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The Mission of the Holy Spirit

Summary. — In what way the visible mission of the Holy Ghost » enters into the cycle of the mysteries of Jesus. — I. What the Holy Spirit is in the Trinity. — II. The reasons why the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples only took place after the Ascension. — III. The work of the Divine Paraclete in the souls of the Apostles ; He fills them with truth, love, strength and consolation. — IV. The assembly of the Apostles in the cenacle represents the entire Church ; wonderful and unceasing action of the Holy Spirit in the Church : Pentecost ever continues. — V. Operations of the Spirit in our souls ; our duties towards Him.

F you loved Me”, said Christ Jesus to His Apostles, I “vou would indeed be glad, because I go to the Father” : Si diligeretis me, gauderetis utique quia vado ad Patrem}.

For those who love Christ, the Ascension is, indeed, an inexhaustible source of joy. It is the supreme glorification of Jesus to the highest heavens ; it is the realisation of that prayer of Christ : “ Glorify Thou Me, O Father, with Thyself, with the glory which I had, before the world was, with Thee : Clarifica me, tu, Pater, apud temetipsum, claritate quam habwm, priusquam mundus esset, apud te. We are full of gladness in contemplating Jesus, the Son of God, our Redeemer, our Head, sitting at the right hand of His Father, after having fulfilled here below, in the self-abasement of His Incarnation and the humiliations of His death, His mission of salvation.

But Our Lord did not only say to His disciples that they ought to rejoice in His Ascension ; He added that His Ascension would profit them. Veritatem dico: expedit vobis ut ego vadam ; si enim non abiero, Paracletus non

I, Joan. X1v, 28. — 2. Ibid. xvu, 5.

Christ in His Mysteries. 21 veniet ad vos; si autem abiero, mittam eum ad vos*. “TI tell you the truth : 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”.

All the utterances of the Incarnate Word are, as He Himself says, “spirit and life” : Verba quae ego locutus sum vobis, spiritus et vita sunt?, They are deep and solemn, sometimes mysterious ; there are some that are difficult to understand, and can hardly be fathomed except "in prayer. The word of Jesus which we have just quoted on the subject of His leaving the world is one of these utterances.

Expedit vobis ut ego vadam: “It is expedient to you that I go”. How can it be good for the Apostles that Jesus shall go ? that He shall leave them, to ascend to His Father ? Is He not for them the source of every good, of every grace? Is He not “ The Way, the Truth and the Life” *? Did He not say : “ No man cometh to the Father, but by Me” * ? How then can it be useful to the disciples for Jesus to leave them ?

Might they not have answered Him in all truth: O Divine Master, say not so ; we need none other save You, You are sufficient for us: Ad quem tbimus®? With You have we not every grace ? Abide then with us. Mane nobiscum ®,

But the Divine Master’s words are formal : “I tell you the truth” : Veritatem dico. “It is expedient to you that I go, for if I go not, the Paraclete will not come to you”.

This is the mystery, and it is this mystery that we are about to contemplate, as far as that is possible for us ; for here all is supernatural, and faith alone can be our guide.

Although in this conference, there will be constantly question of the Holy Spirit, we shall see that the visible mission of this Spirit to the disciples—the mission that constitutes the proper object of the solemnity of Pentecost —belongs to Jesus, in His Divine nature, (as it belongs also to the Father), and that it enters, on this account into the cy¢le of His mysteries. ;1

Christ Jesus prayed for this mission ; He made it the object of a special demand. Our Lord said to His disciples at the Last Supper : “I will ask the Father, and He shall give you another Paraclete, that He may abide with . you for ever” +.

Besides, Jesus promised His apostles to send them this Consoler. ‘‘ When the Paraclete cometh, whom I will send you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, Who proceedeth from the Father, He shall give testimony of Me... If I go, I will send Him to you” ”.

He, moreover, merited this mission. By His prayer, as by His sacrifice, Christ Jesus obtained from the Father that the Spirit of truth, of love, of fortitude and of consolation should be given to them. We owe every grace to the prayer and immolation of the Saviour, as was wonderfully verified in the coming of this Spirit, so powerful and so full of goodness that Jesus Himself declares Him His equal, in Whom the Apostles were to find another Himself.

