Holy Ghost.</p> +<p align="center">THE HOLY GHOST AND THE INCARNATION</p> +<p>Having thus paid due tribute of faith and worship owing to the Blessed Trinity, +which ought to be more and more inculcated upon the Christian people, we now turn to +the exposition of the power of the Holy Ghost. And, first of all, we must look to +Christ, the Founder of the Church and the Redeemer of our race. Among the external +operations of God, the highest of all is the mystery of the Incarnation of the Word, +in which the splendor of the divine perfections shines forth so brightly that nothing +more sublime can even be imagined, nothing else could have been more salutary to the +human race. Now this work, although belonging to the whole Trinity, is still +appropriated especially to the Holy Ghost, so that the Gospels thus speak of the +Blessed Virgin: "She was found with child of the Holy Ghost," and "that which is +conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost" (Matt. 1.18, 20). And this is rightly +attributed to Him who is the love of the Father and the Son, since this "great mystery +of piety" (1 Tim. 3.16) proceeds from the infinite love of God towards man, as St. +John tells us: "God so loved the world as to give His only begotten Son" (John 3.16). +Moreover, human nature was thereby elevated to a <i>personal</i> union with the Word; +and this dignity is given, not on account of any merits, but entirely and absolutely +through grace, and therefore, as it were, through the special gift of the Holy Ghost. +On this point St. Augustine writes: "This manner in which Christ was born of the Holy +Ghost, indicates to us the grace of God, by which humanity, with no antecedent merits, +at the first moment of its existence, was united with the Word of God, by so intimate +a personal union, that He, who was the Son of Man, was also the Son of God, and He who +was the Son of God was also the Son of Man" (<i>Enchir</i>., c. xl; St. Th., 3a, q. +xxxii, a. 1). By the operation of the Holy Spirit, not only was the conception of +Christ accomplished, but also the sanctification of His soul, which, in Holy +Scripture, is called His "anointing" (Acts 10.38). Wherefore all His actions were +"performed in the Holy Ghost" (St. Basil <i>de Sp. S</i>., c. xvi), and especially the +sacrifice of Himself: "Christ, through the Holy Ghost, offered Himself without spot to +God" (Heb. 9.14). Considering this, no one can be surprised that all the gifts of the +Holy Ghost inundated the soul of Christ. In Him resided the absolute fullness of +grace, in the greatest and most efficacious manner possible; in Him were all the +treasures of wisdom and knowledge, graces <i>gratis datae</i>, virtues, and all other +gifts foretold in the prophecies of Isaias (Is. 4.1, 11.23), and also signified in +that miraculous dove which appeared at the Jordan, when Christ, by His baptism, +consecrated its waters for a new sacrament. On this the words of St. Augustine may +appropriately be quoted: "It would be absurd to say that Christ received the Holy +Ghost when He was already thirty years of age, for He came to His baptism without sin, +and therefore not without the Holy Ghost. At this time, then (that is, at His +baptism), He was pleased to prefigure His Church, in which those especially who are +baptized receive the Holy Ghost" (<i>De Trin</i>., 1. xv, c. 26). Therefore, by the +conspicuous apparition of the Holy Ghost over Christ and by His invisible power in His +soul, the twofold mission of the Spirit is foreshadowed, namely, His outward and +visible mission in the Church, and His secret indwelling in the souls of the just.</p> +<p align="center">THE HOLY GHOST AND THE CHURCH</p> +<p>The Church which, already conceived, came forth from the side of the second Adam in +His sleep on the Cross, first showed herself before the eyes of men on the great day +of Pentecost. On that day the Holy Ghost began to manifest His gifts in the mystic +body of Christ, by that miraculous outpouring already foreseen by the prophet Joel +(2.28-29), for the Paraclete "sat upon the apostles as though new spiritual crowns +were placed upon their heads in tongues of fire" (S. Cyril Hier. <i>Catech</i>. 17). +Then the apostles "descended from the mountain," as St. John Chrysostom writes, "not +bearing in their hands tables of stone like Moses, but carrying the Spirit in their +mind, and pouring forth the treasure and the fountain of doctrines and graces" (<i>In +Matt</i>. Hom. I, 2 Cor. 3.3). Thus was fully accomplished that last promise of Christ +to His apostles of sending the Holy Ghost, who was to complete and, as it were, to +seal the deposit of doctrine committed to them under His inspiration. "I have yet many +things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now; but when He, the Spirit of Truth, +shall come, He will teach you all truth" (John 16.12- 13). For He who is the Spirit of +Truth, inasmuch as He proceedeth both from the Father, who is the eternally True, and +from the Son, who is the substantial Truth, receiveth from each both His essence and +the fullness of all truth. This truth He communicates to His Church, guarding her by +His all powerful help from ever falling into error, and aiding her to foster daily +more and more the germs of divine doctrine and to make them fruitful for the welfare +of the peoples. And since the welfare of the peoples, for which the Church was +established, absolutely requires that this office should be continued for all time, +the Holy Ghost perpetually supplies life and strength to preserve and increase the +Church. "I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Paraclete, that He may +abide with you for ever, the Spirit of Truth" (John 16. 16, 17).</p> +<p>By Him the bishops are constituted, and by their ministry are multiplied not only +the children, but also the fathers that is to say, the priests to rule and feed the +Church by that Blood wherewith Christ has redeemed Her. "The Holy Ghost hath placed +you bishops to rule the Church of God, which He hath purchased with His own Blood" +(Acts 20. 28). And both bishops and priests, by the miraculous gift of the Spirit, +have the power of absolving sins, according to those words of Christ to the Apostles: +"Receive ye the Holy Ghost; whose sins you shall forgive they are forgiven them, and +whose sins you shall retain they are retained" (John 20.22, 23). That the Church is a +divine institution is most clearly proved by the splendor and glory of those gifts +with which she is adorned, and whose author and giver is the Holy Ghost. Let it +suffice to state that, as Christ is the Head of the Church, so is the Holy Ghost her +soul. "What the soul is in our body, that is the Holy Ghost in Christ's body, the +Church" (St. Aug., <i>Serm</i>. 187, <i>de Temp</i>.). This being so, no further and +fuller "manifestation and revelation of the Divine Spirit" may be imagined or +expected; for that which now takes place in the Church is the most perfect possible, +and will last until that day when the Church herself, having passed through her +militant career, shall be taken up into the joy of the saints triumphing in +heaven.</p> +<p align="center">THE HOLY GHOST IN THE SOULS OF THE JUST</p> +<p>The manner and extent of the action of the Holy Ghost in individual souls is no +less wonderful, although somewhat more difficult to understand, inasmuch as it is +entirely invisible. This outpouring of the Spirit is so abundant, that Christ Himself, +from whose gift it proceeds, compares it to an overflowing river, according to those +words of St. John: "He that believeth in Me, as the Scripture saith, out of his midst +shall flow rivers of living water"; to which testimony the Evangelist adds the +explanation: "Now this He said of the Spirit which they should receive who believed in +Him" (John 7.38, 39). It is indeed true that in those of the just who lived before +Christ, the Holy Ghost resided by grace, as we read in the Scriptures concerning the +prophets, Zachary, John the Baptist, Simeon, and Anna; so that on Pentecost the Holy +Ghost did not communicate Himself in such a way "as then for the first time to begin +to dwell in the saints, but by pouring Himself forth more abundantly; crowning, not +beginning His gifts; not commencing a new work, but giving more abundantly" (St. Leo +the Great, Hom. iii, <i>de Pentec</i>.). But if they also were numbered among the +children of God, they were in a state like that of servants, for "as long as the heir +is a child he differeth nothing from a servant, but is under tutors and governors" +(Gal. 4.1, 2). Moreover, not only was their justice derived from the merits of Christ +who was to come, but the communication of the Holy Ghost after Christ was much more +abundant, just as the price surpasses in value the earnest and the reality excels the +image. Wherefore St. John declares: "As yet the Spirit was not given, because Jesus +was not yet glorified" (John 7.39). So soon, therefore, as Christ, "ascending on +high," entered into possession of the glory of His Kingdom which He had won with so +much labor, He munificently opened out the treasures of the Holy Ghost: "He gave gifts +to men" (Eph. 4.8). For "that giving or sending forth of the Holy Ghost after Christ's +glorification was to be such as had never been before; not that there had been none +before, but it had not been of the same kind" (St. Aug., <i>De Trin</i>., 1. iv, c. +20).</p> +<p>Human nature is by necessity the servant of God: "The creature is a servant; we are +the servants of God by nature" (St. Cyr. Alex., <i>Thesaur</i>., 1. v, c. 5). On +account, however, of original sin, our whole nature had fallen into such guilt and +dishonor that we had become enemies of God. "We were by nature the children of wrath" +(Eph. 2.3). There was no power which could raise us and deliver us from this ruin and +eternal destruction. But God, the Creator of mankind and infinitely merciful, did this +through His only begotten Son, by whose benefit it was brought about that man was +restored to that rank and dignity whence he had fallen, and was adorned with still +more abundant graces. No one can express the greatness of this work of divine grace in +the souls of men. Wherefore, both in Holy Scripture and in the writings of the +fathers, men are styled regenerated, new creatures, partakers of the Divine Nature, +children of God, godlike, and similar epithets. Now these great blessings are justly +attributed as especially belonging to the Holy Ghost. He is "the Spirit of adoption of +sons, whereby we cry: Abba, Father." He fills our hearts with the sweetness of +paternal love: "The Spirit Himself giveth testimony to our spirit that we are the sons +of God" (Rom. 8.15, 16). This truth accords with the similitude observed by the +Angelic Doctor between both operations of the Holy Ghost; for through Him "Christ was +conceived in holiness to be by nature the Son of God," and "others are sanctified to +be the sons of God by adoption" (St. Th. 3a, q. xxxii, a. 1). This spiritual +generation proceeds from love in a much more noble manner than the natural: namely, +from the uncreated Love.</p> +<p>The beginnings of this regeneration and renovation of man are by Baptism. In this +sacrament, when the unclean spirit has been expelled from the soul, the Holy Ghost +enters in and makes it like to Himself. "That which is born of the Spirit, is spirit" +(John 3.6). The same Spirit gives Himself more abundantly in Confirmation, +strengthening and confirming Christian life; from which proceeded the victory of the +martyrs and the triumph of the virgins over temptations and corruptions. We have said +that the Holy Ghost gives Himself: "the charity of God is poured out into our hearts +by the Holy Ghost who is given to us" (Rom. 5.5). For He not only brings to us His +divine gifts, but is the Author of them and is Himself the supreme Gift, who, +proceeding from the mutual love of the Father and the Son, is justly believed to be +and is called "Gift of God most High." To show the nature and efficacy of this gift it +is well to recall the explanation given by the doctors of the Church of the words of +Holy Scripture. They say that God is present and exists in all things, "by His power, +in so far as all things are subject to His power; by His presence, inasmuch as all +things are naked and open to His eyes; by His essence, inasmuch as He is present to +all as the cause of their being" (St. Th. 1a, q. viii, a. 3). But God is in man, not +only as in inanimate things, but because He is more fully known and loved by him, +since even by nature we spontaneously love, desire, and seek after the good. Moreover, +God by grace resides in the just soul as in a temple, in a most intimate and peculiar +manner. From this proceeds that union of affection by which the soul adheres most +closely to God, more so than the friend is united to his most loving and beloved +friend, and enjoys God in all fullness and sweetness. Now this wonderful union, which +is properly called "indwelling," differing only in degree or state from that with +which God beatifies the saints in heaven, although it is most certainly produced by +the presence of the whole Blessed Trinity—"We will come to Him and make our +abode with Him" (John 14.23)—nevertheless is attributed in a peculiar manner to +the Holy Ghost. For, whilst traces of divine power and wisdom appear even in the +wicked man, charity, which, as it were, is the special mark of the Holy Ghost, is +shared in only by the just. In harmony with this, the same Spirit is called Holy, for +He, the first and supreme Love, moves souls and leads them to sanctity, which +ultimately consists in the love of God. Wherefore the apostle, when calling us the +temple of God, does not expressly mention the Father or the Son, but the Holy Ghost: +"Know ye not that your members are the temple of the Holy Ghost, who is in you, whom +you have from God?" (1 Cor. 6.19). The fullness of divine gifts is in many ways a +consequence of the indwelling of the Holy Ghost in the souls of the just. For, as St. +Thomas teaches, "when the Holy Ghost proceedeth as love, He proceedeth in the +character of the first gift; whence St. Augustine saith that, through the gift which +is the Holy Ghost, many other special gifts are distributed among the members of +Christ" (Summ. Th., 1a, q. xxxviii, a. 2. St. Aug., <i>de Trin</i>., 1. xv, c. 19). +Among these gifts are those secret warnings and invitations, which from time to time +are excited in our minds and hearts by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost. Without +these there is no beginning of a good life, no progress, no arriving at eternal +salvation. And since these words and admonitions are uttered in the soul in an +exceedingly secret manner, they are sometimes aptly compared in Holy Writ to the +breathing of a coming breeze, and the Angelic Doctor likens them to the movements of +the heart which are wholly hidden in the living body. "Thy heart has a certain hidden +power, and therefore the Holy Ghost, who invisibly vivifies and unites the Church, is +compared to the heart" (<i>Summ. Th</i>., 3a, q. vii, a. 1, ad 3). More than this, the +just man, that is to say, he who lives the life of divine grace, and acts by the +fitting virtues as by means of faculties, has need of those seven <i>gifts</i> which +are properly attributed to the Holy Ghost. By means of them the soul is furnished and +strengthened so as to be able to obey more easily and promptly His voice and impulse. +Wherefore these gifts are of such efficacy that they lead the just man to the highest +degree of sanctity; and of such excellence that they continue to exist even in heaven, +though in a more perfect way. By means of these gifts the soul is excited and +encouraged to seek after and attain the evangelical beatitudes, which, like the +flowers that come forth in the spring time, are the signs and harbingers of eternal +beatitude. Lastly, there are those blessed <i>fruits</i>, enumerated by the Apostle +(Gal. 5.22), which the Spirit, even in this mortal life, produces and shows forth in +the just; fruits filled with all sweetness and joy, inasmuch as they proceed from the +Spirit, "who is in the Trinity the sweetness of both Father and Son, filling all +creatures with infinite fullness and profusion" (St. Aug. <i>de Trin</i>., 1. vi, c. +9). The Divine Spirit, proceeding from the Father and the Word in the eternal light of +sanctity, Himself both Love and Gift, after having manifested Himself through the +veils of figures in the Old Testament, poured forth all His fullness upon Christ and +upon His mystic Body, the Church; and called back by His presence and grace men who +were going away in wickedness and corruption with such salutary effect that, being no +longer of the earth earthy, they relished and desired quite other things, becoming of +heaven heavenly.