XXI — THE ACTION OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

Presence of God. — O Holy Spirit, reveal your action in my soul; teach me to recognize it and to follow it.

Meditation

1 — As the Holy Spirit was in the Most Holy Soul of Christ to bear it into God, so He is also in our souls; but whereas in Jesus He found a will wholly docile, which He could fully master, in us He often finds a reluctant will that resists Him; He therefore stops, because He does not wish to violate our freedom. Spirit of Love, He waits for us to respond in love to his work: that for love and freely we open our soul to his sanctifying action. To become saints, then, we must collaborate in the Holy Spirit’s work; but since no effective collaboration can be given unless one knows the way the promoter of the work acts, it is necessary to know how the divine Paraclete, promoter of our sanctification, acts in us.

It is important to know that the Holy Spirit always works in our souls, even in the first stages of the spiritual life, indeed from its beginning, although then He does so in a more hidden way and therefore less recognized. But his action is there, most precious, and consists above all in preparing and sustaining our initiatives for acquiring perfection. The first work He does in us is to raise us to the supernatural state by communicating grace to us, without which we could do nothing to attain holiness. Grace comes to us from God; the whole Most Holy Trinity gives it to us; but just as creation is especially attributed to the Father, and as the Son by his Incarnation, Passion, and death merited it for us, so the Holy Spirit diffuses it in our souls; to Him, Spirit of Love, the work of our sanctification is especially attributed. When we received Baptism we were justified “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”; nevertheless Sacred Scripture attributes this work of regeneration and divine filiation in a special way to the Holy Spirit; Jesus Himself presented Baptism as a rebirth “of the Holy Spirit” (Jn. 3:5), and St. Paul affirms: “we were all baptized in one Spirit” and “the Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God” (cf. 1 Cor. 12:13; Rom. 8:16). It is therefore the Holy Spirit who prepared and disposed our souls for supernatural life by pouring grace into us.

2 — Moreover, to make us capable of performing supernatural actions, the Holy Spirit, coming into our soul, has invested its powers - intellect and will - with infused virtues. First of all, He pours charity into us and, with charity, the other theological virtues: faith and hope; likewise He infuses moral virtues into us. Thus, by his intervention, we become capable of acting supernaturally. But the Holy Spirit’s action does not stop there; like a good teacher, He continues to assist us in our acting, urging us to good and sustaining us in our efforts. First, He invites us to good by interior inspirations and also by external means, especially Sacred Scripture and the Church’s magisterium. Sacred Scripture is the word of God written by men who wrote under the motion of the Holy Spirit. In Sacred Scripture, therefore, it is the divine Paraclete who speaks to us, enlightening our mind with his light and moving our will with his impulse: therefore to meditate on the sacred texts is somewhat like “going to school” with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit also continues to instruct us and stir us to good through the Church’s living word, since all who in the Church have a teaching mission, while expounding sacred doctrine to the faithful, are under his influence. And if we accept the Holy Spirit’s inspirations, if at his invitation we decide to act, He still accompanies and assists us with actual grace, so that we may bring the virtuous work to completion. It is clear, then, that even when the spiritual life is at its beginning and is concentrated on correcting defects and acquiring virtues, the soul’s activity is wholly permeated and sustained by the Holy Spirit’s action. We think too little about this truth, and therefore in practice take too little account of the divine Spirit’s continual work in our souls. We must think of it, so as not to let his inspirations and impulses pass in vain. “By the grace of God I am what I am,” said St. Paul, and he could add: “the grace of God in me was not in vain” (1 Cor. 15:10).

Colloquy

“O Holy Spirit, divine Guest of our souls, You are the noblest and most worthy guest of all guests! With the swiftness of your goodness and of your love for us, You hasten toward all souls disposed to receive You. And who could tell the marvelous effects You produce where You are received? You speak without saying anything, and your sublime silence is understood everywhere. You are ever motionless and ever in movement, and in your mobile immobility You communicate yourself to all. You are always at rest and yet always active; and in your rest You work the greatest, worthiest, most admirable works. You are always on the way, yet without changing place; and wherever You enter, You establish, preserve, and at the same time destroy everything.

“Your immense and penetrating knowledge knows all things, understands all things, penetrates all things. Without listening to anything, You hear the slightest word spoken in the innermost heart.

“O Holy Spirit, You stop everywhere You are not driven out, because You communicate yourself to all, except sinners who do not wish to come out of the mire of sin, because in them You find nowhere to rest, nor can You endure that pestilential stench that comes from the heart obstinately willing to persevere in evil. But You rest in creatures who, by their purity, make themselves apt to receive the communication of your gifts. And in me You rest by communication, by operation, by wisdom, by power, by liberality, by goodness, by charity, by love, by purity, and in short by your own goodness; and by infusing these graces into your creature, You Yourself make it fit to receive You” (St. Mary Magdalene de’ Pazzi).