Finally, and above all, the sending of the Holy Spirit to the Apostles has no other end, as you know, than to achieve the establishment of the Church. Jesus had founded this Church upon Peter, but He left to the Holy Spirit (we shall presently see wherefore) the care of bringing it to perfection. Indeed, before His Ascension, being at table with His apostles, He told them “that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but should wait for the promise of the Father” *. The coming of this Spirit was to serve for the glorification of Jesus ; at the same time, the Spirit would fill them with power whereby they should render testimony to Jesus in the holy city, “in all. Judea, and Samaria, and even to the uttermost parts of the earth” *. These are Jesus Christ’s own words.

Then, as you see, this mission of the Holy Spirit to the Apostles truly belongs to Jesus. This is so true that St. Paul calls the Holy Spirit, “the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of Jesus” ®. This is why we can never go through the cycle of Christ’s mysteries without contemplating this marvellous work which was wrought ten days after the Ascension.2

Let us then implore the Holy Spirit Himself to make known to us what He is, in what His mission and work consists on the day of Pentecost. “Come, Spirit of Truth, enlighten our minds so that the fire of love of which Thou art the infinite source may be enkindled in our hearts” i

We can only understand the words of Jesus concerning the Holy Spirit if we first recall what Revelation teaches us of the life of this Spirit in the Holy Trinity. You already know this mystery? ; but, in contemplating it anew, your faith will find an increase of joy. Let us then penetrate, with the deepest reverence, into the sanctuary of the divinity.

What does faith tell us ? That there is in God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit : three distinct Persons in one and the same unity of nature.

As you know the Father proceeds from none ; He is the Principle without principle, the first principle of all the intimate life in God, the first origin of all the ineffable communications in the Trinity. The Father, knowing Himself, begets by an infinite Word, a Son only-begotten and perfect, to Whom He communicates all that He is, except the personal property of being the Father: Sicut enim Pater habet witam in semetipso, sic dedit et Filio habere uvitam in semetip so? The Son is equal in all things to the Father ; He is the adequate expression, the perfect image of the Father ; He possesses with the Father the same divine nature. The Father and the Son give themselves the One to the Other with a perfect love, and it is from this gift of love from the Father to the Son, and from the Son to the Father, that proceeds, in a mysterious manner, the Holy Spirit, the third Person. The Holy Spirit terminates the cycle of the intimate operations in God, He is the final term of the divine communications in the adorable Trinity.3

Between these distinct Persons, as you likewise know, there is neither superiority nor inferiority : it would be a grave error to believe that there is. These Divine Persons are equal in power, wisdom and goodness, because all three equally possess, in an indivisible manner, one and the same Divine nature with all its infinite perfection. And therefore all our praise is addressed at the same time to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit : Gloria Patri et Filio et Spiritui Sancto.

However, if there is among them neither inequality or dependence, there is an order of nature, of origin, marking these communications themselves. The “ procession ” of the Son presupposes, without there being, however, inequality of time, the Father, Who is the first principle ; the “procession” of the Holy Spirit presupposes the Father and the Son, of Whom He is the mutual gift.

Jesus wills that all His disciples should be baptized “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost” : that is the very language of the Incarnate Word ; it contains a divine reality, the intimate comprehension of which baffles our understanding ; but because it is the language of Jesus, we must inviolably respect the order between the Persons of the Trinity. And as we must hold intact, in our doctrine and our prayer, the unity of nature, so too we must confess the distinction of Persons, this distinction which is based upon the communications that they have between Themselves and Their mutual relations. There is, at the same time, equality and order ; there is an identical perfection and distinction of properties.

These truths constitute an ineffable mystery concerning which we can but lisp. However Our Lord has revealed to us the existence of this mystery, and He made this revelation in His last discourse with His disciples on the eve of His death, that our “joy may be filled”?. He Himself tells us that if we are His friends, it is because He has made known to us these secrets of God’s innermost life ?, while we await the enjoyment of them in eternal happiness. And why should He have revealed these secrets to us, if He, Infinite Wisdom, had not judged that this revelation would be profitable to us ?4

But again remark that not only by His word has God revealed this order of principle, of origin, which exists in the ineffable communications of the Persons among Themselves and upon which Their distinction is founded, He has also chosen to manifest it by His works.

Jesus tells us, in the Gospel, that eternal life is to know that the Father is the true God, and that Jesus Christ is He Whom the Father has sent?. He often says that He was “sent” by the Father?. This term “sent” frequently used by Christ Jesus marks the distinction of persons. It is the Father Who “sends” ; it is the Son Who is “sent” : the order of origin that exists from all eternity in heaven between the Father and the Son, is also manifested in time. For Christ tells us in the same place, in speaking of His Father : “I and the Father are One” ® ; and again He says addressing the Father : “ All My things are Thine, and Thine are Mine” ‘.