</p> +<p align="center">ON DEVOTION TO THE HOLY GHOST</p> +<p>These sublime truths, which so clearly show forth the infinite goodness of the Holy +Ghost towards us, certainly demand that we should direct towards Him the highest +homage of our love and devotion. Christians may do this most effectually if they will +daily strive to know Him, to love Him, and to implore Him more earnestly; for which +reason may this Our exhortation, flowing spontaneously from a paternal heart, reach +their ears. Perchance there are still to be found among them, even nowadays, some who, +if asked, as were those of old by St. Paul the Apostle, whether they have received the +Holy Ghost, might answer in like manner: "We have not so much as heard whether there +be a Holy Ghost" (Acts 19.2). At least there are certainly many who are very deficient +in their knowledge of Him. They frequently use His name in their religious practices, +but their faith is involved in much darkness. Wherefore all preachers and those having +care of souls should remember that it is their duty to instruct their people more +diligently and more fully about the Holy Ghost—avoiding, however, difficult and +subtle controversies, and eschewing the dangerous folly of those who rashly endeavor +to pry into divine mysteries. What should be chiefly dwelt upon and clearly explained +is the multitude and greatness of the benefits which have been bestowed, and are +constantly bestowed, upon us by this Divine Giver, so that errors and ignorance +concerning matters of such moment may be entirely dispelled, as unworthy of "the +children of light." We urge this, not only because it affects a mystery by which we +are directly guided to eternal life, and which must therefore be firmly believed; but +also because the more clearly and fully the good is known the more earnestly it is +loved. Now we owe to the Holy Ghost, as we mentioned in the second place, love, +because He is God: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with +thy whole soul, and with thy whole strength" (Deut. 6.5). He is also to be loved +because He is the substantial, eternal, primal Love, and nothing is more lovable than +love. And this all the more because He has overwhelmed us with the greatest benefits, +which both testify to the benevolence of the Giver and claim the gratitude of the +receiver. This love has a twofold and most conspicuous utility. In the first place, it +will excite us to acquire daily a clearer knowledge about the Holy Ghost; for, as the +Angelic Doctor says, "the lover is not content with the superficial knowledge of the +beloved, but striveth to inquire intimately into all that appertains to the beloved, +and thus to penetrate into the interior; as is said of the Holy Ghost, Who is the Love +of God, that He searcheth even the profound things of God" (1 Cor. 2.19; <i>Summ. +Theol</i>., 1a, 2ae, q. 28, a. 2). In the second place, it will obtain for us a still +more abundant supply of heavenly gifts; for whilst a narrow heart contracteth the hand +of the giver, a grateful and mindful heart causeth it to expand. Yet we must strive +that this love should be of such a nature as not to consist merely in dry speculations +or external observances, but rather to run forward towards action, and especially to +fly from sin, which is in a more special manner offensive to the Holy Spirit. For +whatever we are, that we are by the divine goodness; and this goodness is specially +attributed to the Holy Ghost. The sinner offends this his Benefactor, abusing His +gifts; and taking advantage of His goodness becomes more hardened in sin day by day. +Again, since He is the Spirit of Truth, whosoever faileth by weakness or ignorance may +perhaps have some excuse before Almighty God; but he who resists the truth through +malice and turns away from it, sins most grievously against the Holy Ghost. In our +days this sin has become so frequent that those dark times seem to have come which +were foretold by St. Paul, in which men, blinded by the just judgment of God, should +take falsehood for truth, and should believe in "the prince of this world," who is a +liar and the father thereof, as a teacher of truth: "God shall send them the operation +of error, to believe lying" (2 Thess. 2.10). "In the last times some shall depart from +the faith, giving heed to spirits of error and the doctrines of devils" (1 Tim. 4.1). +But since the Holy Ghost, as We have said, dwells in us as in His temple, We must +repeat the warning of the Apostle: "Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby you are +sealed" (Eph. 4.30). Nor is it enough to fly from sin; every Christian ought to shine +with the splendor of virtue so as to be pleasing to so great and so beneficent a +guest; and first of all with chastity and holiness, for chaste and holy things befit +the temple. Hence the words of the Apostle: "Know you not that you are the temple of +God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? But if any man violate the temple of +God, him shall God destroy. For the temple of God is holy, which you are" (1 Cor. +3.16-17): a terrible, indeed, but a just warning.</p> +<p>Lastly, we ought to pray to and invoke the Holy Spirit, for each one of us greatly +needs His protection and His help. The more a man is deficient in wisdom, weak in +strength, borne down with trouble, prone to sin, so ought he the more to fly to Him +who is the never-ceasing fount of light, strength, consolation, and holiness. And +chiefly that first requisite of man, the forgiveness of sins, must be sought for from +Him: "It is the special character of the Holy Ghost that He is the Gift of the Father +and the Son. Now the remission of sins is given by the Holy Ghost as by the Gift of +God" (<i>Summ. Th</i>., 3a, q. iii, a. 8, ad 3m). Concerning this Spirit the words of +the Liturgy are very explicit: "For He is the remission of all sins" (Roman Missal, +Tuesday after Pentecost). How He should be invoked is clearly taught by the Church, +who addresses Him in humble supplication, calling upon Him by the sweetest of names: +"Come, Father of the poor! Come, Giver of gifts! Come, Light of our hearts! O, best of +Consolers, sweet Guest of the soul, our refreshment!" (Hymn, <i>Veni Sancte +Spiritus</i>). She earnestly implores Him to wash, heal, water our minds and hearts, +and to give to us who trust in Him "the merit of virtue, the acquirement of salvation, +and joy everlasting." Nor can it be in any way doubted that He will listen to such +prayer, since we read the words written by His own inspiration: "The Spirit Himself +asketh for us with unspeakable groanings" (Rom. 8.26). Lastly, we ought confidently +and continually to beg of Him to illuminate us daily more and more with His light and +inflame us with His charity: for, thus inspired with faith and love, we may press +onward earnestly towards our eternal reward, since He "is the pledge of our +inheritance" (Eph. 1.14).</p> +<p>Such, Venerable Brethren, are the teachings and exhortations which We have seen +good to utter, in order to stimulate devotion to the Holy Ghost. We have no doubt +that, chiefly by means of your zeal and earnestness, they will bear abundant fruit +among Christian peoples. We Ourselves shall never in the future fail to labor towards +so important an end; and it is even Our intention, in whatever ways may appear +suitable, to further cultivate and extend this admirable work of piety. Meanwhile, as +two years ago, in Our Letter <i>Provida Matris</i>, We recommended to Catholics +special prayers at the Feast of Pentecost, for the Reunion of Christendom, so now We +desire to make certain further decrees on the same subject.</p> +<p align="center">AN ANNUAL NOVENA DECEEED</p> +<p>Wherefore, We decree and command that throughout the whole Catholic Church, this +year and in every subsequent year, a Novena shall take place before Whit-Sunday, in +all parish churches, and also, if the local Ordinaries think fit, in other churches +and oratories. To all who take part in this Novena and duly pray for Our intention, We +shall grant for each day an Indulgence of seven years and seven quarantines; moreover, +a Plenary Indulgence on any one of the days of the Novena, or on Whit-Sunday itself, +or on any day during the Octave; provided they shall have received the Sacraments of +Penance and the Holy Eucharist, and devoutly prayed for Our intention. We will that +those who are legitimately prevented from attending the Novena, or who are in places +where the devotions cannot, in the judgment of the Ordinary, be conveniently carried +out in church, shall equally enjoy the same benefits, provided they make the Novena +privately and observe the other conditions. Moreover, We are pleased to grant, in +perpetuity, from the Treasury of the Church, that whosoever, daily, during the Octave +of Pentecost up to Trinity Sunday inclusive, offer again publicly or privately any +prayers, according to their devotion, to the Holy Ghost, and satisfy the above +conditions, shall a second time gain each of the same Indulgences. All these +Indulgences We also permit to be applied to the suffrage of the souls in +Purgatory.</p> +<p>And now Our mind and heart turn back to those hopes with which We began, and for +the accomplishment of which We earnestly pray, and will continue to pray, to the Holy +Ghost. Unite, then, Venerable Brethren, your prayers with Ours, and at your +exhortation let all Christian peoples add their prayers also, invoking the powerful +and ever-acceptable intercession of the Blessed Virgin. You know well the intimate and +wonderful relations existing between her and the Holy Ghost, so that she is justly +called His Spouse. The intercession of the Blessed Virgin was of great avail both in +the mystery of the Incarnation and in the coming of the Holy Ghost upon the Apostles. +May she continue to strengthen our prayers with her suffrages, that, in the midst of +all the stress and trouble of the nations, those divine prodigies may be happily +revived by the Holy Ghost, which were foretold in the words of David: "Send forth Thy +Spirit and they shall be created, and Thou shalt renew the face of the earth" (Ps. +103.30).</p> +<p>As a pledge of Divine favor and a testimony of Our affection, Venerable Brethren, +to you, to your Clergy and people, We gladly impart in the Lord the Apostolic +Benediction.</p> +<p>Given at St. Peter's, in Rome, on the 9th day of May, 1897, in the 20th year of Our +Pontificate.</p> +<p class="indent3">LEO XIII, POPE.</p> + +<br><br><br> + +<h2><a name="3">GOD'S PRESENCE</a></h2> +<p>1. Scripture is very full of the idea of the nearness of God to His creation, the +Old Testament is alive with that inspiration, for there is hardly a chapter or verse +that does not insist upon that truth. Naturally the New Testament, teaching so +tenderly the Fatherhood of God, is even more explicit and more beautiful in its +references to this intimate relationship. To the Athenians, St. Paul can develop no +other point than this, and he finds in moving accents an eloquent appeal voiced by the +touching dedication of an altar to the <i>Unknown God</i>. Now this notion of God's +nearness to His world depends for its full appreciation on the central doctrine of +creation. He has made the world, in consequence it is impressed with His personality; +the more vigorous the artificer—the more vigorous that he is in character, will +and personality, the more is his work stamped with his individuality; hence, the +tremendous personality of God must be everywhere traceable in the things He has +made.</p> +<p>2. When we say God is everywhere, we mean that He is in all things because He made +all things. Not only does the whole world lie outstretched before His eye and is +governed by His power, but He Himself lurks at the heart of everything. By Him things +have come into existence, and so wholly is that existence of theirs His gift, that +were He to withdraw His support they would sink back into nothingness. It is a +perpetual remark about man's works that they outlast him. Organizations we have toiled +to establish outgrow our fostering care, perhaps grow tired of our interference and +long to be free of our regulations. Wordsworth tells how a monk in Spain, pointing to +the pictures on the walls of the monastery, which remained while the generations +looking at them passed away, judged: "We are the shadows, they the substance." But the +relationship established by creation is of a far greater dependence, so that nothing +God has made can exist without His support. Out of human acts it is only music that +bears some resemblance to this, for when the voice is silent there is no longer any +song. </p> +<p>3. God, then, is within all creation, because He is its cause. He is within every +stone and leaf and child. Nothing, with life or without, evil or good, can fail to +contain Him as the source of its energy, its power, its existence; He is "the soul's +soul." Not only, therefore, must I train myself to see with reverence that everything +contains Him, but I must especially realize His intimacy and relationship to myself. +Religion, indeed, in practice is little else than my personal expression of that +relationship. I have in my prayers, in my troubles, in my temptations, to turn to God, +not without but within, not to some one above me or beneath supporting me, but right +at the core of my being. I can trace up to its source every power of my soul, my +intelligence, my will, my love, my anger, my fear, and I shall find Him there. Nothing +but opens its doors to Him as innermost in its shrine. Wholly is God everywhere, not +as some immense being that with its hugeness fills the world, but as something that is +within every creature He has made.</p> +<br><br><br> +<h2><a name="4">DEGREES OF GOD'S PRESENCE</a></h2> +<p>1. God is intimate with all creation because He made it, for creation implies that +God remains within, supporting, upholding. God is within everything, and therefore He +is everywhere. But while we thus believe that God is wholly everywhere, we also +believe something which seems the exact opposite, for we believe that God is more in +some places than in others, more in some people than in others. How is it if God is +wholly everywhere that He can be more here than there? To understand this we must also +understand that every created thing shares somehow in God's being. He communicates +Himself to it in some fashion, for apart from Him it could have no perfections. We +have a way of saying that we reflect God's greatness and that we are "broken lights" +of Him. But that is far short of the truth; we do more than reflect, we actually have +some participation in God, so that St. Thomas boldly takes over a saying of Plato: +"The individual nature of a thing consists in the way it participates in the +perfections of God" (<i>Summa</i> 1, 14.6). Not, of course, that there is any +community of being, but a direct participation.</p> +<p>2. Now since everything participates in God and since some things are more +excellent than others, it stands to reason that some things express God better than +others. The eyes of a dog often are pitiful to see, because we can note its evident +desire and yet its impossibility to express its feelings. The whole of nature has to +seeing minds the same pitifulness. It is always endeavoring to express God, the +inexpressible. Yet the higher a thing is in the scale of being the more of God it +expresses, for it participates more in God's being. The more life a thing has and the +more freedom it acquires, then the nearer does it approach to God and the more +divinity it holds. Man, by his intelligence, his deeper and richer life, his finer +freedom, stands at the head of visible creation, and, in consequence, is more fully a +shrine of God than lower forms of life. He bears a closer resemblance to the Divine +intelligence and will and has a greater share in them. It is then in that sense that +we arrange in ascending order inanimate creation, the vegetable kingdom, the animal +kingdom, and man.