By Henry Aloysius Barry
Exodus informs us that the Spirit of God inspired, that is to say, moved Besaleel to construct the tabernacle:—"I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with wisdom, understanding and knowledge, in all manner of work. I have put wisdom in the heart of every skilful man." (xxxi, 3-6.) By metonymy, the canon of speech by which effect is substituted for cause, one is said to have the spirit which prompts the thing, the virtue or force, which causes its awakening to life and breathes motion into it. Thus, one moved to it is said to have the spirit of charity, of sweetness, of humility and the rest of the virtues. The spirit is the very life of the thing, without which the thing is inert, dead, unproductive. Actions and results declare the presence of spirit, of force, of life itself. When the fuse has gone out locomotion ceases in electrical vehicles; the power is said to be gone, and, the spirit has departed. A spirit may again signify an immaterial and incorporeal intelligence— "who maketh thy angels, spirits," says the prophet. (Ps. ciii, 4.)
The soul of man, inhabiting the flesh, is called spirit. Genesis says: —"The Lord formed man of the slime of the earth, and breathed into his face the breath of life, and man became a living soul." The human soul, disembodied, is called a spirit — "Be thou a spirit of health or goblin damned!" exclaims Hamlet. We speak of the spirits of the just. The vital principle of other inanimate beings is also called spirit. Other definitions of the word, spirit, appear adown the pages of literature in greater or lesser license. Most of all, however, is that true and exact, which the Samaritan woman averred:—"God is spirit." (St. John iv, 24.)
Supremely true is it, I repeat, to predicate spirit of the divine nature, which is immaterial and incorporeal, most pure and simple. God is, however, in two ways spirit. He is so in an_ essential sense and in a distinctive one. In the former sense, the divine essence itself is spirit, the very being itself of God— Godhead. Under the name, disguise, or so to speak, nom de plume, of Wisdom, the Essential Being is portrayed as "the spirit of understanding, holy, one, manifold, subtle, eloquent, active, undefiled, sure, sweet, loving that which is good, quick, which nothing hindereth, beneficent, gentle, kind, steadfast, assured, secure, having all power, overseeing all things, and containing all spirits, intelligible, pure, subtle, for wisdom is more active than all active things, and reacheth everywhere by reason of her purity." (Wisdom vii, 26.) This is God-head, robed in the dazzling splendor of indivisible nature. Viewed "essentially," the three divine Persons are spirit; they are God, for, God is one, essentially, and there is but one divine nature. In a "distinctive" sense the Third Person is Spirit; He is, one might so express it, "the" Spirit.
By the words, "Holy Spirit," we understand, says the Church, "the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity." (Catech. Coun. Trent.) Says Hugo Etherianus:—"Some one might be tempted to ask, how the words Holy Spirit show the difference between the Holy Ghost and the Father and Son since the Father, inasmuch as He is spirit, is called spirit, and the Son, being spirit, is called Spirit and a Holy Spirit? To this query we answer that though the Father is spirit and is holy, He is not the spirit of anyone, neither is He called such. Likewise, the Son, though He is spirit and is holy is nowise called the spirit of any one, for, in that sense it means the very nature of God. The Holy Spirit is, however, the Spirit of God, and is, besides, called such, for, He is the spirit of the Father and the Son." (Cap. iii.) Though each of the Divine Persons is spirit and each is holy, when we speak of the Holy Spirit, we have thrown upon the mental canvas the Third Person of the Blessed and Adorable Trinity.
Such doctrinal mountain-climbing is irksome; we have to pause frequently, as the zigzag paths are steep, to refresh our human soul, to survey from each accomplished stage of our ascent the ground we have traversed with a view to dilate the heart, to inhale the invigorating air, to take notes on shrub, color, leafage, fruitage and cloudage and absorb into the soul the grandeurs and meanings of the wonders of God, proclaimed in silent sonority from the vast uplifting landscape—"Who shall ascend to the mountain of the Lord?" Who shall witness the thrilling visions of earth and sky from Sion's lofty peak?
From the thirteen provinces of Japan,the Buddhists view the mountain of Fuji-no-Yama. Not to ascend to the altar of the sun, once at least in a lifetime, should be accounted a breach of Japanese duty to the ancient gods. But, we have the true mountain of God, not the spectral, rising from the divine land of the Church, embroidered with valleys and gorges, and Peter's rock at its base. What vast, outstretched beauties wait upon our steps, —rosy dreams of spiritual wealth! What worlds of color-glories beckon us on! With the Holy Ghost we may mount, and with the eagle's eye gaze into the truths of God-head, aye, into the very face of the Eternal One. "Seen on close approach, the mountain of Fuji does not come up to expectation," says the Japanese proverb. Upon closer acquaintance with God-head, the cosmetic attractions of earth dissolve from memory and the grandeur of God-head unfolds itself in startling display, as we inspect the mind and heart of God, the workshop of the Trinity, where the vast machinery of earth and sky was forged, the sun, moon and stars were cast in their moulds, and the thunder-bolts of the empyrean were dropped from the anvil beside the flames that leaped up from the bosom of God: —" The Lord is high above the nations and His glory above the heaven." (Ps. cxii.) —"Great are the works of the Lord."
Mounting, by prayer and daily meditation, Sion's peak, we view these wonders, we drink in their supreme knowledge of the Divinity and divine ways. Wisdom tells us, "All men are vain, in whom there is not the knowledge of God." (Chap, xiii, 1.) The Holy Ghost leads us on and from "the fire, wind, swift air, circle of stars, the great waters, the sun and moon," (v, 2.)—we learn that "the first Author of beauty made all these things;" "that He made them, and He is mightier than they." This very creation is designed to lead us on to God-head. —"For by the greatness of the beauty and of the creature, the Creator of them may bo seen, so as to be known thereby." (v, 5.) "Because that which is known of God is manifest in them. For God hath manifested it unto them. For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world, are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made; His eternal power also, and divinity." (Rom. i, 19, 20.)
