Come, Holy Ghost

Front matter

U H h I « I i M I ' ’ • • 1 I !

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Contents

Dedication ix

Compiler’s Notice .. xi

Preface xvi

Preface

To gather within the covers of one book, for the benefit of clergy and laity, the most striking passages of eminent Catholic writers upon the nature, office and operations of God the Holy Ghost, is a most useful undertaking.

Imperfect knowledge of God the Holy Ghost and of his enduring sanctifying work in the Church accounts for the weakening of the faith of the many ; and lack of appreciation of His sanctifying grace in the soul explains the dearth of spiritual life in the Christians of our generation.

Just as no material creation of God came into being until His Spirit moved over the waters, so also no religious development appears in man until he has been born of God the Holy Ghost. The perfection of earthly life was not reached until the creative Word of God was fructified by His holy Spirit ; xvi

XVII nor does the growth of spiritual life develop unto fulness until it is generated of Christ through the action of the same Spirit.

The Holy Ghost, therefore, is an essential necessity to our spiritual well-being.

That is the reason why Christ insists so much on the coming of God the Holy Grhost. He sends Him from heaven, He communicates Him to the Apostles. The Church of Christ is kept alive on earth by the indwelling of the Holy Grhost ; the priest is begotten by His coming ; and the ministrations of the priesthood impart His sanctifying grace to man.

The Old Testament was the revelation of the Father; the New is the revelation of the Son through the Holy Grhost, viz.: the manifestation of God the Son in the flesh and the descent of the Holy Ghost in humanity. The two religious elements by which the essence of Christianity is distinguished from the old forms of liturgy and ritual are the Holy Eucharist and the Holy Ghost. In the assemblies of the Early Christians the manifestation of God the

Holy Ghost frequently accompanies the celebration of the Holy Eucharist The First Epistle to the Corinthians and the Doctrine of the Apostles testify to the fact. After the liturgy of Christ, there is the liturgy of the Holy Ghost with real presence and communion. The inspiration is often visible, always audible; certain members are influenced by the indwelling of the Spirit and the whole assembly realizes the presence of the Paraclete. The communion of the Holy Ghost is as real as that of Christ and, as far as exterior effects are concerned, even more effective.

Our relations with God the Son and God the Holy Ghost are so intimate to-day as ever were those of our fathers in the faith, even if they are not as patent to our modern infidels as they were to the ancient pagans. Faith in them has become, through the centuries, such a matter of course, that they are apparently forgotten by a people satiated beyond supernatural desire with the presence of the Divinity.

To our times of indifference and material

XIX inspiration has, in God’s mercy, been reserved the priceless boon of a revival of exterior faith in the manifestation of l5oth Christ and the Paraclete.

The Holy Sacrament of the Altar wherein God the Son, made Man, dwelleth is being better known, more lovingly appreciated, more effectually sought. Let the same revival of faith, the same increase in knowledge, the same manifestation of effects accompany the seeking for the Holy Spirit.

The bringing of both within the heart of the faithful will secure the advent of the kingdom of God on earth.

Bishop of Covington.

Letter from the Very Rev. Father Provincial of the Congregation of the Holy Ghost in the United States. '

Dear Father Lambing:

I beg to express to you the great pleasure I experienced, when I learned that you were about to publish a new work on devotion to the Holy G-host, the chief devotion of the Society, of which I have the happiness of being a member.

We possess but few books which treat of this subject, especially in the English language ; and these few, though excellent in themselves, are perhaps not devotional enough to suit every taste. If I mistake not, this difficulty is overcome by the very unique plan and method of treatment which you have adopted. You draw from the depth of dogmatic and mystic theology not only the treasures of wisdom laid open to us by the great masters of divine science, but you have also availed yourself of the (xx)

XXI delicious waters of that Divine wisdom, after they have passed through the sweetening channels of Piety in the souls of the saints. You let the saints and masters of the spiritual life speak what the Spirit of God has revealed to their angelic souls, — “the Holy Ghost being sent down from heaven, on whom the angels desire to look.” (1. Peter 1 : 12 .) *)

When about forty years ago the eminent theologian, Scheeben wrote his first great work “Die Mysterien des Christentums,” he remarked, as far as I can remember, that devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus was necessarily to be followed by a wider extension of the devotion to the Holy Ghost. His prediction has become true. Devotion to the Holy Ghost, almost unknown as a special devotion half a century ago, has developed wonderfully. It is now understood and practised by all classes of the faithful in the Catholic Church, and even by some of our separated brethren. We

*) I have translated the Eatin texts and passages of this letter into English for the benefit of the general reader. A. A. L.