</p> +<p>3. Consequently we can now see in what sense God is said to be more in one thing +than in another. He is more in it because He exercises Himself more in one thing than +in another; one thing expresses more than another the perfections of God because it +shares more deeply than another that inner being of God. The more nearly anything or +anyone is united to God the more does His power exercise itself in them, so that, +since God's gifts are variously distributed and are of various degrees, we are +justified in saying that though He is wholly everywhere, He may be more fully here +than there, just as, though my soul is in every part of my being, it is more perfectly +in the brain than elsewhere, because there it exercises itself more fully and with +more evidence of expression. Thus we say God is more in a man's soul than anywhere +else in creation, since in a man's soul God is more perfectly expressed. It is +therefore with great reverence that I should regard all creation, but with especial +reverence that I should look to the dignity of every human soul.</p> +<br><br><br> +<h2><a name="5">GOD'S SPECIAL PRESENCE IN THE JUST</a></h2> +<p>1. While God is in everything in creation, He dwells in the just by grace. +Scripture quite noticeably uses the word <i>dwelling</i> when it wishes to express the +particular way in which God is present in the souls of the just. He is in all things; +in the just He dwells. The same word actually is applied to the presence of God in the +souls of those in grace as is used when speaking of God's presence in the Temple. But +here again it is necessary to say that God's dwelling in the Temple never implied He +was not elsewhere, but did imply that somehow His presence in the Temple was quite +different from the way in which He was present elsewhere. Just then the same kind of +difference between the presence of God in all created nature and His presence in the +souls of the just is intended by the careful use in Scripture of the word dwelling, +viz., that God has, over and above His ordinary presence in every single created +thing, a further and especial presence in the hearts of those in friendship with Him +by grace, and this new presence is a fuller and richer presence whereby God's +excellencies and perfections are more openly displayed.</p> +<p>2. Another way in which the same idea is pressed home in the New Testament is by +the word <i>sent</i> or <i>given</i>. Frequently, in the last discourse of Our Lord on +the night before He suffered, He spoke to the Apostles of the Holy Spirit, the +Paraclete, the Comforter who was to be sent or given. Now, ordinarily, by using the +expression, "sending some one," we imply that now the person sent is where he was not +before, that he has passed from here to there. Obviously Our Lord cannot really mean +that only after His crucifixion and ascension would the Holy Ghost be found in the +hearts of the Apostles, for we have already insisted that in every creature there must +be, by virtue of its very creation, the Holy Spirit at the heart of it. Hence the only +possible meaning is that the Holy Spirit will descend upon the Apostles and become +present within them after some new fashion in which He was not before. "Because you +are His children God has sent into your hearts the spirit of His Son whereby you cry +Abba: Father" (Gal. 4.6). From the beginning the Holy Ghost had been within them; now +His presence there is new and productive of new effects.</p> +<p>3. By God's indwelling, then, effected by grace, the Holy Spirit now is present in +the soul differently from the way in which He is present by creation. By creation He +is wholly everywhere, yet more in the higher forms than in the lower, for He is able +to express more of Himself in them. Among these highest forms of visible creation, +namely, man, there are again degrees of His presence, so that even among men He is +more in one than in another. This gradation is in proportion to their grace. The more +holy and sanctified they become, the more does the Holy Spirit dwell in them, the more +fully is He sent, the more completely given, while the Book of Wisdom says expressly +that God does not dwell in sinners. As soon as I am in a state of grace the Holy Ghost +dwells in me in this new and wonderful way, takes up His presence in me in this new +fashion. It is precisely, then, by our faith and hope and love that this is effected, +so that the individual soul under God's own movement does help on this union of God +and man. In all the rest of creation God is present by His action; in the souls of the +just it is true to say that He is present by theirs.</p> +<br><br><br> +<h2><a name="6">NATURE OF THIS PRESENCE</a></h2> +<p>1. We have taken it for granted that God then is present somehow in the soul by +grace. We have now to consider what sort of a presence this really is. Do we mean +absolutely that God the Holy Ghost, is truly in the soul Himself, or do we, by some +metaphor or vague expression, mean that He is merely exerting Himself there in some +new and especial way? Perhaps it is only that by means of the sevenfold gifts He has +got a tighter hold of us and can bring us more completely under the sweet dominion of +His will. All that is true, but all that is not enough, for we do absolutely mean what +we say when we declare that by grace the Holy Spirit of God is present within the +soul. Scripture is exceedingly full of the truth of this and is always insisting on +this presence of the Holy Ghost. St. Paul, especially, notes it over and over again, +and in his epistle to the Romans repeats it in very forcible language: "But you are +not in the flesh but in the spirit, if so be that the spirit of God dwell in you" +(Romans 8.9), and he goes on in that same chapter to imply that this presence is a +part of grace.</p> +<p>2. To some it will seem curious to find that the Fathers of the Church in earliest +ages were not only convinced of the fact of this presence, but appealed triumphantly +to it as accepted even by heretics. When, in the early days, a long controversy raged +as to whether the Holy Ghost was really God or not, the Fathers argued that since this +indwelling of the Spirit was acknowledged on all hands, and since it was proper to +God only to dwell in the heart of man, the only possible conclusion was that the Holy +Ghost was Divine. The value of the argument is not here in question, but it is +interesting to find that this presence was so generally believed in as part of the +Christian Faith. In the acts of the martyrs, too, there are frequent references to +this, as when St. Lucy declared to the judge that the Spirit of God dwelt in her, and +that her body was in very truth the temple and shrine of God. Again, Eusebius relates +in his history that Leonidas, the father of Origen, used to kneel by the bedside of +the sleeping boy and devoutly and reverently kiss his breast as the tabernacle wherein +God dwelt. The child in his innocence and grace is indeed the fittest home on earth +for God.</p> +<p>3. This presence, then, of God in the soul is a real, true presence, as real and as +true as the presence of Our Lord Himself in the Blessed Sacrament of the Eucharist. We +look on all that mystery as very wonderful, and indeed it is, that day by day we can +be made one with God the Son by receiving His Body and Blood; we know the value to be +got out of visits to His hidden presence, the quiet and calm peace such visits produce +in our souls; yet so long as we are in a state of grace the same holds true of the +Holy Spirit within us. We are not indeed made one with the Holy Ghost in a substantial +union such as united together in the Sacred Incarnation God and man; nor is there any +overpowering of our personality so that it is swamped by a Divine Person, but we +retain it absolutely. The simplest comparison is our union with Our Lord in the Holy +Eucharist, wherein we receive Him really and truly and are made partakers of His +divinity. By grace, then, we receive really and truly God the Holy Ghost and are made +partakers of His divinity. If, then, we genuflect to the tabernacle in which the +Blessed Sacrament is reserved and treat our Communions as the most solemn moments of +our day, then equally we must hold in reverence every simple soul in a state of grace, +the souls of others and our own.</p> +<br><br><br> +<h2><a name="7">THE MODE OF THIS PRESENCE: OBJECT OF KNOWLEDGE</a></h2> +<p>1. The fact, then, of this presence has been established and its nature explained. +It is a real presence, a real union between the soul and God the Holy Ghost. We have, +however, a further point to elucidate, the mode whereby this presence is effected. Now +this is twofold in so far as this presence of the Spirit affects the mind and heart of +man. First, then, we take the knowledge of God that by this presence is generated in +the soul. By natural knowledge we can argue not only to the existence of God, but in +some way also to His nature. Not only do we know from the world which He has made that +He certainly must Himself have a true existence, but we can even, gradually and +carefully, though certainly with some vagueness, argue to God's own divine attributes. +His intelligence is evident, His power, His wisdom, His beauty, His providence, His +care for created nature. The pagans merely from the world about them painfully, and +after many years and with much admixture of error, could yet in the end have their +beautiful thoughts about God, and by some amazing instinct have stumbled upon truths +which Christianity came fully to establish. The writings of Plato and Aristotle, of +some Eastern teachers, of some of the Kings and priests of Egypt, are evidences of the +possibility of the natural knowledge about God.</p> +<p>2. Faith, then, came as something over and above the possibilities of nature, not +merely as regards the contents, but also as regards the kind of knowledge. Reason +argues to God, and, therefore, attains God indirectly. It is like getting an +application by letter from an unknown person and guessing his character from the +handwriting, the paper, the ink, the spelling, the style. Possibly by this means a +very fair estimate may be formed of his capacities and his fitness for the position +which we desire him to fill. But faith implies a direct contact with the person who +has written the letter. Before us is spread what Longfellow has called "the manuscript +of God," and from it we argue to God's character. Then faith comes and puts us +straight into connection with God Himself. Theological virtues are the names given to +faith, hope, and charity, because they all have God for their direct and proper +object. Faith then attains to the very substance of God. It is indeed inadequate in so +far as all human forms of thought can only falteringly represent God as compared with +the fullness that shall be revealed hereafter, still for all that it gives us, not +indirect but direct knowledge of Him. I do not argue by faith to what God is like from +seeing His handiwork; but I know what He is like from His descriptions of Himself.</p> +<p>3. Now the indwelling of the Spirit of God gives us a knowledge of God even more +wonderful than faith gives, for even faith has to be content with God's descriptions +of Himself. In faith I am indeed listening to a Person Who is telling me all about +Himself. He is the very truth and all He says is commended to me by the most solemn +and certain of motives; but I am still very far from coming absolutely into direct and +absolute experience of God. That, indeed, fully and absolutely, can be achieved only +in Heaven. It is only there in the beatific vision that the veils will be wholly torn +aside and there will be a face to face sight of God, no longer by means of created, +and therefore limited, ideas, but an absolute possession of God Himself. Yet though +absolutely I must wait for Heaven before I can achieve this, it is none the less true +that I can begin it on earth by means of this indwelling of the Spirit of God. This +real presence of God in my soul can secure for me what is called an experimental +knowledge of God, such as undoubtedly I do have. It is not only that I believe, but I +know. Not only have I been told about God, but, at least, in passing glimpses, I have +seen Him. We may almost say to the Church what the men of Sichar said to the woman of +Samaria, "We now believe, not for thy saying, for we ourselves have heard and know" +(John 4.42). "For the Spirit Himself giveth testimony to our spirit that we are the +sons of God" (Romans 8.16).</p> +<br><br><br> +<h2><a name="8">MODE OF THIS PRESENCE: OBJECT OF LOVE</a></h2> +<p>1. There is something that unites us more closely to our friends than knowledge +does, and this is love. Knowledge may teach us about them, may unlock for us gradually +throughout life ever more wonderful secrets of their goodness and strength and +loyalty. But knowledge of itself pushes us irresistibly on to something more. The more +we know of that which is worth knowing, the more we must love it. Now love is greater +than knowledge whenever knowledge itself does not really unite us to the object of our +knowledge, so that St. Paul can deliberately put charity above faith, since faith is +the knowledge of God by means of ideas which are themselves created and limited and +inadequate, while charity sweeps us up and carries us right along to God Himself. +Hence it was an axiom among the mediæval theologians that love is more unifying +than knowledge, so that in the real indwelling of the Holy Spirit in our hearts we +must expect to find not only that He is the object of our intelligence, but also that +He has a place in our hearts. Indeed, it is impossible to conceive any experimental +knowledge which does not also include in it the notion of love.</p> +<p>2. This love or friendship between ourselves and the Holy Spirit, if by friendship +we mean anything like that of which we have experience in our human relations, implies +three things. First of all, friendship implies that we do not love people for what we +can get out of them, for that would be an insult to a friend, for it would mean +selfishness or even animal passion. Friendship implies that we come for what we can +give far more than that we come for what we can get. We love because we have helped is +more often the true order of the origins of friendship than we help because we have +loved. Secondly, friendship to be complete must be mutual. There may indeed be love +when some poor, forlorn soul is here never requited in its affection, but that is not +what we mean by a friend or by friendship. Friendship implies action, a fellow +feeling, a desire for each other, a sympathy. Thirdly, friendship also implies +necessarily a common bond of likeness, or similarity of condition or life, some +equality. Of course it is evident from classic instances that friendship may exist +between a shepherd lad and the son of a king (though perhaps Jonathan's princedom was +very little removed from shepherd life), yet the very friendship itself must produce +equality between them. Said the Latin proverb: "Friendship either finds, or makes men +equal."</p> +<p>3. Now, therefore, to be perfectly literal in our use of the word, we must expect +to find these things reproduced in our friendship with the Spirit of God; and, +wonderful as it is, these things are reproduced. For God certainly loves us for no +benefit that He can obtain from His love. He certainly had no need of us, nor do we in +any sense fill up anything that is wanting to His life. Before we were, or the world +was created, the Ever Blessed Three in One enjoyed to the full the complete peace and +joy and energy of existence. We are no late development of His being, but only came +because of His inherent goodness that was always prodigal of itself. He is our friend, +not for His need, but for ours. He is our friend, not for what He could get, but for +what He could give—His life. Again, His friendship is certainly mutual, for as +St. John tells: "Let us therefore love God because God first hath loved us" (John +4.19). There is no yearning on our part which is not more than paralleled on His. I +can say not only that I love God, but that He is my friend. Thirdly, I may even dare +to assert that there is a common bond of likeness and equality between myself and Him. +He has stooped to my level only that He may lift me to His own. He became Man that He +might make man God, and so, equally, the Holy Spirit dwells in me that I may dwell in +Him. "Friendship either finds, or makes men equal." It found us apart, it makes us +one. He came divine, perfect, to me, human, imperfect. By grace I am raised to a +supernatural level. I know Him in some sort as He is; I am immediately united to Him +by the bond of love.