By Henry Aloysius Barry
In her prayer to the Holy Ghost— Veni Creator Spiritus! the Church makes allusion to David and creation:—"Thou shalt send forth thy spirit and they shall be created, and thou shalt renew the face of the earth." (Ps. ciii, 30.) We find, furthermore, the Incarnation, a purely divine thing, imputed to the Holy Ghost. "The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee, and therefore also the Holy which shall be born of thee, shall be called the Son of God." (Luke i, 35.) His is the unction of Christ—"the spirit of the Lord is upon me, therefore hath He anointed me." (Luke iv, 18.) Hence that astonishment: "They wonder at the words of Christ." (v. 22.) "They were astonished at His doctrine for His speech was with power." (v. 32). Hence also the healing of the diseased masses at sundown,—"He, laying His hand upon every one of them, healed them." (v. 40.) "And the devils went out from many." (v. 41.) Says St. Paul,—"to another, faith in the same spirit; to another, the grace of healing in the spirit." (I Cor. xii, 9.) Our Lord ascribes His miracles to the Holy Ghost. "If I by the Spirit of God cast out devils, then is the kingdom of God come upon you." (Matt, xii, 28.) The Holy Ghost will guide the Church to the truth and in the truth: —"But the Paraclete, the Holy Ghost, Whom the Father shall send in my name, He will teach you all things." (St. John xiv, 26.) "When the Spirit of
Truth is come, He will teach you all truth." (xvi, 13.) "Take heed to yourselves and to the whole flock wherein the Holy Ghost has placed you bishops to rule the Church of God." (Acts xx, 28.) All truths emanate to the Church from the Holy Ghost, and her being infallibly insured against the possibility of deceiving or of being deceived through the Holy Ghost places upon the Third Person the stamp of divinity.
"How," says St. Peter of Cluny, "could the Church deceive and be deceived for more than one thousand years, a church with whom the true Father, with whom the truth—the Son, with whom the Spirit of Truth abides?" (Adv. Petrobrussianos lib. Cluniae, p. 1113.) Within and without the Holy Ghost exercises a regency in the Church. "And as Peter was thinking of the voices the Spirit said to him, 'Behold three men seek thee, rise therefore and get thee down, and go with them, doubt nothing for I have sent them." (Acts x, 19.) Men strive to undo the Church, to work defections in her, to decimate her ranks; society, business and politics combine against her collectively, as an institution and individually. The Holy Ghost, however, directs the minds and hearts of men toward the truth. The Church of God must go on. In her outward management she is not left at the mercy of men:—"Take heed to yourselves and the whole flock wherein the Holy Ghost has placed you bishops to rule the Church of God." (Acts xx, 28.)
Inspiration in Holy Writ and the prophets or in other words the divine Voice is of the Holy Ghost:—"For prophecy comes not by the will of man at any time, but the holy men of God spoke inspired by the Holy Ghost." (II. Peter i, 21.) Regeneration and renewal or divine productiveness are His husbandry. "Unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost, he cannot enter the kingdom of heaven." (St. John iii, 5.) "Receive ye the Holy Ghost, whose sins ye shall forgive, they are forgiven them." (St. John xx, 23.) Here then is regeneration; a new genus is bestowed upon us or a lost one revived, a supernatural character; and in the second place the soul's renewal is achieved. The distribution of chrisms, sanctification and justification—all divine elements—emerge from Him:—"But you are washed, you are sanctified, you are justified in the name of Our Lord Jesus Christ, and the spirit of our Lord." (I. Cor. xii, 2.) St. Gregory Nazianzen observes with pointed eloquence:—"I cannot be brought to believe that I am indebted for my salvation to one who is no more than myself. If the Holy Ghost is not God let Him first become such and, forthwith, make a God of me his equal." (Ora 34, 12.) The Third Person is that substantial and essential sanctity whence all holiness wells forth into creatures. Says St. Cyril of Alexandria: "If they are guilty of extreme folly, who argue that we are to call the Father God but are not to take Him so or to call the Son God but are not to hold Him as such, how will we exculpate the ignorance of such as endeavor to despoil of His natural sanctity the Spirit, truly and by nature holy?" (Dial. 9. de Trin.) All knowledge is the Third Person's for He is "the Spirit of Truth." (St. Johnxiv, 17.) "But to us," says St. Paul, "God hath revealed them by His spirit, for the spirit searches all things." Aye, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of man, but by the spirit of man that is in him? "So the things also that are of God, no man knoweth but the spirit of God." In a variety of ways the Fathers extract from this point in St. Paul the divinity of the Holy Ghost. In the paternal and abysmal arcana, the eternal concerns, only one who has a nature divine and co-natural with the Son's nature can find place,— "no man hath seen God at any time, the only begotten Son, Who is in the bosom of the Father He hath declared Him." (St. John i, 18.)
The Holy Ghost is ushered into comparison with the spirit of man. And, as we know, this is man's very substance, without which, veritably, he were no man at all:—"If it belongs to the divinity to know the secrets of man, what a signal evidence it is of majesty in the person of the Holy Ghost that His gaze is in the depths of the most High God." (Paschanius de spir. s. 1, 2, c. 1.)
