The indwelling of the Holy Spirit in the souls of the just according to the teaching of St. Thomas Aquinas

Front matter

fLI8RARY))

The Indwelling of the Holy Spirit in the Souls of the Just

ACCORDING TO THE TEACHING OF ST. THOMAS AQUINAS

Preface To The Second Edition

The Sovereign Pontiff, Leo XIII., in his admirable Encyclical, Divinum illud munus, addressed to the entire Catholic world under date of May 9, 1897, expresses his ardent desire to see faith in the august ministry of the Trinity revived in men's souls, and piety towards the Holy Ghost increased in their hearts. To this end he drew the attention of the Faithful to the presence of the Holy Spirit, His wonderful power, as well as His activity, throughout the Church; and also in the soul of each of the Faithful, imparting the abundance of His celestial Gifts. Furthermore, the Vicar of Jesus Christ reminded Catholic preachers and others who have charge of souls, of the duty incumbent on them to explain carefully, and with clearness and completeness, all that relates to the Holy Spirit, avoiding difficult and subtle controversies, and taking special pains to treat of the innumerable benefits we have received from Him and do constantly receive; so that, as the Holy Father added, ignorance and error about these sublime things may be expelled from the minds of the faithful, who are so rightly called "the children of light" (Ephesians v. 8).

Words as wise as they are opportune. As a matter of fact, how many Christians of our day have any notion, however vague and imperfect, about the Holy Spirit, His Gifts, His wondrous works in the souls of men, the spiritual riches and joys which He lavishes upon whomsoever shows himself docile to His inspirations? "Perhaps," insists Leo XIII., "it would not be impossible even in this our era, to come across Catholic Christians, who, if questioned, as were the proselytes of old by the Apostle, whether or not they had vi Preface to the Second Edition

received the Holy Ghost, would answer in the same words: *We have not so much as heard whether there be a Holy Ghost' " (Acts xix. 2). At any rate, there are many who are either entirely ignorant or have but a very superficial knowledge about Him, and thereby, to a certain extent, fall short of the fruits of their religion, lacking the knowledge of that truth so beautiful and so consoling — His invisible sending and His indwelling in souls in the state of grace. And yet what can be more worthy of their deepest attention? Is not this God's supreme Gift, the chief Gift and the crowning Gift of all — God Himself coming within us, giving Himself to us, making Himself our Guest infinitely sweet, our Friend, our Consoler, the active principle of our sanctification, and the pledge of our eternal happiness, nay, its very origin? Is this not the supremely important subject of a reasonable being's thought, the object of his most passionate devotion?

After having raised to the true God a splendid temple full of golden glory, King Solomon cried to heaven in accents of living faith and deepest wonder: "Is it then to be thought that God should indeed dwell upon earth? for if heaven and the heavens of heavens cannot contain Thee, how much less this house which I have built?" (3 Kings viii. 27.) If such was the amazement of the wisest of mankind at God's entrance into a material temple, what should be the sentiments of a man in whose very soul God makes His abode as in a living temple — the infinite Majesty of the Deity, the Creator of heaven and earth, the Master of the universe I Now, it is not merely a pious opinion, an affirmation more or less open to discussion, but it is a truth wholly beyond dispute, that God, by His grace dwells veritably — His actual substantial self — in the unity of His Nature and the Trinity of His Persons, in each and every just soul, and that a bond of love unites the soul to its Creator more intimately than it can ever be joined here below to its dearest friend; and thus it begins, even in this life, to enjoy God with the inef-

Preface to the Second Edition vii

fable sweetness of eternal bliss. Leo XIII., in the Encyclical already quoted, goes so far as even to say that "this marvelous union, which is termed indwelling, differs in no wise from the union with God which awaits us in paradise, except in those things which are incidental to our state and condition in our earthly sojourn."