</p> +<br><br><br> +<h2><a name="9">THIS PRESENCE IS OF THE SAME NATURE AS THAT IN HEAVEN</a></h2> +<p>1. This union, then, between God and my soul, effected by grace, is real and true. +It is something more than faith can secure, a nearer relationship, a deeper, more +personal knowledge, a more ardent and personal love. Indeed, so wonderful is the union +effected that the teaching of the Church has been forcibly expressed in Pope Leo +XIII's <i>Encyclical</i>, by saying that the only difference between it and the Vision +of Heaven is a difference of condition or state, a difference purely accidental, not +essential. Heaven, with all its meaning, its wonders of which eye and ear and heart +are ignorant, can be begun here. Moreover, it must be insisted upon, that this is not +merely given to chosen souls whose sanctity is so heroic as to qualify them for +canonization; it is the heritage of every soul in a state of grace. When I step +outside the confessional box after due repentance and the absolution of the priest, I +am in a state of grace. At once, then, this blessed union takes effect. Within me is +the Holy Spirit, dwelling there, sent, given. As the object of knowledge He can be +experienced by me in a personal and familiar way. I can know Him even as I am known. +As the object of love He becomes my friend, stooping to my level, lifting me to His. +At once, then, though still in a merely rudimentary way, can dawn upon me the glories +of my ultimate reward. Even already, upon earth, I have crossed the threshold of +Heaven.</p> +<p>2. In order for me to enjoy that ultimate vision of God, two things will be +necessary for me. First, I shall need to be strengthened so as to survive the splendor +and joy of it. No man can see God and live, for like St. Paul on the road to Damascus, +the splendor of the vision would wholly obscure the sight. Just as a tremendous noise +will strain the hearing of the ear, or an overbright light will dazzle the eyes to +blindness, or an overwhelming joy will break the heart with happiness, so would the +vision of God strike with annihilation the poor weak soul. Hence the light of glory, +as it is called by the theologians, has to be brought into use. By this is meant that +strengthening of the human faculties which enables them without harm to confront the +Truth, Goodness, Power, Beauty of God. Secondly, this vision implies an immediate +contact with God. It is no question simply of faith or hope, but of sight and +possession, so that there should be no more veils, no more reproductions or +reflections of God, but God Himself. Those two things sum up what we mean by the +Beatific Vision. Now, then, if there is a similarity of kind between that union in +heaven and the union that can be reflected on earth, then grace in this life must play +the part of the light of glory in the next, and I must be able in consequence to enter +into personal relations and immediate contact with God.</p> +<p>3. Such, then, is the likeness between the indwelling of the Spirit on earth, and +the beatific vision. Wherein comes the difference? The difference one may say is +largely a difference of consciousness. Here on earth I have so much to distract me +that I cannot possibly devote myself in the same way as then I shall be able to do. +There are things here that have got to be done, and there is the body itself which can +only stand a certain amount of concentration and intensity. If strained too much it +just breaks down and fails. All this complicates and hampers me. But in heaven I shall +take on something (of course a great deal intensified) of the consciousness and +alertness of youth. A child can thoroughly enjoy itself, for it has got the happy +faculty of forgetting the rest of life, all its troubles, anxieties, fears. Heaven, +then, means the lopping off of all those menaces, and the consequent full appreciation +of God in knowledge and love. Hence I must not be disturbed if here on earth all these +wonderful things which I learn about concerning the indwelling of the Holy Spirit do +not seem to take place. It is very unfortunate that I do not appreciate them, but it +is something at least to know that they are there. It is a nuisance that I do not see +Him, but it is something at least to be certain He is within me.</p> +<br><br><br> +<h2><a name="10">THIS PRESENCE COMMON TO THE WHOLE TRINITY</a></h2> +<p>1. So far it has been taken for granted that this indwelling is proper to the Holy +Spirit, but it must now be added that indeed it is really an indwelling of the Blessed +Trinity. It is true that very seldom does Scripture speak of the Three Persons as +dwelling in the soul, still less of Their being given or sent. But every reason for +which we attribute this to the Holy Ghost would hold equally well of the other Two +Persons. By grace we are made partakers of God's Divine nature; He comes to us as the +object of our knowledge and our love. Why should we suppose that this Divine Presence +applies directly only to the Spirit of God? The only reason, of course, is the +impressive wording of the New Testament. But even here there are equally strong +indications that more than the Holy Ghost is implied: "If any man will love Me he will +keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him, and will make Our +abode with him. . . . But the Paraclete, the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in +My name, He will teach you all things and bring all things to your mind whatsoever I +shall have said to you." Here, then, it is clearly stated that after Our Lord has died +His teaching will be upheld by the Spirit, but that this indwelling will include also +the abiding presence of Father and Son.</p> +<p>2. Why, then, is it repeated so often that the Holy Ghost is to be sent into our +hearts, is to be given to us, is to dwell in our midst? It is for the same reason +precisely that we allocate or attribute certain definite acts to the Blessed Persons +of the Trinity so as the more easily to discern and appreciate the distinction between +Them. In the Creed itself we attribute creation to God, the Father Almighty, though we +know that Son and Spirit, also with the Father, called the world out of nothingness. +Eternity is often, too, looked upon as peculiarly of the Father, though naturally it +is common to the Trinity. Note how frequently in the liturgical prayers of the Church +comes the expression, "O, Eternal Father." So again to the Son we attribute Wisdom and +Beauty, turning in our imagination to Him as the Word of God, the Figure of His +substance, the brightness of His glory, and to the Holy Spirit we more often attribute +God's love and God's joy. All these attributions are attempts to make that high +mystery and the Three Persons of It alive and distinctive to the human spirit. It is +not indeed wholly fancy, but it is the ever active reason endeavoring, for its own +better understanding of sacred truths, to give some hint, or find some loophole, +whence it shall not be overwhelmed with the greatness of its faith.</p> +<p>3. Consequently, it must be noted that this indwelling of the Spirit of God is not +so absolutely and distinctly proper to God, the Holy Ghost, as the Incarnation is +proper to God, the Son. There the Son, and He alone, became man. It was His +personality alone to which was joined, in a substantial union, human nature. But in +this present case there is no such unique connection between the soul and the Spirit +of God, but it is rather the Ever Blessed Trinity itself that enters into occupation, +and dwells in the heart. Of course that makes the wonder not less, but greater. To +think that within the borders of my being is conducted the whole life of the Ever +Blessed Three in One; that the Father is for ever knowing Himself in the Son, and that +Father and Son are forever loving Themselves in the Spirit; that the power and +eternity of the Father, whereby creation was called into being, and by whose fiat the +visible world will one day break up and fall to pieces; that the wisdom and beauty of +the Son, which catch the soul of man as in the meshes of a net, and drove generations +of men to a wandering pilgrimage, at the peril of life, to rescue an empty tomb in the +wild fury of a crusade; that the love of the Holy Spirit which completes the life of +God, and was typified in the tongues of fire and the rush of a great wind at +Pentecost; that the power and eternity of the Father, the wisdom and beauty of the +Son, the love and joy of the Spirit, are for all time in my heart. O, what reverence +for my human home of God, reverence alike for soul and body!</p> +<br><br><br> +<h2><a name="11">THIS PRESENCE HAS CERTAIN EFFECTS</a></h2> +<p>1. It is very clear that so tremendous a presence as this indwelling implies must +have tremendous results. If, as I believe, Father, and Son, and Spirit, are always +within me by grace, the effect upon my soul should be considerable. To begin with, the +very nearness to God which this indwelling secures must make a great difference to my +outlook on life. To have within me the Ever Blessed Trinity is more than an honor, it +is a responsibility; it is more than responsibility, for it is the greatest grace of +all. To my faith, it makes the whole difference in my attitude to the Mother of God +that within her womb for those silent months lay the Incarnate Wisdom. If to touch +pitch is to ensure defilement, to be so close to God is to catch the infection of His +Divinity. Or, again, I may have envied, times out of number, the wonderful grace +whereby, upon the breast of his Master, St. John, the Beloved Disciple, could lovingly +lay his head, the joy of so close and so familiar an intimacy with the most beautiful +sons of men; or I may have pictured the charming scene when on His knees He took the +dear children of His country and spoke to them and fondled them so that in His eyes +they could see reflected their own countenances. How life ever after must have been +transfigured for them by the memory of that glorious time! Great graces indeed for +them all. But what if all life long, by grace, I too can be sure of a union even more +splendid, an intimacy more lasting, a friendship surpassing the limits of faith and +hope?</p> +<p>2. By grace, then, I receive this indwelling of the Spirit of God, and thereby come +into a new and wonderful union with the Ever Blessed Trinity. Now such a union must +have its purpose. Our Lord told us that He was going to send to our hearts the Holy +Spirit, an embassy from Heaven to earth conducted by a Divine ambassador. The news of +the Incarnation, the offer of the Motherhood of God, were made by means of an angel. +But here, in my case, to no created official is this wonderful thing confided, only to +God Himself. That just shows me the importance of the undertaking. In the political +world the interests that turn on a diplomatic mission may be easily guessed to be very +great, when the personnel of the staff is found to contain the highest personages in +the country. What deep and abiding interests must then be in question when to my soul +comes God, the Holy Ghost, sent as the messenger of the Three! I must consequently +expect that the results of this indwelling are judged by God to be considerable, and +that it is of much moment to me that, one by one, I should discover them. The +Incarnation brought its train of attendant effects which I have to study: the +redemption, the sacraments, the sanctifying of all immaterial creation by its union +through man with the divinity. This indwelling also must therefore have its effects, +the knowledge of which must necessarily make a difference to me in life.</p> +<p>3. By Baptism the beginning comes of this great grace. As a child, with my senses +hardly at all awake to external life, I had God in my midst. Do I wonder now at the +charm of early innocence, when a soul sits silently holding God as its centre? It is +not that there are dim memories of a preexistence before birth, but there are always +haunting dreams of a true friendship on earth. Baptism then begins that early work. At +the moment of conversion, when suddenly I was drawn into a tender realization of God's +demands and my own heart's hunger, the indwelling of the Spirit became more +consciously operative with its flood of light and love. Since then the sacraments have +poured out on me fuller measures of God's grace and that divine Presence therefore +should assume larger proportions in my life. I am now the dwelling place of God. When, +then, my heart is young, eager, enthusiastic, let me make Him welcome; nor wait till +the only habitation I can offer is in ruins, leaking through an ill-patched roof. A +dwelling place for God! How reverently, then, shall I treat and treasure my body and +soul, for they must be as fit as I can make them for the great Guest. By reason we +learn of Him, by faith we know Him, but by His indwelling we taste the sweetness of +His presence.</p> +<br><br><br> +<h2><a name="12">FORGIVENESS OF SIN</a></h2> +<p>1. To understand this first and great effect of grace I must know what sin is, and +to grasp sin in its fullness I must comprehend God. To see the heinousness of what is +done against Him I must first realize what He is Himself. I have to go through all my +ideas of God, my ideas of His majesty, His power, His tenderness, His justice, His +mercy. I have got to realize all that He has done for man before I can take in the +meaning of man's actions against God. I have to be conscious of the Incarnation, of +the story of that perfect life, the privations of it, the culminating horror of the +Passion and Death, then of the Resurrection, the patient teaching of those forty days +when He spoke of the Kingdom of God which He was setting up on earth, the Ascension, +which did not mean an end, but only the beginning of His work for men on earth. At +once there opened the wonderful stream of graces which flow through the sacraments, +and which therefore make continuous upon the world till its consummation, His abiding +presence, for the tale of the Blessed Sacrament only adds to the wonders of the +tenderness and mercy of God. In Heaven, by ever trying to make intercession for us, on +earth, by holding out through the sacraments countless ways of grace, It shows to us +something at least of the perfect character of God. Now it is against one so perfect, +so tender, so divine, that sin is committed, a wanton, brutal outrage against an +almost overfond love. Ingratitude, treachery, disloyalty, united in the basest +form.</p> +<p>2. God is just, as well as merciful, so that there had to be an immediate result of +sin. Man might see no difference between himself before and after he had sinned; but +for all that a great difference was set up. His soul had been on terms of friendship +with God, for it had turned irresistibly to Him, as a flower growing in a dark place +turns irresistibly to where the hardy daylight makes its way into the gloom. That +friendship is at once broken, for sin means that the soul has deliberately turned its +back upon God and is facing the other way, and thus it has been able by some fatal +power to prevent God's everlasting love having any effect upon it. God cannot hate; +but we can stop His love from touching us. At once, then, by grievous sin the soul +becomes despoiled of its supernatural goods: sanctifying grace, which is the pledge +and expression of God's friendship, naturally is banished; charity, which is nothing +else than the love of God, the infused virtues, the gifts, are all taken away. Faith +only and hope survive, but emptied of their richness of life. Externally no +difference, but internally friendship with God, the right to the eternal heritage, the +merits heretofore stored up—all lost. Even God Himself goes out from the midst +of the soul, as the Romans heard the voice crying from the Temple just before its +destruction: <i>Let us go hence. Let us go hence</i>.</p> +<p>3. Grace, then, operates to restore all these lost wonders. Sin itself is forgiven, +all the ingratitude and disloyalty put one side; not simply in the sense that God +forgets them, or chooses not to consider them, but in the sense that they are +completely wiped away. It is the parable of the Good Shepherd where the sheep is +brought back again into the fold, and mixes freely with the others who have never left +the presence of their Master. It is the parable of the prodigal son taken back into +his father's embrace. That is what the forgiveness of sin implies. God is once more +back again in the soul. He had always been there as the Creator without Whose +supporting hand the soul would be back in its nothingness; but He is now there again +as Father, and Master, and Friend. Not the saints only who have been endowed with a +genius for divine things, but every simple soul that has had its sins forgiven, comes +at once into that embrace. We are far too apt to look upon forgiveness as a merely +negative thing, a removal, a cleansing, and not enough as a return to something great +and good and beautiful, the triumphant entrance into our souls of the Father, the Son, +and the Spirit.