Jesus uses the same term “send” in speaking of the Holy Spirit. He says to the Apostles that His Father will send them the Holy Ghost : Paracletus autem Spiritus Sanctus quem mitiet Pater®. He also says that He Himself will send Him : Si autem abiero, mittam eum ad vos *. As you see it is the Father and the Son Who send ; thus Jesus speaks of the Spirit : and Our Lord thereby denotes the order that exists in God in the “ procession ” of the Holy Ghost. |

II

We here touch upon the profound reason that Jesus had for saying to His apostles that when He should have returned to heaven, He would send them the Holy Ghost.

In His divine nature, Jesus is, with the Father, the prin- ciple from which the Holy Spirit proceeds. The gift of the Holy Spirit to the Church and to souls is a priceless gift, since this Spirit is Divine Love in Person. But as I have said, this gift, like every grace, was merited for us by Jesus. It is the fruit of His Passion. He purchased it by the sufferings He endured in His Sacred Humanity. Was it not therefore just that this grace should not be given to the world, until that Humanity, whereby it had been merited, had been glorified ? This exaltation of the Humanity in Jesus was not accomplished in its fulness, nor did it reach its fruition until the day of the Ascension. It was only then that the Sacred Humanity entered definitively into possession of the glory to which it is doubly entitled as being united to the Son of God, and as a victim offered to the Father thereby to merit every grace for souls. Seated at the right hand of the Father in the glory of heaven, the Humanity of the Incarnate Word was to be thus associated with the “sending” of the Holy Spirit by the Father and the Son.5

We now understand why Our Lord Himself said to His Apostles : “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”. It is.as if He said : I have merited this grace for you by my Passion ; in order that it may be given you, it is first of all necessary that My Passion should be followed by My glory.

The Fathers of the Church? add another reason which relates to the disciples.

One day Jesus promised that living water should spring up in those that believed in Him. St. John the Evangelist, in relating this promise, adds : “ Now this He said of the Spirit which they should receive, who believed in Him : for as yet the Spirit was not given, because Jesus was not yet glorified” ?. Faith was therefore the source, so to speak; of the coming of the Holy Spirit in us. Now as long as Christ Jesus lived upon earth, the faith of the disciples was imperfect. It would only be entire, it could only unfold in all fulness when the Ascension had taken the human presence of their Divine Master from their sight. “ Be- cause thou hast seen Me, Thomas, thou hast believed”, said Jesus to Thomas after the resurrection, “blessed are they that have not seen and have believed ”*!6

“ After the Ascension, the faith of the disciples, better instructed, went further and higher to seek Christ sitting near to the Father and equal to the Father ” ”.

It is because the apostles’ faith, after the Ascension, had become purer, more interior, more intense, more efficacious, that the “ river of living water ” sprang up in them with such impetuosity.

We know, indeed, how magnificently Jesus fulfilled His divine promise, how ten days after the Ascension, the Holy Spirit, sent by the’ Father and the Son, descended upon the apostles assembled in the Cenacle, with what abundance of graces and charismata this Spirit of truth and love was poured forth in the souls of the disciples.

III

What indeed was the work of the Holy Spirit in the souls of the Apostles on the day of Pentecost ?

To understand it well, I ought first of all to recall to you the Church’s teaching upon the character of divine works. You know that in the domain of the supernatural life of grace, as well as in the works of the natural creation, all that God produces outside Himself, in time, is accomplished by the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, without distinction of persons. The three Persons then act in the unity of their divine nature. The distinction of Persons exists only in the incomprehensible communications that constitute the innermost life of God in Himself.

But in order to remind ourselves more easily of these revelations concerning the Divine Persons, the Church, in her language, attributes specially such or such action to one of the three Persons, on account of the affinity that exists between this action and the exclusive properties whereby this Person is distinguished from the others.