To establish by incontestable arguments drawn from Divine revelation, the actual fact of this special presence of God in righteous souls; clearly to explain its nature, its mode and manner, especially our deification by grace and the adoptive sonship which is its consequence; to give thereby a more perfect comprehension of the dignity of the Christian and of his high destiny; to inspire a more profound appreciation of the supremely precious benefits bestowed on that account upon the just soul at its departure from this life, thus generating a more lively longing for its incomparable heritage reserved in the bliss of heaven; finally, to give a picture of the rich and complex supernatural organism installed by the Holy Ghost in the souls in whom He dwells, permitting them to collaborate with Him and under His guidance in the great work of their sanctification — such is the magnificent programme which we have undertaken to carry out in the present work.

Our first edition has been received with such a welcome as to make us believe that God has deigned to bless our labors, for its success has certainly far transcended our expectations.

This second edition is the exact reproduction of the first, excepting some slight changes, not of matter, but only of arrangement. We have relegated to the end of the volume, in an appendix, some discussions more suitable to theologians than to the general public, suppressing in the interests of peace all polemical matter; and we have added something more about the Gifts of the Holy Ghost the better to impart the thoughts of St. Thomas on that subject.

May the Spirit of God condescend to bless these humble viii Preface to the Second Edition

pages, written wholly for His glory, and to bring forth fruit unto edification. We shall be amply rewarded for our labors if our book shall have helped to spread the knowledge and the love of the Divine Gifts, and shall have served to increase in souls devotion to the Holy Ghost the Sanctifler, and to deepen confidence in Him; that thereby our readers may attain to the realization, in some degree at least, of the will of the common Father of the faithful — their entire sanctification.

Introduction

An inexhaustible source of study and contemplation, a truth embodying, as it were, the very marrow of Christianity, one frequently alluded to in Holy Writ, yet too rarely touched upon by modern preachers, even when addressing chosen souls whose only desire is to delve deeper and deeper into the mysteries of the kingdom of God, is the sweet and consoling dogma of the indwelling of the Holy Ghost in the souls of the just. This beautiful doctrine, so loved by the Fathers and so often on their lips, in homilies to the faithful and in controversies with opponents of the divinity of the Word and of the Holy Ghost, was reverently treated by the theologians of the Middle Ages, and especially by the greatest among them, that prince of Scholasticism, the Angelic Doctor, St. Thomas Aquinas. St. Thomas, so to speak, made this doctrine his own, and marked it with his seal, by setting it forth with all the precision of theological terminology.

Later, eminent writers, like Gomet, John of St. Thomas, Suarez, the Theologians of Salamanca and other great representatives of ecclesiastical science, set themselves the task of expounding the same doctrine, and fulfilled that task with a love and devotion that lends warmth to the cold letter of their writings. The topic appears in their works like a delightful oasis, in which the reader, somewhat fatigued by the aridity of theological discussions, willingly stops to rest. Petavius and Thomasin adorned it with the treasures of their erudition, citing some of the most striking passages of the F'athers relative to it. In our own day the doctrine

ix

X Introduction

has not been forgotten; on the contrary, it has been restored to prominence by some well-known writers. Cardinals Franzelin and Mazzella, in their learned treatises, Mgr. Gay, in his remarkable conferences on La Vie et les Vertus Chrdtiennes, and many others have treated the subject with unquestionable talent and varying degrees of success.

Why, then, is this doctrine so little known and so slightly appreciated even by many ministers of the altar? True, they know vaguely, from having heard it enunciated, or from having read it in Holy Writ, that the Holy Ghost, or rather the Three Persons of the Most Holy Trinity, dwell in the souls of those whose blessed fortune it is to be in the state of grace, but in what does this indwelling consist? What differentiates it from the Divine omnipresence? What benefits does it confer on the receiver? What are its effects and consequences? These things they do not know, and it is important that they should know them, else the belief in this point of doctrine, like the faint and uncertain light of a far-distant planet, will be too vague and too obscure to lay hold upon the mind and leave a lasting impression; it will fail to bring forth in the soul those salutary fruits of joy and consolation it is calculated to produce.

