By Henry Aloysius Barry
The Holy Ghost makes out of timid woman a vault of discernment and an arsenal of courage even to the reassurance of a whole, trembling nation. Deborah, the prophetess, is witness to this. (Judges iv.) The Three Persons swept down the fillets of David's harp, "Who by the Holy Ghost, by the mouth of our father David, thy servant hath said," (Acts iv, 25.) The prophet king trusted ever in the Spirit's guidance. "Thy good spirit shall lead me into the right land." (Ps. clii, 9.) — " Take not thy Holy Spirit from me," (Ps. 1.) How profoundly he realized, ardently treasured, and industriously cultivated, in the pursuits of his daily life, in his prayers and devotions, the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity! The Holy Ghost inspired Isaias to minister rebuke to the recreant Jews, — "I heard the voice of the Lord saying, Lo! here am I, send me. And he said, go and thou shalt say to this people: Blind the heart of the people and make their ears heavy and shut their eyes, lest they see with their eyes and Thou foundedst not; I believe in a greater, or hear with their ears." (Isaias vi, 8, 10.)
St. Paul cites these words, as we have had occasion to observe previously, and adds, "Well did the Holy Ghost speak to our Fathers, by Isaias, the prophet." (Acts xxxviii, 25.) When the lustful elders plotted the invasion of Susan's chastity, it was the Holy Ghost Who outwitted their malicious vengeance, 'The Lord raised up the holy spirit of a young boy whose name was Daniel." (Dan. xiii, 25.) The inspired youth, with a superhuman insight, such as the Holy Ghost imparted to him, unravelled the nefarious plot and vindicated in the end the honor of the young woman. "He became great in the sight of the people from that day and henceforth." (Ver. 64.) The Holy Ghost it was Who gave the graces, visions, revelations, promises, inspirations, vocations and special calls from the dawn of the world, but, Joel foresaw that full measure of the Holy Ghost which had been increasing up to the coming of the Lord. He foresaw these exterior works and graces of the Holy Ghost, that were to be ushered in by the Incarnation. "And it shall come to pass after this, that 1 shall pour out my spirit upon the flesh, and your sons and daughters shall prophesy — moreover, upon my servants and handmaidens on this day, I will pour forth my spirit."
In the interior workings and graces, the saints of the Old Law were sanctified, in every instance, by the Holy Ghost in virtue of the foreseen redemption upon Calvary, although other graces never given to Israel are given by the Holy Ghost in the New Law. Although the Creator in the creature and the Son in the Incarnation have revealed themselves, and we now live in the dispensation of the Holy Ghost, and are at this time committed to the care and guidance of the Third Person so that the dispensation we are now in, is the Spirit of God, as Joel foresaw, still, the Holy Ghost from the beginning of the world, sanctified in ever augmenting measure. "The one great evangelical gift, the one great gift of the Gospel is the Holy Ghost." (Manning, Int. Miss. Page 23.) Silent as the dewdrops falling into the chalice of the flower, noiseless as the moving shadow of the sun on the dial-plate, with a tenderness and a delightfulness and a subtle coyness so exquisite that lips may not tell it, the Holy Ghost overshadowed her and brought to burst in glorious dawn the wrapt soul of the incomparable Virgin, imparting to it such depths of sanctified glories as the mind of man may never, even in imagination, sound. With awe, with gratitude, with reverent tongue, absorbently, let us say of her, with the Evangelist: "She was found with child of the Holy Ghost." To the Holy Ghost, then, the world is directly indebted for its treasure — Jesus Christ. The Holy Ghost laid the cornerstone of the Redemption in the heart of the Virgin. And what an incalculable difference asserts itself betwixt the two portraits, the Peter of the Atrium, with the shadow of the shackled Jesus thrown by the burning brazier on the wall, weird, grim, sad, terrible in his dejection on the eve of the Redemption-finale and the Peter of a later period whose picture is drawn for us in the fourth chapter of the Acts. The Holy Ghost had come down. The whining countenance has disappeared and the lines of a determined spirit are drawn about the mouth and chin. With brow erect, he stands in apostolic grandeur, serene and defiant before the serried forces of an unscrupulous antagonism and murderously fierce dislike on the threshold of his prison cell: — " Then, Peter filled with the Holy Ghost, said to them: ye princes of the people and ancients, hear." (v. 10.) The overflow of the spirit, by virtue of prayer, trickled down upon the Christians grouped around his noble presence,— "and when they had prayed, the place was moved wherein they were assembled, and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and they spoke the Word of God with confidence." (v. 81.) hand of the Lord is upon thee—and thou shalt be blind, and immediately there fell a mist and darkness upon him." (v. 9, 11.)