</p> +<br><br><br> +<h2><a name="13">JUSTIFICATION</a></h2> +<p>1. There is something in the forgiveness of sin which implies an element of +positive good, and this is called justification. It means that the attitude of God +towards forgiven sin is believed by the Catholic Church to be no mere neglect or +forgetfulness of its evil, but an actual and complete forgiveness. At the time of the +Protestant Reformation a long controversy was waged over this very point, in which the +Reformers took up the curious position that forgiveness implied nothing more than that +God did not impute sin. He covered up the iniquities of the soul with the Blood of His +Son, and no longer peered beneath the depths of that sacred and saving sign. The +problem has probably hardly any meaning now, since the original doctrinal principles +of Protestantism, the ostensible reasons for the sixteenth century revolt, have been +abandoned long since as hopeless of defence. In fact all that was really positive in +Protestantism has been ruined by its basic negative principle of private judgment. +Against such a battering ram Christianity itself is powerless. But that long-forgotten +discussion had this much of value, that it brought out in clear perspective the +fullness of the Catholic teaching on the central doctrine of justification and showed +its depth and meaning.</p> +<p>2. Briefly, then, it may be stated that it is not simply that God does not impute +evil, but that He forgives it. It is as though a rebellion had taken place and its +leader had been captured and brought before his offended sovereign. Now the king might +do either of two things, if he wished not to punish the culprit. He might simply bid +him go off and never appear again, or he might go even further by actually forgiving +the rebellion and receiving back into favor the rebel. It is one thing to say that no +punishment will be awarded, it is another to say that the crime is forgiven, and that +everything is to go on as though nothing had happened. In the first case we might say +that the king chose not to impute the sin, in the other that he forgave and justified +the sinner. It is just this, then, that the Catholic Church means when she teaches +justification as implied in the idea of forgiveness. It is just this, too, that Our +Lord meant when He detailed His beautiful parable about the prodigal son. The boy's +return home does not mean merely that the father refrains from punishment, but rather +that there is a welcome so hearty and so complete that the serious-minded elder +brother, coming in from his long labor in the fields, is rather scandalized by its +suddenness and its intensity. Such is indeed God's treatment of the soul. He is so +generous, so determined not to be outdone by any sorrow on the part of the sinner, +that He overwhelms with the most splendid favors the recently converted soul.</p> +<p>3. But in this connection we must see in justification a process by which the +Presence of God is again achieved by man. By sin grace was lost, and with grace went +out the Divine Three in One, the temple was desecrated, the veil of the Holy of Holies +was utterly rent. Then sin is forgiven and, once more, the Sacred home is occupied by +God. Moreover, when God comes to the soul He comes with His full strength of love, and +thereby gives a new energy and life to man. We love because of some beauty, goodness, +excellence, that we see in others. We love, then, because of what is in them. It is +their gifts that cause or ignite our love. But God, Who is the only cause Himself, +creates excellences by love. We are not loved because we are good; we are good because +we are loved, so that this indwelling itself fashions us after God's own heart. "It is +the love of God," says St. Thomas (<i>Summa theologica</i>, i, 20.2), "that produces +and creates goodness in things." The divine presence, then, of God in the soul, +effected by sanctifying grace, makes the soul more worthy a temple, more fit a home. +God does not come to us because we are fit, but we are fit because God comes to +us.</p> +<br><br><br> +<h2><a name="14">DEIFICATION</a></h2> +<p>1. This very strong expression is used by St. Augustine and many of the Fathers to +describe one of the effects of grace. By grace we are deified, i. e., made into gods. +Right at the beginning of all the woes of humanity when, in the Garden of Eden, Adam +and Eve first were tempted, the lying spirit promised that the reward of disobedience +would be that they should become "as gods." The result of sin could hardly be that, so +man, made only a little lower than the angels, can at times find himself rebuked by +the very beasts. Yet the promise became in the end fulfilled, since the Incarnation +really affected that transformation, and God, by becoming human, made man himself +divine. St. Peter, in his second epistle (4.1), insinuates the same truth when he +describes the great promises of Christ making us "partakers of the Divine Nature." The +work, then, of grace is something superhuman and divine. Creation pours into us the +divine gift of existence and therefore makes us partakers in the divine being, for +existence implies a participation in the being of God. The indwelling of the Blessed +Trinity, then, does even more, for by it we participate not only in the divine being, +but in the divine nature, and fulfill the prophecy of Our Lord: "Ye are gods." +Justification, therefore, is a higher gift than creation, since it does more for +us.</p> +<p>2. This divine participation is what is implied in many texts which allude to the +sacrament of Baptism, for the purpose of Baptism is just that, to make us children of +God. The phrases concerning "new birth" and "being born again" all are intended to +convey the same idea, that the soul by means of this sacrament is lifted above its +normal existence and lives a new life. This life is lived "with Christ in God," i. e., +it is a sort of entrance within the charmed circle of the Trinity, or, more +accurately, it is that the Blessed Trinity inhabits our soul and enters into our own +small life, which at once therefore takes on a new and higher importance. In it +henceforth there can be nothing small or mean. For the same reason Our Lord speaks of +it to the Samaritan woman as "<i>the</i> gift of God," beside which all His other +benefactions fade into nothingness. Again, it is a "fountain of living water," it is a +"refreshment," it is "life" itself. Not the stagnant water that remains in a pool in +some dark wood, but a stream gushing out from its source, fertilizing the ground on +every side, soaking through to all the thirsting roots about it, giving freshness and +vitality to the whole district through which it wanders. Life indeed it bears as its +great gift; and so does sanctifying grace carry within it the fertilizing power needed +by the soul.</p> +<p>3. The participation in the Divine Nature is therefore no mere metaphor, but is a +real fact. The indwelling of God makes the soul like to God. I find myself influenced +by the people with whom I live, picking up their expressions, copying their tricks and +habits, following out their thoughts, absorbing their principles, growing daily like +them. With God at the centre of my life the same effect is produced, and slowly, +patiently, almost unconsciously, I find myself infected by His spirit. What He loves +becomes my ideal; what He hates, my detestation. But it is even closer than this, no +mere concord of wills nor harmony of ideas, a real and true elevation to the life of +God. Grace is formally in God, at the back, so to say, of His divine nature, the inner +essence of Himself. By receiving it, therefore, I receive something of God, and begin +to be able to perform divine actions. I can begin to know God even as I am known, to +taste His sweetness, and by His favor to have personal, experimental knowledge of +Himself. To act divinely is only possible to those who are made divine. This, then, +becomes the formal union with God, its terms, its end, its purpose. Deified, +therefore, we become in our essence by grace, in our intelligence by its light, in our +will by charity.</p> +<br><br><br> +<h2><a name="15">ADOPTED SONSHIP</a></h2> +<p>1. Here again we have to realize that the sonship of God is no mere metaphor, no +mere name, but a deep and true fact of huge significance: "Behold what manner of +charity the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called and should be the +sons of God!" (1 John 3). We become the sons of God. St. Paul very gladly quotes the +saying of a Greek poet that men are the offspring of God, making use of a particular +word which necessarily implies that both the begetter and the begotten are of the same +nature. A sonship indeed is what Our Lord is Himself incessantly teaching the Apostles +to regard as their high privilege, for God is not only His Father, but theirs: "Thus +shalt thou pray, Our Father." With the Gospels it is in constant use as the view of +God that Christianity came especially to teach. The Epistles are equally insistent on +the same view, for St. Paul is perpetually calling to mind the wonderful prerogatives +whereby we cry, "Abba: Father." We are spoken of as co-heirs of Christ, as children of +God. St. John, St. Peter, and St. James repeat the same message as the evident result +of the Incarnation, for by it we learn that God became the Son of Man, and man the son +of God.</p> +<p>2. Yet it must also be admitted that this sonship of God, which is the common +property of all just souls, and is the result of the indwelling of God in the soul, +does not mean that we are so by nature, but only by adoption. Now adoption, as it is +practiced by law, implies that the child to be adopted is not already the son, that +the new relationship is entered upon entirely at the free choice of the person +adopting, that the child becomes the legal heir to the inheritance of the adopting +father. It is perfectly evident that all these conditions are fulfilled in the case of +God's adoption, for we were certainly no children of His before His adoption of us as +sons; strangers we were, estranged indeed by the absence of grace and the high gifts +of God. Naturally we were made by Him, but had put ourselves far from Him: "You were +as sheep going astray." Then this adoption of us by God was indeed and could only have +been at His free choice, through no merits of ours, but solely according to the +deliberate action of His own will, for "you have not chosen Me but I have chosen you." +"So that it is not of him that willeth nor of him that runneth, but of God that +showeth mercy." Finally, the inheritance is indeed ours by right and title of legal +inheritance. We are co-heirs with Christ, and our human nature is lifted up to the +level of God; not, of course, that we supplant Him who is by nature the true Son of +God, but that we are taken into partnership with Him, and share in Him the wonderful +riches of God.</p> +<p>3. Here, then, I may learn the worth and dignity of the Christian name. I am a true +son of God, and what else matters upon earth? I have indeed to go about my life with +its vocation and all that is entailed in it. I have to work for my living, it may be, +or take my place in the family, or lead my own solitary existence. I have to strive to +be efficient and effective in the material things of life that fall to my share to be +done. But it is this sonship of God that alone makes any matter in the world. In our +own time we have heard a very great deal about culture and the ultimate value of the +world; but we have seen also to what evil ends so fine a truth may lead men. True +culture is not a question of scientific attainments, or mechanical progress, or the +discovery of new inventions of destruction, or even of medical and useful sciences; +but it is the perfect and complete development of the latent powers of the soul. True +culture may indeed make use of sciences and art; perhaps in its most complete sense +science and art are needed for the most finished culture of which man is capable; but +it is in its very essence the deepening of his truest desire, the full stretch of his +widest flights of fancy, the achievement of his noblest ideals. What nobler ideal, or +fancy, or desire, can a man have than to be called and to be the son of God; to know +that he has been drawn into the close union of God; to feel within his very essence +the presence of God; to have personal experience as the objects of his knowledge and +love of the Father, Son, and Spirit?</p> +<br><br><br> +<h2><a name="16">HEIRS OF GOD</a></h2> +<p>1. One of the conditions of adoption is that the newly chosen son should become the +legal heir of the new father. Without this legal result or consequence adoption has no +meaning. Merely to get a boy to enter a family circle does not imply adoption, for +this last has a distinct meaning with a distinct purpose. If, then, we are the heirs +of God we are really possessed of a right to His Divine Inheritance. Heaven has been +made indeed our home. We speak of it in our hymns as <i>patria</i>, which we can +translate as the "land of our fathers." We claim it thereby in virtue of our +parentage, and our parentage is of God. If, then, He is our Father, not by nature, but +by adoption, i. e., by grace, we are none the less His heirs and have some sort of +right over His possessions and riches. A father cannot without leave of his adopted +son alienate any of the family heirlooms; the adopted son now, by the father's own +free act acquires, not indeed dominion over the riches of the home, but, at any rate, +an embargo on the father's free exercise of those riches. He could even demand, as +against his father, a legal investigation into the due use and investment of them. His +signature is required for every document that relates to them. He has become almost a +part-owner of his father's possessions, since he is their legal heir. All this is +implied by adoption in its true sense, and therefore it must be intended to apply to +us when we are spoken of as God's adopted sons.</p> +<p>2. I can, therefore, truthfully speak of myself as an heir of God. Of course I +cannot mean that there is any possible question of "the death of the testator," i. e., +of God. That is quite clearly of no significance here. But adoption does give me some +sort of claim to the heritage of God. Now the law defines a heritage as that by which +a man is made rich. It includes not the riches only, but the source of the riches, so +that if I have a claim to God's riches, I have a claim also upon the source of those +riches. For the heir is entitled not merely to a legacy, but to the whole of the +fortune. I have a right to the whole fortune of God, to the whole universe. At once, +as soon as I realize it, the whole of the world is mine. It is the doctrine of the +mystics that, misunderstood, led astray the communists of the Middle Ages. These +claimed a common ownership of the wealth of all the world, whereas what was intended +was that we should look upon the whole world as ours. To me, then, in life, nothing +can be strange or distant or apart. No places can there be where my mind cannot enter +and roam at will and feel itself at home; no things can be profane, no people who are +not tabernacles of God, no part of life that is not steeped in that living presence. +The only possible boundary is the love and the grace of God. There will indeed come +evil frontiers beyond which my soul could never dwell. But all else is of God and is +therefore my right. All creation is mine; the wonder and beauty of it, life and death, +pleasure alike and pain, yield up to me their secrets and disclose the hidden name of +God.