Is this truth to be inaccessible to the ordinary reader, a closed book which only a few privileged souls may peruse, since they alone possess the secret of deciphering its characters? Not at all; we hope, with God's grace, to offer an exposition of this doctrine within the reach of all readers. Can anyone say that this is, indeed, a very beautiful teaching, but devoid of practical influence on the conduct of our lives? This certainly is not true; for, though, at first sight, this study may seem to be speculative, it is in reality rich in practical instruc-

Introduction xi

tions, and offers to those who fear not to enter upon it, an abundance of real spiritual joys, and powerful incentives to sanctification.

Our purpose, therefore, in publishing these pages, is to place within the reach of men of good will, who, although not versed in theological speculation yet hunger after truth, and are anxious to rise superior to spiritual commonplace, a doctrine which contains our greatest title to glory and nobility. We shall endeavor to conduct this study with all the clearness required by such a lofty subject, taking for our master and guide the great St. Thomas Aquinas, whom the venerable Pontiff, Pope Leo XIII., urges all to study and whose disciple we are proud to acknowledge ourselves. On this question, as upon so many others, the Angelic Doctor has cast the rays of his genius; not that he has treated it with the abundance of detail and fullness of development that we might wish, but he has laid down the principles, in those concise but pregnant sentences which, at almost every step, crystallize his thought in the Summa Theologica. With the firm, clear and noble style characteristic of him, he has expressed in comparatively few words, all that need be said to make himself understood, leaving to others the task of opening up his doctrine and placing it by suitable development within the grasp of all minds. This last is the purpose we have in view.

Our task, therefore, will be to place in relief the thought of St. Thomas, and to translate it into a language understood by all.

We shall also take from Holy Writ and the writings of the Fathers many testimonies, which have the double advantage of throwing light upon our teaching and recnforcing it, besides showing the solid foundations on which it rests.

Table Of Contents

PAGE

Approbation of the Order of Preachers and of the

Ordinary iii

Letter of the Cardinal Archbishop of Lyons . . iv

Preface to the Second Edition . .... v

Introduction ix

Part First The Ordinary Presence Of God In All Creatures

The Presence of God in All Creatures as Their Active Principle or Efficient Cause 1

Chapter II How This Common and Ordinary Presence Is Intimate, Profound and Universal. Its Different Degrees 13

Part Second

GOD'S SPECIAL PRESENCE, OR THE INDWELLING OF THE HOLY GHOST IN THE SOULS OF THE JUST

Chapter I The Fact of God's Special Presence in the Just. The Sending and the Bestowal of God the Holy Ghost; His Indwelling in the Soul 20

Chapter II The Nature of This Sanctifying Presence ... 41

Chapter III The Mode or Manner of This Presence of the Holy Ghost. God Is Present in the Souls of the Just, Not Only as Efficient Cause, But Also as Guest, Friend, and as an Object of Knowledge and Love ... 55

xiii xiv Table of Contents

Chapter IV PAflB

Explanation of the Mode or Manner of Presence With Which God Honors the Just on Earth and the Saints in Heaven. How God Is Present By His Substance to the Understanding and Will of the Blessed in Heaven as First Truth and Sovereign Good .... 69

Chapter V

Explanation of the Special Mode or Manner of Presence With Which God Honors the Just on Earth and the Saints in Heaven (Continued). How Grace Produces in the Souls of the Just on Earth a Divine Presence Analogous to That Enjoyed By the Saints in Heaven 80

Part Third This Divine Indwelling By Grace Is Not Proper

TO THE PERSON OF THE HOLY SPIRIT ALONE, BUT

IS THE COMMON PREROGATIVE OF THE WHOLE

BLESSED TRINITY. IT IS THE PRIVILEGE

OF ALL THE JUST BOTH OF THE OLD

AND THE NEW TESTAMENT

Although Usually Attributed to the Holy Spirit, the Divine Indwelling By Grace Is Not His Exclusive Prerogative, But Is Common to All Three Persons of the Trinity 104

The Indwelling of God in Men's Souls Is Not the Exclusive Privilege of the Just of the New Law, But Is the Common Endowment of the Just of All Times 114