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have reason to hope that before the lapse of another half century it will be, conjointly with devotion to the Blessed Eucharist, the principal devotion of our Holy Church.

We Catholics of the United States have special obligations to foster this devotion, for the chief pastors in this country have been the intruments chosen by Clod to promote this devotion. When they where assembled in the Third Plenary Council of Baltimore, they recommended its practice to the students of our theological seminaries as to the future pastors of the flock of Christ.

. Nor need we doubt that this devotion will be very fruitful not only to the clergy but also to the Church in general, and to the world at large. For the clergy, the Fathers of the Baltimore Council expect from it a large abundance of the ecclesiastical spirit ; for the Church in general, the devotion to the Holy Spirit, the spirit of charity, zeal and union, wdll enkindle that charity and strengthen that union which perhaps we xxiii

need more here, than anywhere else, in order to keep unbroken the bonds of Faith and Charity, since the Church makes us pray to the Divine Spirit: “Come, Holy

Spirit who through divers tongues

didst bring all nations to the unity of faith ;” for the world at large it will bring into submission the false wisdom on which it prides itself, and lead the nation to the source of Truth, the Catholic Church, a hope that the present Sovereign Pontiff has already expressed.

Weighing these and other considerations, need we wonder that one of our greatest theologians, Father Weiss, 0. P., expects from the devotion to the Holy Grhost a renewal of the world? “Send forth Thy Spirit and they shall be created ; and Thou shalt renew the face of the earth.”

Your idea of dedicating the work to the “Eucharistic League” seems to be strikingly appropriate, for to the sweetness of the Holy Spirit , we owe the Blessed Eucharist: “0 how gracious, 0 Lord, is Thy Spirit, who, to show Thy sweetness to Thy children, by

XXIV the sweetest food from heaven, dost fill the hungry with good things, and sendest the proud rich empty away.”

May God, therefore, bless your undertaking, Dear Father and Friend, — this is the wish and prayer, of

Your devoted friend in the charity of the Holy Ghost,

A. J. Zieeenbach, C. S. Sp., Provincial.

Holy Ghost Novitiate,

Cornwells, Pa., Sept. 4, 1900.

ENCYCLICAL LETTER OF POPE LEO XIII.

For Pentecost, 1897.

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 or 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 to entirely 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

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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,” (I. John XVI, 7.) In these words He gave us the chief reason of His departure and His return to the Father, the advantage which would 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”, and “filled the whole world.”

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 xxvii carrying on His office, entrusted by Him to the Apostles and chiefly to Peter, “whose dignity faileth not, even in his unworthy successors,” (St. Leo the Great.) In pursuance of this object We have endeavored to direct all that We have attempted and persistently carried out during a long pontificate toward the restoration, both in rulers and in peoples, of the principles of 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 fruitfullness. In order the better and more fully to carry out this Our intention, We have

XXV111 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 toward the Holy Ghost, to whom especially all of us owe the grace of following the path 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 J esus Christ, according to the goodness of God, have been fulfilled through the grace of the Spirit. ”

(Speaking of tlie Catholic doctrine of the Blessed Trinity, the Holy Father concludes his remarks on that point with the words:) —

In prayer addressed to one person, there is also mention of the others. . . . This had already been forshadowed by the

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Apostle in these words: “For of Him, and by Him, and in Him are all things : to Him be glory for ever and ever,” 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, of Him ) and by Him , and in Him ) are not to be taken indiscriminately: of Him refers to the Father, by Him to the Son, in Him to the Holy Ghosts ’

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. Augustine); because as the three Divine Persons “are inseparable, so they act inseparably” (St. Aug.). But

XXX 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, .... In this manner the Father who is “the principle of the whole Godhead” (St. Aug.) is also the efficient cause of all things, of the Incarnation of the Word, and the sanctification of souls: “of Him are all things”: of Him , 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 Keconciler of man with God. “By Him are all thing”: by Him y 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 the Son, completes and perfects, by His strong yet gentle power, the secret work of man’s eternal salvation. “In Him are

XXXI all things”: in Him, referring to the Holy Ghost.