</p> +<p>3. Here, then, I can find that divine wealth, to inherit which has been the purpose +of the adoption by God. Wherever I turn I shall find Him. Whether life has smooth ways +or rough, whether she hangs my path with lights or hides me in gloom, I am the heir to +all that earth or sea or sky can boast of as their possession. Indeed, these are only +the rich things of God, whereas I have a claim upon even more. I have a claim upon the +very source of this wealth, that is, upon God Himself, for He is the sole source of +all His greatness. I have a right to God Himself. He is mine. He Who holds in the +hollow of His hands the fabric of the world, Who with His divine power supports, and +with His providence directs, the intricate pattern of the world, has Himself by +creation entered deeply into the world; at the heart of everything He lies hid. But +even more by grace He comes in a fuller, richer way into the depths of the soul. Here +in me are Father, and Son, and Spirit. Dear God, teach me to understand the wonder of +this indwelling, to appreciate its worth, to be thankful for its condescension, to +reverence its place of choice, to be conscious of its perpetual upholding. By it I am +an heir to the fullness of the divine riches. By it I, a creature, possess in His +fullness my Creator, Redeemer, Lord.</p> +<br><br><br> +<h2><a name="17">GUIDANCE IN SPIRITUAL LIFE</a></h2> +<p>1. I have God the Holy Spirit with me. He comes to me in order that I may surrender +myself to Him. Of course I cannot merge my personality in His to the extent of having +no power of my own, but God has such infinite dominion over the heart of man that He +is able to move the will, without in any sense whatever violating its freedom. In the +liturgy of the Church there are two or three prayers which speak about God "compelling +our rebellious wills." Now for anyone else to "compel my will" would be to destroy it +as a will, since, as even Cromwell freely confessed, "the will suffereth no +compulsion"; I cannot be made to will against my will. That would be a contradiction, +though I can be made to act against my will, for my actions do not necessarily imply +that my will is in them. Whereas, then, no one else can move my will without utterly +destroying my moral freedom, God can, for He is intimate to the will and moves it, not +really as an external but as an internal power. St. Thomas Aquinas repeatedly refers +to this and says over and over again the same thing, namely, that God is so intimately +united to man, and so powerful, that not only can He move man to will, but move him +to will freely by affecting, not only the action of man, but the very mode of the +action. </p> +<p>2. Such is man, whether in a state of grace or not, that his will is in the hands +of God, to be moved by man freely, but not so as to exclude God's movement. Naturally +enough it is far easier to say this than to explain it. Indeed the mere statement is +all that is actually binding upon faith, and the particular explanation favored by St. +Thomas in his general acceptance of St. Augustine's teaching, comes to us largely as +of deep and abiding moment on account of the very clear reasons given and the great +authority of his name; but in any case there is something far more special in the +guidance of the Holy Spirit sought for by the soul in its endeavor to "live godly in +Christ Jesus." It has to yield itself to the promptings of God, be eager to catch His +every whisper, and quick in its obedience to His every call. For this to be achieved, +the first work is an emptying out of the soul. Every obstacle has to be got rid of; +any attachment to creatures that obscures God's light has to be broken through (though +not every attachment to creatures, since unless I love man whom I see, I cannot +possibly know what love means when applied to God, nor can I suppose myself to be able +to understand or love God, whom I do not see). First, then, to cleanse my soul by +leveling and smoothing and clearing its surface and depths.</p> +<p>3. Then I must yield myself into His arms. I shall not know very often the way He +wishes me to go. It may be only one step at a time, and then darkness again; or I may +be taken swiftly and surely and openly along a clear road. That is His business, not +mine, only I must be prepared not to be able to follow always the meaning of what He +wants of me. It is not necessary at all that I should know. If I am faithful and loyal +and full of trust, things will gradually settle themselves, and I shall at least be +able to look back and understand the significance and purpose of many things that at +first appeared accidental, and even in opposition to the end I considered God had in +view for me. Thus by looking back I can sometimes get a shrewd idea of what is to +follow; but often it is only a guess, nothing more than that. Still, generally, it +would seem that people who surrender themselves to God do get a sense or a feeling +which leads them right and makes them sure. It is the divine tenderness stooping to +poor muddled humanity and making it transfigured with God's own glory. The advance, +then, whether consciously grasped or not, is in due proportion to the purity and +fidelity of the soul, purity in its act of cleansing, fidelity in its subjection to +the promptings of the Holy Spirit.</p> +<br><br><br> +<h2><a name="18">GIFTS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT</a></h2> +<p>1. To live the spiritual life to its fullness we need the instinctive governances +of the Holy Ghost. All day long, and even all through the hours when consciousness is +asleep, the Holy Spirit is speaking to us in many ways. He is offering us His heavenly +counsel, enlightening our minds to an ever more complete understanding of the deep +truths of faith, and generally imparting to us that deep knowledge without which we +cannot make advance. Reason and common sense have their own contribution to make in +opening our minds and hearts to a proper interpretation of all that is about us and +within us; but reason and common sense have themselves also to be supernaturalized, to +be illumined by the light of a far higher plane of truth. Hence the need of this +divine instinct is patent to anyone who considers the purpose and destiny of the soul. +But it is difficult at times to understand and to grasp surely the words of divine +wisdom, since by sin's coarseness the refinement of the soul is dulled and rendered +but little responsive; or, rather, it is not so much a matter of being responsive to a +message as primarily of hearing and understanding it. It seems to be very obvious that +God must be speaking to me almost without ceasing; it is equally obvious that very +little of this is noticed.</p> +<p>2. Here, then, am I in the world and needing the governance of God's instinct. +Here, too, is this whispered counsel and enlightenment of God, perpetually being made +to me. Yet, though made by God, and needed by me, this counsel and enlightenment, I +can be certain, must frequently be entirely lost to me. It is as though I lived in a +perfectly beautiful country, with stretching landscape about, and beautiful glimpses +of hills and woodland, and yet never saw or appreciated the view; as though heavenly +music were about me, to which I never paid the slightest attention; as though my best +loved friend stood by me and I never lifted my eyes, and so did not know of his +presence. Of course it is really a great deal worse than that, for I do not need with +an absolute necessity the view, or the music, or the friend; whereas I do most +certainly need this divinely offered help, guidance, enlightenment. Hence it is clear +that neither my need nor God's instinct suffice. Something else is required by means +of which I am able to make use of that instinct, to hear its message, to discover its +meaning, to apply its advice to myself; else am I no better than a general who +possesses the full plan of his allies, in all its details, but written in a cypher +that he cannot read.</p> +<p>3. To produce this reaction or perception is the work of the sevenfold gifts. They +are habits infused into the soul, which strengthen its natural powers, and make them +responsive to every breath of God and capable of heroic acts of virtue. By the gifts +my eyes are made able to see what had else been hidden, my ears quick to catch what +had else not been heard; the gifts do not, so to say, supply eye or ear, but make more +delicate, refined, sensitive, the eye and ear already there. Their business is to +intensify rather than to create powers established in me by grace. Less excellent +necessarily than the theological virtues which unite me to God, they are yet more +excellent than the other virtues, though, being rooted in charity and thereby linked +up among themselves, they are also part of the dowry that charity brings in her train. +On this account it is clear that from the moment of Baptism the sevenfold gifts are +the possession of the soul, and whosoever holds one holds all; yet by the sacrament of +Confirmation it would appear certain that something further is added, some more +delicate perception, some livelier sensitiveness; or it may be, as other theologians +point out, that by Confirmation they are more steadily fixed in the soul, more fully +established, more firmly held. But in any case it is clear what they are to me, habits +whereby I am perfected to obey the Holy Spirit of God. </p> +<br><br><br> +<h2><a name="19">BEATITUDES</a></h2> +<p>1. The possession of the sevenfold gifts results in the performance of certain +virtuous acts, for it is perfectly obvious that if I am so blest by the gifts that I +find my reason, will, emotions, made increasedly perceptive of divine currents +previously lost to me, I can hardly help acting in a new way. I now discover the view +about me, and the music, and, consequently, my manner of life must in some ways be +different from before. The Vision has come; it cannot simply open my eyes to new +things in life without thereby altering that very life itself. Not only shall I find +that what seemed to me before to be evil now appears to me to be a blessing; but on +that very account what before I tried to avoid, or, having got, tried to be rid of, I +shall now accept, perhaps even seek. Similarly, whereas then I was weak, now I am +strong; and increase of strength means new activities, new energy put into the old +work and finding its way out into works altogether new. My emotions, finally, which +perilled and dominated my life, slip now into a subordinate position, and while +thereby as actively employed as before, are held under discipline. It is clear, +therefore, that the gifts will not leave me where I was before, but will influence my +actions as well as alter my vision.</p> +<p>2. I find, then, that these new habits will develop into new activities. But this +means also that I have a new idea as to the means of achieving the full happiness of +life. Once upon a time I thought happiness meant comfort, now I see that it means +something quite different. My view of happiness has changed. I am therefore obliged to +change also my idea as to the means and conditions whereby, and in which, happiness +can be found. I had attempted to climb out of my valley over the hills in the west; I +now attempt to climb out over the hills to the east. The steps by which once I +clambered are useless to me. I must try new ones in the opposite hills. Just that is +what Our Lord meant by promulgating His eight Beatitudes. These are just the new +blessedness, so to say, which results from finding that happiness now means the +knowledge and love of God. Things that previously I fled from, I now seek; things once +my bugbear, are now the objects of my delight. Poverty, meekness, mourning, the hunger +and thirst after justice, cleanness of heart, the making of peace, mercy, the +suffering of persecution for justice's sake, are now found to be the steps to be +passed over, the conditions to be secured before happiness can be finally secured.</p> +<p>3. These things, then, are beatitudes to me. They are acts which I finally achieve +by means of the new enlightenment gained through the gifts of God. Actively I am +merciful and meek and clean of heart. I perform these actions, and they are the result +of visions seen, and counsels heard, through the new sensitiveness to the divine +instinctive guidance that of old passed me by without finding in my heart any +response. To be forever pursuing now peace and sorrow, and, at whatever cost, justice, +is an energizing state of life which is due entirely to the new perception of the +value of these things, so that we are right in asserting that the beatitudes are +nothing else than certain actions, praised by Our Lord and practiced by us as a result +of the establishment in our souls of seven definite habits. But not only are they +actions, they produce as an effect joy in the heart; for which reason it is that we +call them beatitudes. They show me what is truly blessed and thereby give me, even +here on earth, a foretaste of the bliss of final happiness.</p> +<br><br><br> +<h2><a name="20">THE FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT</a></h2> +<p>1. Besides the beatitudes there are other acts that follow from the gifts when +properly used by the soul. The beatitudes are means which, under the light infused by +God, are valued at their true worth as leading finally to happiness in its more +complete sense. But when these are thus put into practice, for the soul understands +the new meaning life gathers, they do not end the wonders of the action of grace. As a +boy I met life and found it full of interest and dawning with the glories of success. +The world in its aspect of nature had such manifest beauties that these quickly +entranced and thrilled the soul. The sun and grass and flowers and woods and waters, +make no secret of their kinship with their creator; Francis Thompson found them +"garrulous of God," so garrulous in our youth that we see that life is full of very +good things. Then comes the reaction (to many even before full manhood), when life is +found to be full of illusion. Life is now judged a melancholy business, apt to fail +you just when the need of it is most discovered, hard to be certain of; it is the age +of romantic melancholy when most people put into verse their sorrow at the +disappointment to be found in all things of beauty. Every tree and flower and "dear +gazelle" is no sooner loved than it is lost through death or misunderstanding.</p> +<p>2. Then, finally, the balance is set right. The two phases pass. They are both true +only as half truths. There is no denying that life is good and beautiful and +thrilling. The boy's vision is correct. Yet it is equally true to say that there is +sorrow and suffering and death and disappointment in all human things. But a new +phase, blessedly a last phase, dawns upon the soul. Sorrow and pain are real, but the +old happiness of boyhood is made to fit in and triumph over them by the sudden +realization that strength is the lesson to be learned. Sorrow comes that discipline +may be born in the soul, self-restraint, humility. Life is hard, but its very hardness +is no evil, but our means of achieving good. That is the very atmosphere of the +beatitudes, the message they bring, the teaching they imparted from the Sermon on the +Mount. Poverty, cleanness of heart, mercy, meekness, are all things difficult to +acquire; but they give a real, true blessedness to the soul that will see their value. +Life is no longer a disappointment, but the training ground of all good.</p> +<p>3. Finally, there follow other acts, too many to number, though there are twelve +usually given, which result from gifts and beatitudes. These are called the fruits of +the Holy Ghost, for they represent in that metaphorical sense the ultimate result of +the gifts. They are the last and sweetest consequences of the sevenfold habits infused +by the Spirit. Indeed, just as trees are grown in an orchard because of their fruits, +and, therefore, just as it can be said that the fruit is, from the gardener's point of +view, the purpose for which the tree is cultivated (for of the fruitless fig Our Lord +asked why it cumbered the ground), so these fruits of the Holy Ghost (charity, joy, +peace, patience, benignity, goodness, longanimity, mildness, faith, modesty, +continency, chastity—Gal. 5.22) can be looked upon as the very purpose for which +the gifts were given, that I might, by seeing a new blessedness in life's very +troubles, begin to find joy and peace and patience and faith, where else I had found +only sorrow. Endlessly could the list of these be extended, for St. Paul has chosen +only a very few; but these that he names are what a man delights in when he has +received the gifts, and has understood and valued the beatitudes. Sweetness is what +they add to virtue, ease, comfort. I not only hunger and thirst after justice, but +enjoy the very pain of the pursuit.