Thus the Father is the first principle, proceeding from none other, but from Whom proceed the Son and the Holy Spirit. Therefore the work which marks the origin of everything, the creation, is especially attributed to Him. Did the Father create alone ? Certainly not. The Son and the Holy Spirit created at the same time as the Father, and in union with Him. But between the property, peculiar to the Father, of being the first principle in the divine communications and the work of the creation, there is an affinity, in virtue of which the Church can, without error of doctrine, attribute the creation to the Father.7

The Son, the Word, is the infinite expression of the thought of the Father ; He is considered especially as Wisdom. The works in which this perfection shines forth above all, as in that of the ordering of the world, are particularly attributed to Him. He is indeed that Wisdom which coming forth out of the mouth of the Most High “reacheth from end to end mightily, and ordereth all things sweetly”. O Sapientia, quae ex ore Altissimi prodiisti, attingens a fine usque ad finem, fortiter suaviterque disponens ommnia?,

The Church applies the same law to the Holy Spirit. What is He in the Adorable Trinity ? He is the ultimate term, the consummation of life in God ; He closes the intimate cycle of the admirable operations of the Divine Life. And this is why, in order that we may remember this property which is personal to Him, the Church specially attributes to Him all that which is the work of grace, of sanctification, all that concerns the completion, the crowningpoint, the consummation : He is the divine Artist, Who, by His last touches, brings the work to its sovereign perfection: Dextrae Dei tu digitus?. The work attributed to the Holy Spirit, in the Church as in souls, is to lead to its end, to its term, to its ultimate perfection, the incessant labour of holiness.

Let us now contemplate, for a few moments, the divine workings of this Spirit in the souls of the Apostles.

He fills them with truth. You will at once say : Had not Christ Jesus done this ? Certainly He had. Did He not Himself declare : “I am the Truth” . He came into the world to bear testimony to the truth, and you know,

  1. Antiphon for December 17>. Cf. Eccli. xxiv. 5 ; Sap. vill, 1. — also from Himself, that He wholly accomplished His mission : Opus consummavt*.8

Yes, but now that He has left His apostles, it is the Holy Spirit Who is about to become their interior Master. “He shall not speak of Himself”, said Jesus, wishing to signify by this that the Holy Spirit,—proceeding from the Father and the Son, receiving from them divine life,—will give us the infinite truth that He receives by His ineffable procession. ‘‘ He will teach you all things and bring all things. to your mind, whatsoever I shall have said to you” ; “ He shall glorify Me ; because He shall receive of Mine, and shall show it to you” : Jlle me clarificabit ?.

There is yet more. The apostles had no need to trouble about what they should reply when the Jews delivered them up before the tribunals, and forebade them to preach the name of Jesus ; it was the Holy Spirit Who would inspire their replies *. And thus they should bear witness to Jesus: Accipietis virtutem supervenientis Spiritus Sancti in vos, et eritis mihi testes... usque ad ultimum terrae *.

And as it is by the tongue, the organ of speech, that testimony is rendered, and whereby the preaching of the name of Jesus was to go forth “to the uttermost part of the earth”, this Spirit, on the day of Pentecost, descends visibly upon the Apostles in the form of tongues.

, But these are tongues of fire. And why? Because the _ Holy Spirit comes to fill the hearts of the apostles with love. He is personal Love in the life of God. He is, as it were, the breath, the aspiration of the infinite love whence we drew life. It is related in Genesis that “the Lord God formed man of the slime of the earth, and breathed into his face the breath of life” : Inspiravit spiraculum vitae®. This vital breath was the symbol of the Spirit to Whom we owe the supernatural life. On the day of Pentecost, the Divine Spirit brought such an abundance of life to all the Church that to signify it “there came a sound from heaven, as of a mighty wind coming, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting” °.9

In descending upon them, the Holy Spirit pours forth in them His love which is Himself. It was needful that the apostles should be filled with love in order that in preaching the name of Jesus they should give birth to the love of their Master in the souls of the hearers ; it was necessary that their testimony, dictated by the Spirit, should be so full of life as to attach the world to Jesus Christ.

Moreover this love, ardent as a flame, powerful as a tempestuous wind, is necessary to the Apostles in order that they may be able to meet the dangers foretold by Christ when they shall have to preach His Name : the Holy Spirit fills them with fortitude.

Look at St. Peter, the prince of the Apostles. On the eve of the Passion of Jesus, he promises to follow Him even to death ; but that same night, at the voice of a servant, He denies his Divine Master ; he swears that he knows not the man*—See him now on the day of Pentecost. He announces Christ to thousands of Jews ; he reproaches them freely for having crucified Him. He renders testimony to His Resurrection and earnestly exhorts them to “do penance, and be baptized”. It is no longer the timid disciple who fears danger and follows afar off *, he is the witness who declares before all in firm and bold words, that Christ is the Son of God.