The Holy Ghost and the Incarnation.

Having thus paid the due tribute of faith and worship owing to the Blessed Trinity, and 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 shine 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 Gospel thus speak of the Blessed Virgin: “She was found with child of the Holy Ghost.” And this is rightly attributed to Him who is the love of the Father and the Son, since this

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“ great mystery of piety” proceeds from the infinite love of God toward man, as St. John tells ns: “God so loved the world as to give His only begotten Son.” Moreover, human nature was thereby elevated to a personal 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.” 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 “annointing.“ Wherefore all His actions were “performed in the Holy Ghost” (St. Basil), and especially the sacrifice of

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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

The words of St. Augusine may appropriately be quoted “ It would be absurd to say that Christ received the Holy G-host when He was already thirty years of age, for He came to His baptism without sin, and therefore, not without the Holy Grhost. 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/ ’ Therefore, by the conspicuous apparition of the Holy Ghost over Christ, and by His invisible power in His soul, the two-fold mission of the Spirit is foreshadowed ; namely, His outward and visible mission in the Church, and His sacred indwelling in the souls of the Just.

The Holy Ghost and the Church.

The Church which, already conceived, came forth from the side of the second Adam in His sleep on the Cross, first showed

XXXIV herself before the eyes of men on the great day of Pentecost. On that day the Holy Grhost began to manifest His gifts in the mystic body of Christ, by that miraculous outpouring already foreseen by the prophet Joel, for the Paraclete “sat upon the Apostles as though new spiritual crowns were placed upon their heads in tongues of fire” (St. Cyril of Jerusalem). 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.” Thus was fully accomplished that last promise of Christ to His Apostles of sending the Holy G-host, 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.” (St. Johnl6: 12,13.) ForHewho is the Spirit of Truth, inasmuch as He proceeded from the Father, who is etern-

XXXV ally 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 all His 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 forever, the Spirit of Truth.” (St. John 14: 16, 17.)

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 has placed you bishops to rule the Church of God, which He hath purchased with His own

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Blood. ” 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. ” That the Church is a divine institution is most clearly proved by the splendor and glory of those gifts and graces 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. Augustine. ) 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.

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The Holy Ghost in the Souls of the Just.

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.” 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

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His gifts ; not commencing a new work, but giving more abundantly. ” (St. Leo the

Great) 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.” 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.)

Human nature is by necessity the servant of God: “The creature is a servant; we are the servants of God by nature” (St. Cyril of Alexandria). On account, however, of original sin, our whole nature had falen into such guilt and dishonor that we had become enemies of God. “We are by nature the children of wrath.” 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

XXXIX 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 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.” .... This spiritual generation proceeds from love in a much more than the natural; namely, from the uncreated Love.

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.”

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The same Spirit gives Himself more abundantly in Confirmation, strengthening and confirming Christian life; from which proceeds the victory of the martyrs and the triumph of the virgins over temptations and corruptions. We have said that the Holy G-host gives Himself: “The charity of God is poured out into our hearts by the Holy Ghost who is given to us.” For He not only brings to us His divine gifts, but is the Author of them and is Himself the

supreme Gift 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 ail 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. Thomas.) 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 xli 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,” — 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 xlii temple of God, does not expressly mention the Father, or the Son, or the Holy Ghost: “Know you not that your members are the temple of the Holy Ghost, who is in you, whom you have from God.” The fullness of divine gifts is in many ways a consequence of the indwelling of the Holy Ghost in the souls of the just. . . . 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. . . . 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 gifts 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. Therefore 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 xliii 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 fruits , 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 the Father and Son, filling all creatures with infinite fulness and profusion.” (St. Aug. ) 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 of the old Testament, poured forth all His fulness 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 xliv earthly, they relished and desired quite other things, becoming of heaven heavenly.