Table of Contents xv

Part Fourth

PURPOSE AND EFFECT OF THE INVISIBLE AND INTE- RIOR MISSION OF THE HOLY GHOST; AND OF HIS INDWELLING IN MEN'S SOULS

PAOB

Purpose of the Invisible Mission of the Holy Ghost and of His Entrance Into Souls: Sanctiflcation of the Soul; Namely, the Forgiveness of Sins and Justification . 123

Our Justification By Grace Is a Veritable Deification. How Sanctifying Grace Grants an Actual and Formal Participation in the Divine Nature 138

Chapter III

Our Divine Adoptive Sonship. Resemblances and Differences Between Divine and Human Adoption. Incomparability and Dignity of the Christian . . 157

Chapter IV

Our Right to the Divine Inheritance a Consequence of Our Adoption. What Is This Inheritance? . .170

Chapter V l^

Eff'ects of the Indwelling of the Holy Ghost. The Infused Virtues, Theological and Moral .... 188 /

Chapter VI

Effects of the Indwelling of the Holy Ghost (Continued) . .

V The Gifts of the Holy Ghost 203

V

Chapter VII

\y Final Effects of the Indwelling of the Holy Ghost. The 1

Fruits of the Holy Spirit, and the Beatitudes . . 229 _,^

The Indwelling of the Holy Spirit in the Souls of the Just

Part First The Ordinary Presence Of God In All Creatures

The Presence of God in All Creatures as Their Active Principle or Efficient Cause

Before broaching the interesting yet difficult question of the indwelling of the Holy Ghost in the souls of the just, and of the mysterious union He thus effects with them; before going into the proofs of the presence both substantial and extraordinary of the three Divine persons in the just soul which thus becomes a living temple wherein the adorable Trinity finds delight, it will be useful, and, to a certain extent, even necessary, to grasp a few preliminary notions on the ordinary way in which God is present in all things. Nothing, indeed, could be more unreasonable than to expound the doctrine of the extraordinary or special presence of God in the souls of the just, before we know quite clearly what is His ordinary presence in all creation.

To be in a fit position to speak in precise terms of these two kinds of presence, and to distinguish one from the other, we must first of all become acquainted with their respective characteristics, and see in what they agree and in what they differ. This may be achieved by carefully examining, defining and comparing their natures. Were we to follow a different course of action, plunging at once into a more or less scientific explanation of the indwelling of God in the soul by the life of grace, without having, at the outset, firmly established and clearly explained that such an indwelling is to be found nowhere else in nature, we should be in danger of imparting very incomplete notions, and of leaving the reader in a state of vagueness that could not but be regrettable. On the other hand, it will not be necessary to dwell at length on the proofs for the divine omnipresence, since all Catholics believe in it; we shall, however, insist on the way in which it is to be understood in order to convey an exact idea of God's immensity, and so to prepare the way for a clear understanding of the special presence of God in the souls of the just.

I

It is a dogma of faith, as well as a truth of reason, that God is everywhere — in heaven, on earth, in all things and in all places: that He is present in a very intimate manner in everything created. This truth is known to all, not only to the philosopher and theologian, but even to the little child whose intelligence is but awakening; it is one of the first lessons it receives at its mother's knee — one of the first truths it learns from any Christian teacher.

This doctrine, which the simplest Christian holds at the beginning of his moral life, and which he continues to hold without always understanding its full bearing, nor suspecting what deep truths it expresses, was preached long ago by the Apostle St. Paul, before the most illustrious audience in the world. He was addressing, not an ignorant populace, but the official representatives of human wisdom, the members of the Areopagus of Athens, when, referring to the existence of God in every creature, the Apostle exclaimed : "That they should seek God, if haply they may feel after Him or find Him, although He be not far from every one of us ; for in Him we live, and move, and are." ^

Centuries before, the Psalmist had made this same divine omnipresence the theme of his song: "Behold,

0 Lord, Thou hast known all things, the latest and those of old; Thou hast formed me, and hast laid Thy hand upon me. Thy knowledge has become wonderful to me; it is high, and I cannot reach to it. Whither shall I go from Thy spirit? or whither shall I fly from Thy face? If I ascend into heaven. Thou art there; if