‘What power in Peter’s words ! The Apostle is no longer recognisable. The virtue of the Holy Spirit has changed him, the love that he bears towards his Master is henceforward strong and generous. Our Lord Himself had foretold this transformation when He said to His disciples before ascending into heaven : “Stay you in the city iill you be endued with power from on high” *.

Again, see this same Peter and the other apostles, a few days after the event. Notice how the Jews are moved by their words, by the miracles they work, and the conversions that they bring about in the name of Jesus. The chief priests and the Sadducees who brought about Christ’s death, forbid His disciples to preach the Saviour. You know their reply : “If it be just in the sight of God, to hear you rather than God, judge ye. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard ” ?.10

What is it that makes them speak with such courage, they who, on the night of the Passion, forsook Jesus ; who, during the days that followed the Resurrection, remained hidden with doors fast shut, “for fear of the Jews” : Propter metum Judaeorum?? It is the Spirit of truth, the Spirit of love, the Spirit of fortitude.

It is because their love for Christ is strong that they deliver themselves up to torments, for the Jews, seeing that the apostles pay no heed to their prohibition, bring them before the council ; but Peter declares in the name of all that they “ ought to obey God, rather than men” °.

You know what the Jews then did. To overcome this constancy, they scourged the apostles before releasing them. But note what the sacred writer adds. On going forth from the Council the apostles rejoiced “that they were accounted worthy to suffer reproach for the name of — Jesus” *. And whence came this joy in suffering, and humiliations ? From the Holy Spirit, for He is not only the Spirit of fortitude, He is too the Spirit of Consolation. “T will ask the Father’, says Jesus, “ and He shall give you another Paraclete” : Rogabo Patrem, et alium Paracletum dabit vobis... Spiritum veritatis ®.

Is not Christ Jesus Himself already a Consoler ? Certainly He is ; did He not say : “ Come to Me, all ye that labour, and are burdened, and I will refresh you” *®? Is He not, as St. Paul has revealed to us, a High Priest Who knows how to have compassion on our sufferings, because He has Himself passed through suffering‘ ?

But this Divine Consoler was to disappear trom the earthly eyes of the disciples ; that is why He asked His Father to send them another Consoler, equal to Himself, God like Himself.

Because He is the Spirit of truth, this Consoler assuages the needs of our intelligence ; because He is the Spirit of love, He satisfies the desires of our heart ; because He is the Spirit of strength, He sustains us in our toils, trials and tears : the Holy Spirit is eminently the Consoler.11

Consolator optime, Dulcis hospes animae, Dulce refrigerium? !

Oh ! Come and dwell in us, Father of the poor, Giver of heavenly gifts, Thou best Consoler, sweet Guest, and Refreshment full of sweetness for the soul.

IV

The Holy Spirit came for us ; those assembled in the Cenacle represented all the Church. The Spirit comes that He may abide with her for ever. This is Christ’s own promise : Ut maneat vobiscum IN AETERNUM ?.

The Holy Ghost descended visibly upon the Apostles at Pentecost ; from that day the Holy Church has been spreading over all the earth; she is the kingdom of Jesus ; and it is the Holy Spirit Who, with the Father and the Son, governs His Kingdom. He completes in souls the work of holiness begun by the redemption. He is, in the Church, what the soul is to the body : the Spirit that animates and quickens it, the Spirit that safeguards unity, whilst His action produces manifold and diverse effects ; He brings all Her vigour and ail beauty.

See indeed, what abundance of grace and charismata inundate the Church on the morrow of Pentecost. We read in “The Acts of the Apostles”, the book which is the history of the beginning of the Church, that the Holy Spirit came down visibly upon those who were baptised and filled them with marvellous graces. With what complacency St. Paul enumerates them. “ There are diversities of graces, but the same Spirit... Who worketh all in all. And | the manifestation of the Spirit is given unto every man unto profit. To one indeed by the Spirit, is given the word of wisdom : and to another, the word of knowledge... to another, faith in the same Spirit ; to another, the grace of healing in one Spirit : to another, the working of miracles ; to another, prophecy ; to another, the discerning of spirits ; to another diverse kinds of tongues”. And the Apostle adds : “ But all these things one and the same Spirit worketh, dividing to every one according as He will”.12

It is the Holy Spirit, promised and sent by the Father and by Jesus, Who gave this plenitude and this intensity of supernatural life to the first Christians ; dissimilar as they were, they had however, on account of the love that the Holy Spirit poured forth in them, “but one heart and one soul >?