In her prayer to the Holy Ghost— Veni Creator Spiritus! the Church makes allusion to David and creation:—"Thou shalt send forth thy spirit and they shall be created, and thou shalt renew the face of the earth." (Ps. ciii, 30.) We find, furthermore, the Incarnation, a purely divine thing, imputed to the Holy Ghost. "The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee, and therefore also the Holy which shall be born of thee, shall be called the Son of God." (Luke i, 35.) His is the unction of Christ—"the spirit of the Lord is upon me, therefore hath He anointed me." (Luke iv, 18.) Hence that astonishment: "They wonder at the words of Christ." (v. 22.) "They were astonished at His doctrine for His speech was with power." (v. 32). Hence also the healing of the diseased masses at sundown,—"He, laying His hand upon every one of them, healed them." (v. 40.) "And the devils went out from many." (v. 41.) Says St. Paul,—"to another, faith in the same spirit; to another, the grace of healing in the spirit." (I Cor. xii, 9.) Our Lord ascribes His miracles to the Holy Ghost. "If I by the Spirit of God cast out devils, then is the kingdom of God come upon you." (Matt, xii, 28.) The Holy Ghost will guide the Church to the truth and in the truth: —"But the Paraclete, the Holy Ghost, Whom the Father shall send in my name, He will teach you all things." (St. John xiv, 26.) "When the Spirit of
Truth is come, He will teach you all truth." (xvi, 13.) "Take heed to yourselves and to the whole flock wherein the Holy Ghost has placed you bishops to rule the Church of God." (Acts xx, 28.) All truths emanate to the Church from the Holy Ghost, and her being infallibly insured against the possibility of deceiving or of being deceived through the Holy Ghost places upon the Third Person the stamp of divinity.
"How," says St. Peter of Cluny, "could the Church deceive and be deceived for more than one thousand years, a church with whom the true Father, with whom the truth—the Son, with whom the Spirit of Truth abides?" (Adv. Petrobrussianos lib. Cluniae, p. 1113.) Within and without the Holy Ghost exercises a regency in the Church. "And as Peter was thinking of the voices the Spirit said to him, 'Behold three men seek thee, rise therefore and get thee down, and go with them, doubt nothing for I have sent them." (Acts x, 19.) Men strive to undo the Church, to work defections in her, to decimate her ranks; society, business and politics combine against her collectively, as an institution and individually. The Holy Ghost, however, directs the minds and hearts of men toward the truth. The Church of God must go on. In her outward management she is not left at the mercy of men:—"Take heed to yourselves and the whole flock wherein the Holy Ghost has placed you bishops to rule the Church of God." (Acts xx, 28.)
Inspiration in Holy Writ and the prophets or in other words the divine Voice is of the Holy Ghost:—"For prophecy comes not by the will of man at any time, but the holy men of God spoke inspired by the Holy Ghost." (II. Peter i, 21.) Regeneration and renewal or divine productiveness are His husbandry. "Unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost, he cannot enter the kingdom of heaven." (St. John iii, 5.) "Receive ye the Holy Ghost, whose sins ye shall forgive, they are forgiven them." (St. John xx, 23.) Here then is regeneration; a new genus is bestowed upon us or a lost one revived, a supernatural character; and in the second place the soul's renewal is achieved. The distribution of chrisms, sanctification and justification—all divine elements—emerge from Him:—"But you are washed, you are sanctified, you are justified in the name of Our Lord Jesus Christ, and the spirit of our Lord." (I. Cor. xii, 2.) St. Gregory Nazianzen observes with pointed eloquence:—"I cannot be brought to believe that I am indebted for my salvation to one who is no more than myself. If the Holy Ghost is not God let Him first become such and, forthwith, make a God of me his equal." (Ora 34, 12.) The Third Person is that substantial and essential sanctity whence all holiness wells forth into creatures. Says St. Cyril of Alexandria: "If they are guilty of extreme folly, who argue that we are to call the Father God but are not to take Him so or to call the Son God but are not to hold Him as such, how will we exculpate the ignorance of such as endeavor to despoil of His natural sanctity the Spirit, truly and by nature holy?" (Dial. 9. de Trin.) All knowledge is the Third Person's for He is "the Spirit of Truth." (St. Johnxiv, 17.) "But to us," says St. Paul, "God hath revealed them by His spirit, for the spirit searches all things." Aye, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of man, but by the spirit of man that is in him? "So the things also that are of God, no man knoweth but the spirit of God." In a variety of ways the Fathers extract from this point in St. Paul the divinity of the Holy Ghost. In the paternal and abysmal arcana, the eternal concerns, only one who has a nature divine and co-natural with the Son's nature can find place,— "no man hath seen God at any time, the only begotten Son, Who is in the bosom of the Father He hath declared Him." (St. John i, 18.)
The Holy Ghost is ushered into comparison with the spirit of man. And, as we know, this is man's very substance, without which, veritably, he were no man at all:—"If it belongs to the divinity to know the secrets of man, what a signal evidence it is of majesty in the person of the Holy Ghost that His gaze is in the depths of the most High God." (Paschanius de spir. s. 1, 2, c. 1.)