1 descend into hell. Thou art present. If I take my wings early in the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there also shall Thy hand lead me, and Thy right hand shall hold me." ^

Finally, in order fully to convince us that we cannot escape His ever-vigilant eye, God Himself, using our weak human language, with infinite condeseension, says to us through the mouth of His prophet : "Shall a man be hid in secret places, and I not see him, saith the Lord? Do not I fill heaven and earth, saith the Lord?" *

It is not necessary to cite other testimonies in proof of a point of doctrine admitted by all who believe in the existence of an infinite Being, the Author of all things; yet, on account of its extreme importance, we should like to set down here the philosophical proof of the omnipresence of God, given by St. Thomas. God, he says, "is present in all things, not as part of their essence, or as an accidental element, but as the active

4 The Indwelling of the Hohj Spirit

principle is present to the thing on which it acts; for it is essential that the efficient cause be united with the object upon which it exercises an immediate activity, and that it comes into contact with this object, if not bodily, then, at least, by the exercise of its power and energies." *

We may compare God's action with that of the sun. Although vastly distant from our planet, it still comes into contact with it through its rays, else how could it give light and heat to the earth? But God works in every created thing, not only through the medium of secondary causes as the sun acts upon the earth, but also in a direct and immediate way, by Himself bringing into existence and preserving in things that which is most intimate and deep-rooted in them, namely, their very being. For, as the characteristic effect of fire is to burn, so the characteristic effect of God, Who is Being itself, is to cause the being of creatures. "And so God is intimately present to all things as their eflQcient cause — as causing the being of all things." ^

God, then, is not present to the world like the artisan or the artist; he is external to his work, and does not often touch it in a direct way, but rather through his instruments, or is present to his work when he produces it, but later on withdraws from it without endangering its existence. God is so intimately united to the works of His hands that if, after calling a created thing into being. He should withdraw from it and cease to sustain it, it would immediately fall into the nothingness out of which it was made.

And if you question the Angelic Doctor as to how God, an immaterial, unextended and indivisible substance, can be present in all places, and in the inner depths of beings occupying material space, he will answer you with a comparison borrowed from nature and

«5uinina Theologica. I., q. vili., a. 1. * Ibid., I., q. Till., a. 1.

already employed by the Fathers, namely: He is present in three ways : "By His power, by His presence, and by His essence. By His power, because all things are subject to His sovereign command: He is present everywhere like a king who, while residing in his palace, is by a fiction deemed present in all the parts of his kingdom where he exercises authority. By His presence, that is to say most intimately, because He knows all things and sees all things; and nothing, however hidden it may be, can escape His attention; all things are present to Him as objects are said to be in our presence, although they may be situated at a slight distance from our person. Finally by His essence, for He is as really and in His very substance present to all created things as a monarch is present in person to the throne on which he is seated." "

The reason for this substantial presence of God in His creatures is that not one of them could dispense with the divine action preserving its existence and actuating its operations; and since substance and action are not really distinct in God, it follows that "He is substantially— in His actual reality — present wherever He works, I. e., in all things and in all places." ^

In his commentary on Peter Lombard's first book of Sentences, St. Thomas explains this threefold presence in slightly different words. Not that it excludes the explanation we have just given, nor that it is in contradiction with it, but it brings out better the thought of the Angelic Doctor relative to the substantial presence of God in His capacity of eflBcient cause. Here are his words : / "God is in created things by His presence, inasmuch as He is there in action, for the worker must in some manner be present with his work; and, furthermore, because the Divine operation cannot be separated from the active force from which it flows, it must be

" Siimma Theologica, I., q. viii., si. ,1. ' Ibid., I., q. vlil., a. 1.

held that God is present in all things by His power; finally, since the force or the power of God is identical with His essence, it follows that God is in all things by His essence." » These words are highly significant.