Since then, the Holy Spirit abides in the Church in a permanent, indefectible manner, therein exercising an unceasing action of life and sanctification : Apud vos manebit, et in vobis erit®. He renders her infallible in the truth : ‘“‘When He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will teach you all truth’”’* and will guard you from all error. By His action a wonderful supernatural fruitfulness springs up in the Church ; He plants and unfolds in virgins, martyrs and confessors, those heroic virtues which are among the marks of holiness. In a word He is the Spirit Who by His inspirations, works in souls, rendering the Church which Jesus acquired for Himself by His Precious Blood,— “holy, and without blemish ”, worthy of being presented by Christ to His Father, on the day of final triumph.

Historically, and as a visible mission Pentecost is doubtless ended, but the inward action of the Spirit is unceasing. Its virtue endures for ever, its grace remains. The Holy Spirit’s mission in souls is henceforth invisible, but it is none the less fruitful.

Look at the Church, on the day when she celebrates the Ascension. What is her prayer, after having hymned the glorification of her Divine Bridegroom and having rejoiced thereat with gladness ? “O King of Glory, Lord of hosts, Who didst to-day ascend in triumph to the highest heavens, leave us not orphans, but send down upon us the Spirit of truth promised by the Father” : O Rex gloriae, Domine vir- tutum, qui triumphator hodie super omnes caelos ascendisti, ne derelinquas nos orphanos, sed mitte promissum Patris in nos, Spiritum veritatis?, O most powerful High Priest, now that Thou art seated at the right hand of the Father, and dost enjoy in all fulness thy victory and power, ask Thy Father as Thou didst promise, to send us another Comforter. By the sufferings of Thy Humanity, Thou didst merit this grace for us ; the Father will hear Thee because He loves Thee ; because Thou art His beloved Son, He will send with Thee the Spirit that He Himself promised when He said : “I will pour forth the Spirit of grace and of prayers upon all the inhabitants of Jerusalem”. Send Him into our souls, in nos, that He may abide there for ever.13

The Church prays as if Pentecost was to be renewed for us ; she repeats the antiphon Rex gloriae each day during the octave of the Ascension ; then, on the day of the solemnity of Pentecost, she multiplies the praises she offers to the Spirit in language full of magnificence and poetry : “Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Thy faithful and kindle in them the fire of Thy love*. Come, and from the height of heaven send down on us a ray of thy light! O most blessed light, fill our inmost hearts with Thy radiance® ! Fount of living water, Fire of love, spiritual Unction, come ! shed Thy light in our minds, pour forth Thy charity into our hearts, strengthen our weakness with Thy unfailing strength ” * !...

If the Church, our Mother, places these desires in our souls and these prayers upon our lips, it is not only to recall to us the visible mission which took place on the day of Pentecost, but in order that this mystery may be interiorly renewed within us all.

Let us repeat these ardent aspirations with the Church. Above all, let us beseech the Heavenly Father to send us this Spirit. Through sanctifying grace, we are His children ; and, as such, our condition urges the Father to pour down His gifts upon us. It is because He loves us as His children that He gives us His Son; Holy Com- munion is “ the Bread of children” ; Panis fihorum*; again it is because we are His children that He sends us His Spirit, one of His most perfect gifts : Donum Dez altissi- - mi”, Indeed what does St. Paul say ? Quontam estis filti, misit Deus Spiritum Filu sui in corda vestra® : “ Because you are sons, God hath sent the Spirit of His Son within your hearts” ; He is the Spirit of the Son, because He proceeds from the Son as from the Father, and He is sent by both the Father and the Son. This is why, in the Preface for Pentecost, the Church sings : “It is truly meet and just... that we always and in all places, give thanks to Thee, O holy Lord, Father Almighty, eternal God, through Christ Our Lord. Who, ascending above all the heavens, and sitting at Thy right hand, did this day send down upon the children of adoption the Holy Spirit Whom He had promised” : Promissum S‘piritum Sanctum hodterna die in filios adoptions effudit.14

So then, it is to all the children of adoption, to all those who are the brethren of Jesus by sanctifying grace that the Holy Spirit is given. And because this Gift is Divine and contains every most precious gift of life and of holiness, His effusion in us—an effusion which was manifested with such abundance on the day of Pentecost—“ fills the whole world with overflowing joy” : Quapropter profusis gaudus, totus in orbe terrarum mundus exultat *.