</p> +<br><br><br> +<h2><a name="21">KNOWLEDGE</a></h2> +<p>1. This gift of God illumines and perfects the intelligence. The purpose of the +gifts, it has been already explained, is to make the soul more alive to, and more +appreciative of, the whispered instinct of God; not to create new faculties, but to +increase the power of those already existing. My mind, then, has to be +supernaturalized and refined to that pitch of perception which will enable it to grasp +and to understand God's message. Now the mind itself works upon a great variety of +subjects. It has whole worlds to conquer, planes of thought which are very clearly +distinguishable; yet in its every activity it needs this divine refinement, so that in +all four gifts are allotted to perform this complete enlightenment of the mind. +Knowledge overcomes ignorance and is concerned with the facts, visible and sense- +perceived, in creation; for by the council of the Vatican it is laid down as part of +the deposit of faith that human reason can prove the existence of God altogether apart +from the supernatural motives which grace supplies. The visible world is held to +contain ample proofs which in themselves are adequate logically to convince human +understanding of the existence of God. Individual reason may fail to satisfy itself. +People may declare truthfully that they are not convinced; the Church insists only +that it can be done.</p> +<p>2. Knowledge, however, in this sense is a gift of God whereby we discover Him in +His own creation and in the works of man. It is here no mere task set to reason for +detecting the Creator in His handiwork, but an actual vision by which the soul is +supernaturalized and sees Him patently everywhere. The beauteous face of nature is +merely seen as a veil, hiding a beauty more sublime. Things of dread as well as things +of loveliness come into the scheme, things trivial and things tremendous, things +majestic and things homely, all that God has made. Even man's work, who is himself +only one of the greater masterpieces of the Great Artificer, is affected by this new +light with which the world is flooded. The delicate pieces of machinery constructed by +human ingenuity, that gain in wonder and in power, are themselves still God's work at +one remove; they are the fruits of a mind that He has constructed, and they do not +exhaust the capacity of that mind. They reveal hidden potentialities as well as +express actual achievements. Weapons of destruction, with all the horror they rightly +inspire, are yet witnesses again to that parent-intelligence whence was begotten man +himself. All this, of course, as soon as considered, is admitted by every believer in +God, but the gift of knowledge makes it realized and seen steadfastly.</p> +<p>3. Life, then, of itself is full of illusion. That is the cry, desolating and +pitiful, which arises from the higher followers of every religious faith. Man is bound +to the wheel, his mind is compassed with infirmity, he is born into ignorance. Desire +tumultuously hustles all his days. He needs, therefore, some light whereby he may find +the true inner meaning of all with which he comes in contact. Here, then, in the gift +of Knowledge is such a true vision, understanding, vouchsafed him of the visible +things of creation. He will realize as much, perhaps, even more than before the +attraction of beauty, only it will be no snare, but a beckoning light. He will find in +it now no illusion, but the perfect image of a greater beauty. The charm of the world +about him will become greater, the wonders of nature, the intricate pattern of +mechanical appliances, the fury of storms, the tumult of the wind, the terrific force +of pestilence, the psychological facts of man's mind, the construction of his frame, +the grouping of his social instincts, all now will be alive with God, shot through +with the divine splendor, elevated to His order of life, eloquent of His name—a +deepening knowledge of God achieved through a knowledge of His creatures.</p> +<br><br><br> +<h2><a name="22">UNDERSTANDING</a></h2> +<p>1. There is another gift required to perfect the intelligence when it is engaged +upon the principles of truth. The mind was created by God to exercise itself upon +truth, primarily, the Supreme Truth; secondarily, all truths which by their essence +must themselves be radiations from the Supreme Truth. These truths are of endless +variety, both in their relationship to each other and in the particular line in which +they operate. They are the truths of arts and science, the intricate yet unchanging +laws that govern the growth and development of matter, the complicated processes +whereby organic beings build up their tissues and multiply themselves by means of the +cell principle. There are again the curious laws, as they are called, that effect +gravitation, that have to be counted upon in the science of architecture, and in all +the various kindred crafts of man. There are principles, too, that underlie the whole +series of the arts, principles of truth and life and beauty. Upon these the mind must +feed, and in them all the mind must be able to trace the character and being of God. +But there are also far higher truths which are taught only by revelation, safeguarded +by authority, grouped under the title of faith. These truths are higher than the +others, since they directly concern a higher being, i. e., God. All truths are truths +about God, but the truths of faith concern themselves immediately with the being, +life, and actions of God. Understanding, therefore, is the gift perfecting the mind +for these.</p> +<p>2. It might seem, perhaps, that the light of faith is itself sufficient, and that +no further gift were needed, since it is the very purpose of faith to make us accept +this revelation of God, enlightening and strengthening the intelligence till under the +dominion of the will it says: I believe. It is true that faith suffices for this, but +we require something more than faith, or at least if we do not absolutely require +more, we shall progress more rapidly and further when we are not only able to believe +but to understand. In every article of faith there is always something which is +mysterious or hidden, some obscurity due not to the entanglement of facts, but to the +weakness of the human mind. Of course this must to some extent always exist, for man +can never hope to comprehend God till by the beatific vision he sees Him face to face; +but a good deal of the obscurity can be lifted by the mere operation of the mind under +the light of God, not arising purely from study, but from the depth of love enkindled +by God. It is a commonplace in the lives of the saints that without instruction they +do yet manage to learn the deep mysteries of God; the same is true of many simple +souls whom we meet from time to time in the world. They not only believe, but +penetrate the truths of faith.</p> +<p>3. Here, then, I have ready to hand a most useful gift of God. I desire not only to +believe, but to absorb and to penetrate the mysteries of God. I want to taste to the +full the meaning of life as a whole, to develop every power that lies in me, to make +the truths of revelation blossom out ever more fully, till their hidden and mystical +significance becomes gradually more clear. The pages of Holy Scripture are full of +instruction, but they will not yield up their secrets save to a soul attuned by God. +That can be effected by the gift of understanding. I shall find by its means that +these treasures are inexhaustible, that from mere abstract teaching the sayings of the +Master and His Apostles become full of practical meaning, that all life about me takes +on a new and richer significance. History and social life open their doors to whoever +has this blessed gift, and it becomes clearly seen that their maker and builder is +God. The dullness of souls who will not believe, or only believe and then stop short, +becomes painful to note and bothersome to put up with, but this is the price one has +to pay for so fine a vision. By this, then, we peer into the depths of faith, and find +them gradually and steadily growing more and more clear and penetrable.</p> +<br><br><br> +<h2><a name="23">WISDOM</a></h2> +<p>1. All writers on the gifts of the Holy Ghost place wisdom as the highest gift of +all. It takes this high position partly because its work is done in the intelligence, +which is man's highest power, and partly because it is that highest power occupied to +its highest capacity. Like knowledge and understanding, its business is to make us see +God everywhere, in the material and spiritual creation of God, in the concrete facts +of existence, and in the revealed truths of faith. It produces in a soul a sense of +complete certainty and hope. Hence it is sometimes described as neighbor to hope; +indeed, its finest side is often just that determined and resolute conviction with +which the soul rises superior to every possible disaster, and is prepared to brave +every contingency in its sureness of God's final power and the efficacy of His will. +It comes closer, therefore, to God Himself than do either understanding or knowledge. +These do, indeed, enable the soul to be continuously conscious of the divine presence, +of God immanent as well as transcendent, God in the heart of the world as well as +wholly above the world, and they affect this consciousness by enabling the soul to see +Him everywhere. They lift the veil. They show His footprints. They trace everywhere +the marks of His power, wisdom, love. But it is noticeable that they lead to God from +the world. I see a flower, and by the gift of knowledge I am immediately aware of the +author of its loveliness; by understanding I perceive with clearness the wonder of +God's working in the world. By them I lift my eyes from earth to Heaven, by wisdom I +look from Heaven to see the earth.</p> +<p>2. Wisdom, therefore, implies an understanding of the world through God, whereas +knowledge and understanding suppose a perception of God through the world. Wisdom +takes its stand upon causes, the other two on effects. They work from creatures to +Creator; wisdom looks upon all the world through the eyes of God. Consequently the +effect of wisdom is that the soul sees life as a whole. Matter and truth are to it no +longer separate planes of thought, but one. There is at once no distinction between +them in the eyes of God, for both are manifestations of Himself and creatures of His +making. Hence the soul that is dowered with wisdom climbs up to God's own height, and +looking down upon the world sees it "very good," noticing how part fits in with part, +and how truths of faith, and truths of science and sunset, and flower and Hell, are +linked one with another to form the pattern of God's design. Each has its place in the +divine economy of God's plan, each is equally of God, equally sharing in His purposes, +though some more than others able to express God better. The effect, then, is largely +that the whole of life is co-ordinated, and equality, fraternity, liberty, become not +the motto of a revolution, but of the ordered government of God.</p> +<p>3. The opposite to this gift is folly, for a man who fails in wisdom loses all true +judgment of the values of human life. He is perpetually exchanging the more for the +less valuable, bestowing huge gifts in just barter, as he imagines, for what is merely +showy and trivial. Not by causes, but by effect does he consider life and its +activities. The wise man, then, estimates everything by its highest cause. He compares +and discovers, gleans the reason of God's providence, its purpose, its fitness. First +principles are his guide, not the ready and practical proverbs that display the wit +and worldly wisdom of the lesser man. Eternity becomes of larger moment than time, +since time is merely for eternity. God's law is more convincing than man's, for man's +enactments are not laws at all when they come in conflict with divine commands. Faith +is so deeply in him that he judges between propositions, and discovers truth against +heresy. He has climbed to the heights of God and sees all the world at his feet, and +knows it as God knows it, the world and its Lord and the glory of it.</p> +<br><br><br> +<h2><a name="24">COUNSEL</a></h2> +<p>1. The fourth gift that perfects the intelligence acts rather as a moderating than +as a stimulating influence. The soul is often impetuous in its decisions, moved by +human feelings and passions, urged by desire, love, hatred, prejudice. Quickly stirred +to action, it dashes into its course without any real attention to, or understanding +of, its better wisdom. Frequently in life my lament has to be that I acted on the +impulse of the moment. There is so much that I am sorry for, not merely because now I +see what has actually resulted, but because even then I had quite sufficient reason to +let me be certain what would result. I was blind, not because my eyes could not have +seen, but because I gave them no leave to see. I would not carefully gaze at the +difficulties, not puzzle out in patience what would most likely be the result. Even my +highest powers are often my most perilous guides, since, moved by generosity, I +engaged myself to do what I have no right to perform, and find that I have in the end +been generous not only of what is my own, but sometimes of what belongs to another, +not as though I deliberately gave away what belonged to another, but just because I +had no deliberation at all. I need, then, the Holy Spirit of God to endow me with the +gift of counsel which corresponds to prudence.</p> +<p>2. Now prudence, which counsel helps and protects, is eminently a practical gift of +God, not so high as wisdom, not so wonderful in the beauty of its vision as knowledge +or understanding, yet for all a most important and homely need. The other intellectual +gifts of the Spirit are more abstract. They give us just the whisper of God that +enables us to see the large ways of God in the world. They give, in consequence, the +great principles that are to govern us in life. Hence their importance is very great. +We do so seriously need to know by what principles we are to measure life's +activities, on what basis to build up the fabric of our souls, to be sure that God's +laws are very clearly and definitely made manifest to us. But, after all, that is only +one-half of the difficulty, for even after I know the principles of action, I have +still the trouble, in some ways more full of possibilities of mistake, of applying +them to concrete experience. I know that sacrifice is the law of life, I know that +meekness overindulged may be cowardice, I know that I may sin by not having anger; +that is all evident, a series of platitudes. But here, and now, have I come to the +limit of meekness? Must I manifest my angry protests? Am I obliged to attend to my own +needs and renounce the idea of sacrifice? There daily are questions that puzzle, +torture, bruise me with scruples.</p> +<p>3. Just here, then, I have intense need for this practical gift of God in order +with nicety and precision to apply principles to concrete cases; often I am +precipitate or perhaps dilatory. I am in a hurry or cannot make up my mind—shall +I answer those who attack me, or shall I be silent? Our Lord was silent and made +answer by turns. Counsel, then, is my need from God, the instinct whereby a practical +judgment is quickly and safely made. All the more have I a tremendous need for this if +my life is full of activity, if pressure of work, or social life, or the demands of +good and useful projects, or the general tendency of my family surroundings, make my +day crowded and absorbed, for the very combined and concentrated essence of life will +need some exceedingly moderate influence to produce any sense of balance or proportion +in my judgment. The people about me I notice to become more and more irritable, mere +creatures of impulse. I feel some such malign influence invading the peaceful +sanctuary of my soul, disturbing its even outlook on things, driving out my serene +calm. I must anchor on to this gift of God, become prudent, detached, filling the mind +with the counsel of the Holy Spirit.