II

There are some theologians who explain the divine omnipresence by saying that God is present everywhere by His essence, because the divine substance, being infinite, fills the heavens and the earth. To them, the immensity of God is a property by which the divine essence is, so to speak, distributed ad infinitum in all existing and possible spaces; that is to say, God's omnipresence is the actual diffusion of the divine being, penetrating all real things and places without blending with them. According to this opinion, the divine immensity might be compared to a sea without shores, capable of containing an infinite number of beings of every nature and dimension. Within this sea is a sponge which the waters interpenetrate and then flow over on all sides : a figure of this world, that God's immensity pervades and then flows over on all sides; with this difference, however, that God is wholly in the world and wholly in each of its parts, whereas each portion of the water of the sea occupies a distinct place.

St. Augustine conceived a similar picture of the divine immensity in his early days before his conversion: "So also I thought of Thee, O God, O Life of my life," he says in his Confessions, "so also I thought of Thee, as stretched out through infinite spaces, interpenetrating the whole mass of the world, reaching out beyond in all directions to immensity without end, so that sea, sky, all things are full of Thee, limited in Thee, while Thou art not limited at all. As the body of the air above the earth does not bar the passage of the light of the sun,

* St. Thomas, Sententia, dist. XXXVII.. q. i., a. 2.

but the light penetrates the air, not bursting or dividing it, but filling it — in the same way, I thought, the body of heaven, and air, and sea, and even of earth was all pervious to Thee, penetrable in all its parts great or small, so that it can admit the hidden interjection of Thy presence, which from within or from without orders all things that Thou hast created. This was my fancy, for I could shape no other; yet it was false. For in that way a greater part of the earth would contain a greater part of Thee, a less part a less. All things would be full of Thee in such a sense that there would be more of thee in the elephant than in the sparrow, inasmuch as one is larger than the other, and fills a wider space. And thus Thou wouldst unite Thy limbs piecemeal with the limbs of the world, the great with the great, the small with the small. This is not Thy nature, but as yet Thou hadst not lightened my darkness." »

Further on, speaking on the same subject, he adds: "I marshaled before the sight of my spirit all creation, all that we see, earth, and sea, and air, and stars, and trees, and animals ; all that we do not see, the firmament of the sky above, and all angels, and all spiritual things ; for these also, as if they were bodies, did my imagination arrange in this place or in that. I pictured to myself Thy creation as one vast mass, composed of various kinds of bodies, some real bodies, some those which I imagined in place of spirits. I pictured this mass as vast, not indeed in its true dimensions, for these I could not know, but as large as I chose to think, only finite on every side. And Thee, O Lord, I conceived as lapping it round and interpenetrating it everywhere, but as being infinite in every direction; as if there were sea everywhere, and everywhere through measureless space nothing but illimitable sea, and within this a sponge, huge, but yet finite; the sponge would be pervaded through all

• St. Augustine, Confessions, I., vil., c. 1. Bigg's translation.

its particles by the infinite sea. In this way, I pictured Thy finite creation, as filled with Thy infinity.""

After his conversion and accession to the episcopal see of Hippo, Augustine's language is entirely different : "When we say that God is everywhere we must withdraw from our mind every grossness of thought, and disengage ourselves from sensible images, lest we should imagine God as diffused everjrwhere, like some greatness spreading itself in space, as does the earth, the sea, the air or light; for all such things are less in one of their parts than in the whole; but we rather should conceive God's greatness as we think of great wisdom in a man who happens to be of small stature.""

The notion of the diffusion and expansion of God's being, was entirely disapproved by St. Augustine, and dealt with by him as a carnal conception to be rejected. The advocates of such a theory do not, it is true, fall into Augustine's error whilst he was a Manichean, of supposing that a greater part of the earth can contain a greater part of the divine substance; for they know and teach that a pure spirit being indivisible and without parts does not occupy space like earthly bodies, but can be wholly in the whole being and wholly in each and every part of that being. They do, however, seem to share the ideas of Augustine's pre-conversion days, but which he reformed later, in the general trend of their argument and in the manner in which they conceive of the divine ubiquity.