V

You may perhaps say : Have we not already received the Holy Spirit at Baptism, and yet more specially in the Sacrament of Confirmation ?

Assuredly we have, but we can always receive Him more abundantly ; we can always receive from Him clearer light, greater strength ; He can always make deeper well-springs of consolation rise up in our souls, and enkindle within our hearts a more intense love.

And this fruitful working of the Spirit within us can be renewed not only during the holy days of Pentecost, but moreover each time that we receive a Sacrament, an increase of grace, for He makes only one with the Father and the Son: Ad eum veniemus, et mansionem apud eum faciemus*. The Holy Ghost comes to dwell within us ; He remains in order to sanctify us, to guide all our supernatural activity. He enriches us, bestows upon us His gifts of wisdom and of understanding, of counsel and of fortitude, of knowledge, of piety, and of fear of the Lord which make us act as children of God : Quicumque Spiritu Dei aguntur ui sunt filu Dew?.15

He dwells in us ; Divine Guest, full of love and kindness, He makes His abode in our hearts that He may help and strengthen us ; He will leave us only if we have the misfortune to drive Him from our souls by mortal sin. To drive out this Spirit of love, by preferring the creature to Him in an absolute manner is what St. Paul calls “ to quench the Spirit”. Moreover, let us follow the Apostle’s counsel and not “grieve”* the Spirit ; do not let us resist His inspirations, by any fully deliberate fault, however slight, by wilfully replying “no” to the good He suggests to us.

His action is extremely delicate, and when the soul resists Him deliberately and frequently, she forces Him little by little to be silent ; then she comes to a standstill in the path of holiness, and even incurs great risk of leaving the way of salvation. What can such a soul do, without a master to guide her, without light to enlighten her, without strength to sustain her, without joy to transport her 7

Let us be faithful to this Spirit Who comes, with the Father and the Son, to take up His abode in us. “ Know ye not”, says St. Paul again, “that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you” *> ? Each increase of grace is like a new reception of this Divine Guest, a new taking possession of our souls by Him, a new embrace of love.

And how beneficial are these workings in the faithful soul ! He makes us “ know the Father” : Per te sciamus da Patrem® ; and, by making Him known, He produces in the soul the gift of piety, the attitude of adoration and

  1. Joan. xiv, 23.— 2. Rom. VH1, 14.— 3. I Thess. v, 19.— 4. Ephes, Iv, 30. — 5. I Cor. m, 16. — 6. Hymn Veni Creator. :

Christ in His Mysteries. 22 love which it ought ever to preserve towards the Heavenly Father. Listen to what St. Paul so explicitly says: “ Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmity. For we know not what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself asketh for us with unspeakable groanings ” ?. And what is this prayer ? “ You have received the spirit of adoption of sons, whereby we cry: Abba (Father) ! For the Spirit Himself giveth testimony to our spirit, that we are the sons of God” ?.

He makes us also “know the Son” : Noscamus atque Filium* ; He manifests Jesus to us ; He is this inward Master Who makes us penetrate into the meaning of His words, and His mysteries ; “ He shall glorify Me”, says Jesus, “ because He shall receive of Mine, and shall shew it to you” : /lle me clarificabit*. By making divine knowledge abound in us, by keeping us in the presence of Jesus, by inspiring us ever to do what is pleasing to Him, He causes Christ to reign in us. By His infinitely delicate and sovereignly efficacious action, He forms Jesus in us. Is not that the substance of all holiness ?

Let us, then, ask Him to enter into us, and increase in us the abundance of His gifts. Fervent prayer is the condition of His indwelling in our souls.

Humility is another condition. Let us come before Him with the intimate conviction of our inward poverty ; this disposition of soul is excellent in order to receive Him of Whom the Church sings : Sine tuo numine, nihil est in hrmune, nihil est innoxium®, “ Without Thy help there is nothing in man that is not harmful to him”. Let us borrow, moreover, from the Church, these fervent aspirations : ‘Come, Spirit of love ; come, Thou solace in sorrow, wash away our stains, bedew our dryness, heal our wounds ; bend that which is stubborn in us, melt that which is frozen, rule our wandering steps” :

Lava quod est sordidum, Riga quod est aridum, Sana quod est saucium ;16

Flecte quod est rigidum, Fove quod est frigidum, Rege quod est devium?.