</p> +<br><br><br> +<h2><a name="25">FORTITUDE</a></h2> +<p>1. After the intelligence comes the will which also, because of the very large part +it plays in all human action, needs to be perfected by a gift of the Spirit. It is +necessary to repeat that the Holy Spirit does not by His gifts bestow on the soul new +powers and new faculties, but develops, refines, perfects faculties already there. It +is not the creation of new eyes to see new visions, but the strengthening of the eyes +of the soul so as to see more clearly and with a longer sight. The will, then, has +also to be strengthened, for it is the will that lies at the very heart of all +heroism. Merely to have a glimpse of greatness is but part of a hero's need. No doubt +it is a larger part, for very many of us never by instinct at all touch on the borders +of greatness, we do not see or understand how in our little lives we can be great, we +have not the imagination lit up by God, no vision; yet "when the vision fails, the +people shall perish." But even when that sudden showing does by God's mercy come to +us, we still fall far short of it. It is too high, too ideal, too far removed from +weak human nature to seem possible to us. That is to say, our will has failed us. We +are faced by some huge obstacle, or even by a persistent refusal to budge on behalf of +some one (ourselves or another) to go forward and to do; we struggle, fail, lose +heart, surrender, cease our efforts. What do we want? Fortitude, that "persistive +constancy" that to Shakespeare was the greatest quality of human wills.</p> +<p>2. How is this achieved? By appreciating the nearness of God to us. The gifts make +us responsive to God with an ease and instantaneousness that operates smoothly and +without friction. That is God's doing, not ours. He gives us this wonderful power of +being able to register at once every passing inspiration. The gifts that refine the +intelligence allow it to perceive sights which else were hidden. The gift that refines +the will must do this by some kindred action. Now the difficulties that beset the will +must necessarily be difficulties for whose overcoming strength is needed. Therefore +the will must be refined by being made strong. How can it be made strong by the Holy +Spirit? What exactly happens to its mechanism to secure for it the power of endurance? +The easiest way of understanding how this effect is brought about is to suppose that +the soul by its refinement, by that delicacy whereby it responds instantly to a divine +impression, is quickly aware of God's nearness to it. It perceives how close it is to +the Spirit of God, and the sense of this nearness makes it better able to hold on to +its duty. In the old style of warfare we often read of wives and mothers coming to the +field of battle that their presence might awake their men to the topmost pitch of +courage. Even in the modern methods of fighting, the moral effect of the presence of +the emperor or king is considered to have an effect upon the troops. Of course here it +is more homely, since the familiar presence of the Holy Spirit strengthens and +inspires by love, trust, sympathy. </p> +<p>3. For this reason the name Comforter was given to the Holy Spirit, in its original +sense of strengthening, becoming the fort of the soul; and the result is that the +recipient is able to hold on or, in our modern slang, to "carry on." By nature so many +of us are prone to seek our own comforts at the expense of what we know to be the +higher side of us. Human respect makes us again cowardly, or the sheer monotony of +perseverance dulls and wearies the soul. We get so depressed with the strain of making +efforts that we are very much inclined to let the spiritual side of life go under, or +at least be rendered as little heroic as possible, for it is real heroism even just to +"go on." The "silent pressure" of temptations, when their passion and fury have died +down, is a constant worry, an unconscious weight on the mind, like the thought of war +that lies heavily at the back of the consciousness of those whose external lives seem +empty of war-reminders. We want to be courageous and fearless, to <i>undergo</i>. Then +we must hold fast to God's nearness to us, and feel the virtue going out from Him to +us, though He does but touch the hem of our garments by His indwelling.</p> +<br><br><br> +<h2><a name="26">PIETY</a></h2> +<p>1. Besides our intelligence and will we have other faculties that go by a diversity +of names; sometimes they are called the emotions, sometimes the passions, sometimes +they are alluded to as the sentimental side of our nature; but by whatever name we may +happen to call them, it is clear that they represent just those movements of our being +which are not really rational in themselves, though they can be controlled by the +reason. It is simplest to divide them into two classes and to realize that they lie +just on the borderline between spirit and matter, partly of soul, partly of body. +These two classes are arranged according as the emotion attracts or repels man. The +repelled emotions are fear, anger, hatred, etc.; the attracted are love, desire, joy, +etc. This gift of piety enables even the emotions to be made responsive to God. It is +always the notion of some perfect instrument to be made harmonious that perhaps most +clearly shows us the work of the Holy Spirit in the gifts of God, some perfect +instrument, which needs to be so nicely at tuned that its every string shall give out +a distinct note, and shall require the least movement from the fingers of God's right +hand to make its immediate response. Here, then, we have first to record the fact that +the purpose of this gift is to make the emotions or passions so refined, so perfectly +strung, that at once the slightest pressure of the Divine instinct moves them to turn +their love, desire, joy, towards God, finding in Him the satisfaction of their inmost +heart.</p> +<p>2. Piety, in its Latin significance (and here in theology, of course, we get almost +all our terms through the Latin tongue), means the filial spirit of reverence towards +parents. Virgil gives to the hero of his Roman epic the repeated title of <i>pius</i>, +because he wishes always to emphasize Æneas' devotion to his aged father. Hence +it is clear that what is primarily intended here is that we should be quickly +conscious of the Fatherhood of God. The mediæval mystics, especially our homely +English ones like Richard Rolle of Hampole, and Mother Julianna of Norwich, curiously +enough were fond of talking about the Motherhood of God in order to bring out the +protective and devoted side of God's care for us; of course God surpasses both a +mother's and father's love in His ineffable love for us. But then it is just that +sweetness of soul in its attitude towards God, that this gift produces in me a +readiness to perceive His love in every turn of fortune, and to discover His gracious +pity in His treatment of my life. It requires a divine indwelling of the Spirit of God +to effect this in my soul, for though I may be by nature easily moved to affection, +prompt to see and profit by every opening for friendship, yet I must, no less, have a +difficulty in turning this into my religious life without God's movement in my +soul.</p> +<p>3. Perhaps the most unmistakable result of this is in the general difference +between Catholic and non-Catholic nations, in their ideas of religion. Even if one +takes a non-Catholic nation at its best and a Catholic nation at its worst, the gulf +between them is enormous, for at its lowest the religion of the Catholic nation will +be attractive at least with its joy, and the non-Catholic repellent with its gloom. +There is a certain hardness about all other denominations of Christianity, a certain +restrained attitude of awe towards God, which though admirable in itself, is perfectly +hateful when it is made the dominant note in religion. Better joyous superstition than +gloomy correctness of worship; better, far better, to find happy children who have +little respect, and much comradeship, towards their parents, than neat and quiet +children who are in silent awe of their parents. It is, then, to develop this side of +religion that the gift of piety is given. The result then is a sweetness, a +gracefulness, a natural lovingness towards God and all holy persons and things, as +opposed to a gloomy, respectable, awkward, self-conscious hardness towards our Father +in Heaven. Clever, trained people have most to be on their guard, for the intellectual +activities of the soul are apt to crowd out the gentler, simpler side of +character.</p> +<br><br><br> +<h2><a name="27">FEAR</a></h2> +<p>1. Catholics as a whole, then, we claim to be not in awe of God, but holding +themselves to Him rather by love than fear; yet for all that there must come into our +religion a notion also of fear, else God will be made of little account, dwarfed by +His hero-followers, the saints. It is possible that familiarity with God may breed +something which seems very like contempt. The majesty of God has got to be considered +just as much as His love, for either without the other would really give a false idea +of Him. Just as there are people who would give up all belief in Hell, because they +prefer to concentrate upon His mercy, and, as a result, have no real love of God as He +is in Himself, so there are people also who do not sufficiently remember the respect +due to His awfulness, people who think of Him as a Redeemer, which indeed He is, but +not as a Judge, which is equally His prerogative. Hence this side of our character is +also to be made perfect by the indwelling of the Spirit of God, our fear, anger, +hate, have got to be sanctified by finding a true object for their due exercise. No +single talent must be wrapped away in uselessness; I must fear God, be angry with, and +hate sin. Fear, then, as well as piety is a gift of the Spirit.</p> +<p>2. The chief way in which the absence of this gift of fear manifests itself is in +the careless and slipshod way we perform our duties. We are sure to believe in God's +justice and majesty; but we are not so sure to act up to our belief. Accuracy in +devotion, in prayer, in life, is the result of a filial fear of God, and if I have to +confess a very chaotic and uncertain procedure in my spiritual duties, then I can tell +quite easily which gift I most need to make use of. What are my times for prayer like? +Are they as regularly kept to as my circumstances permit? How about my subject for +meditation, how about my following of the Mass, my watchfulness in prayer, my days for +confession and communion? Again, my duties at home, in my profession, in the work I +have undertaken? Are they on the whole punctually performed, accurately, with regard +to details? That is where my fear for God should come in, for fear here is part of +love and love is enormously devoted to little things, indeed finds that where it is +concerned there are no little things, but time and place and manner and thoroughness +have all got faithfully to be noted and carried out. Here, then, is where I shall find +I need a reverential fear of God.</p> +<p>3. Yes, of course, pride and laziness will protest all the while, by urging that +all this is a great deal of fuss about nothing, that God is our Father, that He +perfectly understands, that we should not worry ourselves too much over trifles. Now +pride and laziness often speak true things, or rather half-truths. It is true that God +is my Father and understands; but it is equally true that I am His child and that love +demands my thoroughness. Horror of sin, devotion to the sacrament of confession, the +Scripture saying about a severe judgment for every idle word, all these things have +got to be taken into account as well as the first set of principles. Piety needs fear +for its perfect performance. The boy at first may have to be scolded into obedience to +his mother. He does not at first realize, and is punished; but watch him when he is a +grown man, no longer in subjection or under obedience; see how charmingly he cares for +her by anticipating her wishes, how much he is at her beck and call, proudly +foreseeing for her, protecting, caring. That is love, no doubt, but a love of +reverence. They are comrades in a sense, but she is always his mother to him, some one +to be idolized, reverenced, yes, and, really, feared, in the fullest sense of +love.</p> +<br><br><br> +<h2><a name="28">GRACE</a></h2> +<p>1. The indwelling, then, of the Holy Spirit is a true and magnificent phrase. It +means that we become living Temples of God. Elsewhere indeed He is in tree, flower, +sky, earth, water; up in the Heavens, down to the depths of the lower places, in the +cleft wood and lifted stone, in the heart of all creation by the very fact of its +creation. Yet the higher a thing is in the scale of being the more nearly is it after +God's image and likeness, so that man by his sheer intelligence is more representative +of God, as the highest masterpiece is more representative of the author of it. Yet +over and above this intelligent life of man is another life in him, which secures +God's presence within him in some nobler fashion, for it is noticeable that Scripture +repeatedly speaks of God's dwelling in His saints, and not dwelling in sinners. Now He +is even in sinners by the title of their Creator, so that <i>dwelling</i> must be a +deliberate phrase chosen by the Inspired author of Scripture to represent some +presence above the mere general presence of God everywhere. Consequently we are driven +to the conclusion that the saints, in virtue of their sainthood, become dwelling +places of God, temples, special places set apart, where in a more perfect way, with +richer expression and more true representation, God is. Sanctity, therefore, +constitutes something wholly supernatural, attracting God's indwelling, or rather +resulting from this indwelling of God.</p> +<p>2. Now sanctity itself cannot mean that one man is able to make himself so alluring +to God that he draws God to himself, for in that case God's action of indwelling would +be motived by a creature, and God would have found some finite reason for His act. +This cannot be, since the only sufficient motive for God can be God Himself. "He hath +done all things on account of Himself," say the Scriptures. We can be sure, therefore, +that the indwelling of the spirit is the cause and not the effect of the goodness that +is in man, for the Saints are not born, but made by God. Hence we understand what is +meant by saying that the justice of the Saints, their justification, is effected by +grace, i. e., by God's free gift. It is not from them, but from Him: "Not to us, O +Lord, not to us, but to Thy name give Glory." Grace, therefore, is the name given to +that divine habit whereby the soul is made one with Him. It is clear, then, also, why +in the catechism grace is called the supernatural life of the soul, and why mortal sin +is called the death of the soul, since it kills the soul by depriving it of +sanctifying grace. </p> +<p>3. This leads us to the last notion of grace, that it is in the supernatural order +what the soul is in the natural order. My soul is everywhere in my body and gives +evidence of its presence by the life there manifest; cut off a portion of the body, +amputate a limb. It dies. The soul is no longer in it. So does grace work. It is right +in the very essence of the soul, at the heart of it, and works through into all the +faculties and powers by means of the virtues. It is the life of the whole assemblage +of these habits of goodness. As soon as it is withdrawn, then at once charity goes, +for we are out of friendship with God, and charity is nothing other than the love of +God. Hope still and faith in some form remain, but without any inner life or energy to +quicken them. All else is a crumbled ruin, without shape or life, a sight to fill +those that can see it with horror and disgust. With grace the soul is once more +thronged with vital activities, for grace is life. Grace it is that gives the same +charm to the soul as life gives to the body; it imparts a freshness, an alertness, an +elasticity, a spontaneous movement, a fragrance, a youth. By grace we are children in +God's eyes, with the delicate coloring and sweetness of a child; without it we are +old, worn, dead, not only useless to ourselves, but a pollution to others. Need one +wonder if all life is different to the soul in sin? Religion, God, Heaven, Mass, +prayers, have lost all attraction and are full of drudgery. Outwardly we feel the +same; but our attraction to these higher gifts has gone, a prodigal as yet content +with the husks of life's fruitage, relishing only the food of swine, without grace, +spiritually dead.</p> +<br><br> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Abiding Presence of the Holy Ghost +in the Soul, by Bede Jarrett + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ABIDING PRESENCE OF HOLY GHOST *** + +***** This file should be named 34855-h.htm or 34855-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/4/8/5/34855/ + +Produced by Michael Gray, Diocese of San Jose + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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