Despite our miseries, let us invoke the Holy Spirit ; on account of these very miseries, He will hear us.

And since He is one with the Father and the Son, let us say likewise to the Father : Father, send to us, in the name of Thy Son Jesus, the Spirit of love that He may fill us with the intimate sense of our divine filiation. And Thou, O Jesus, our High Priest, now sitting at Thy Father’s right hand, intercede for us, so that this mission of the Spirit, Whom Thou didst promise to us and didst merit for us, may be abundant ; that it may be an impetuous river making glad the city of souls ; or rather, according to Thine own words ; “ a fountain of water, springing up unto life everlasting”. Hoc autem dicebat de Spiritu Sancto quem accepturi erant credentes in eum.

I. Sequence Veni Sancie Spiritus.

Footnotes

    1. Joan. XVI, 7. -— 2. Ibid. v1, 64. — 3. Ibid. x1v, 6. — 4. Ibid. — 5. Ibid. v1, 69. — 6. Luc. XXIV, 29.
    ↩
    1. Joan. XIV, 16-17. — 2. Ibid. Xv, 26; Xvi, 7. — 3. Act. I, 4. — 4. Ibid. 8. — 5. Rom. vu, 9 ; cf. Act. xvi, 7 & I Petr. 1, 11.
    ↩
    1. See Conference: The Holy Spirit, the ree of Jesus in the volume Chrisi the Life of the Soul. — 2. Joan. v, 26
    ↩
    1. Matth. xxvmi, 19. — 2. Joan. XV, II.
    ↩
    1. Joan, Xvm, 3. — 2. Ibid. m1, 17 ; IV, 34 ; VI, 29 ; etc. — 3. Ibid. X, 30. — 4. This applies to Christ considered as a Divine Person ; for the humanity of Jesus considered in itself, as nature, is created and consequently inferior; it isin this latter sense that Jesus says in another place: ‘‘ My Father is greater than I, *”’ Pater major me est. Joan.xrv, 28. — 5. Joan. XIv, 26. — 6. Ibid. xv1, 7.
    ↩
    1. Cf. S. Augustin. Enavr. in Psalm c1x ; Sermones cCxlim and ccyxiv ; St Leo, Sermo II de Ascensione. — 2. Jaan. VII, 38-39.
    ↩
    1. Joan. XV, 29. — 2. S. Leo. Sermo II de Ascens. c. 4.
    ↩

  8. 2.Hymn, Veni Creator, Monastic Breviaty.— 3.Joan. xiv, 6.— 4. Ibid. KVM 37" ↩

    1. Joan. Xv, 4. — 2. Ibid, xrv, 26; xvi, 13-14. — 3. Matth. x, 19-. 20; Marc. XI, 11; Luc. xm, 11. — 4. Act. 1, 8. — 5. Gen. uy, 7 ‘6. IMO SEG, Ge
    ↩

  10. Ty Matth:) xxvi..74; Matec. XIV, 7i.w—- 2.0 Act, i, 23-24, 33) —= 3. Marc. XIV, 54. — 4. Luc. XXIV, 49. ↩

  11. 1, Act. Iv, 18-20.— 2. Joan. Xx, 19. — 3. Act. V, 29. — 4. Ibid.z 4. — 5. Joan. XIV, 16-17. — 6. Matth. x1, 28. — 7. Hebr. iv, 15 ;-v, 2, ↩

    1. Sequence Vent Sancte Spiritus. — 2. Joan. XIV, 16.
    ↩

  13. 1.I Cor. xm, 4 seq. — 2. Act. Iv, 32. —3. Joan. xtv, 17. — 4. Ibid. Xvi, 13. ↩

    1. Antiphon from 24. Vespers of the Ascension. — 2. Versicle of the Alleluia of the Mass. — 3. Sequence Veni Sancte Spiritus. — 4. Hymn Veni Creator.
    ↩
    1. Sequence Lauda Sion. — 2. Hymn Veni Creator. — 3. Gal. Iv, 6, — 4. Preface of Pentecost.
    ↩
    1. Rom, vi, 26. — 2. Ibid. 15, and 16. — 3. Hymn Veni Creator. — 4. Joan. XVI, 14. — 5. Sequence Veni Sancte Spiritus.
    ↩

Chapter 18 of 21