By Henry Aloysius Barry
As we know, one of the gifts of the Holy Ghost is Wisdom — Love enlarges and extends the boundaries of knowledge. St. Thomas has said, "As it is in our own case, when we come upon the truth and look into it, a love for it springs up as a consequence; so is it with God, when the truth, which is the Son, is conceived, love proceedeth; and as love proceedeth from the truth, so also does it lead to a knowledge thereof—for it is love that bringeth about the revelation of hidden things." (In. Jo. xiv, lect. 4.) "Wisdom means a certain rectitude of judgment according to divine ideas— but to have a right judgment on matters divine, according to a certain co-naturalness thereunto, belongs to wisdom in the sense that it is a gift of the Holy Ghost. Such co-naturalness to divine things is wrought out by charity which unites us to God." (St. Thomas, Th. 2, 2, Q. 45, a. 2.)
In a direct way, the Holy Ghost, in His peculiar personality, namely, as Charity, gives us the capacity to understand the spiritual elevation of the soul above the merely human plane to a high plateau of the things that are hidden. But intrinsically love and understanding act and react upon each other. We know the truth and love it; Love prompts us to know more, "start out with faith to increase your knowledge," and the more one's knowledge multiplies, the more ardent grows one's love. The Word is peculiarly by His origin, "Wisdom" and "Truth". The Holy Ghost is the Spirit of Wisdom and of Truth, not as expressive of His peculiar origin, but in the sense that these are "gifts" of the Holy Ghost. These observations are made in order to remove the illusion that because the Holy Ghost is "Love," "Goodness," "Sanctity," "Charity" by virtue of His peculiar procession, His operations in our soul are confined to the will. As a matter of fact if we have the charity of God, the pure love which emanates from the Holy Ghost, we will increase in knowledge. This is a psychologic law. This law is best exemplified in the lives of the saints. Under the promptings of love first of all,—a movement of the heart—they turned to God, studied and meditated upon Him. Their knowledge of course grew and kept on growing, and their love kept pace with its consecutive growth. Day by day their growing love started in quest of new knowledge of God, of His more intimate ideas and more internal principles, the attributes of God and the beauty of the divine nature, the heart-life of the Son of Man—all; and, these ever drew and spurred them on to deeper admiration and a broader, nobler, purer love. Deeper and deeper, I say, their love-lighted souls delved until they burst forth in flames, that consumed and transformed them into other-Christs. The fires of love that warm the heart must throw light. Nor is this surcease of knowledge and this internal enlightenment on the higher voice of life the result, merely, of the love of the Holy Ghost. It is besides a direct "fruit" of His bestowal. The love of the Holy Ghost, that breathes enlightenment and wisdom, is not of course a natural thing, as would be for example a taste for theological speculation,; but, rather, the effects of charity, the fruits of which we find, as we remarked, in the saints, who form in consequence thereof the chandeliers of the house of Israel dispersing the darkness of life from about themselves and by their recorded works and actions and the memory of their sanctified personalities performing a similar service in our behalf. Our present theme lies not, however, in the direction of the 'gifts' of the Holy Ghost. The important truth we are to absorb is the deep rooted conviction that the character of the will and its spiritual qualities and endowments find their ideal or eternal archetype and prototype in the procession of the Holy Ghost and the panacea of its manifold needs and wide circle of deficiencies in the same source, inasmuch as the Holy Ghost is, before all things, the embodiment, so to speak, of charity, the love and sanctity of God, aye, that He is the powerhouse of the human will. There is in the christian world a good deal of faith, giving this word a moral breadth of interpretation. Can we say that there is as much love?
As we know, one of the gifts of the Holy Ghost is Wisdom — Love enlarges and extends the boundaries of knowledge. St. Thomas has said, "As it is in our own case, when we come upon the truth and look into it, a love for it springs up as a consequence; so is it with God, when the truth, which is the Son, is conceived, love proceedeth; and as love proceedeth from the truth, so also does it lead to a knowledge thereof—for it is love that bringeth about the revelation of hidden things." (In. Jo. xiv, lect. 4.) "Wisdom means a certain rectitude of judgment according to divine ideas— but to have a right judgment on matters divine, according to a certain co-naturalness thereunto, belongs to wisdom in the sense that it is a gift of the Holy Ghost. Such co-naturalness to divine things is wrought out by charity which unites us to God." (St. Thomas, Th. 2, 2, Q. 45, a. 2.)
In a direct way, the Holy Ghost, in His peculiar personality, namely, as Charity, gives us the capacity to understand the spiritual elevation of the soul above the merely human plane to a high plateau of the things that are hidden. But intrinsically love and understanding act and react upon each other. We know the truth and love it; Love prompts us to know more, "start out with faith to increase your knowledge," and the more one's knowledge multiplies, the more ardent grows one's love. The Word is peculiarly by His origin, "Wisdom" and "Truth". The Holy Ghost is the Spirit of Wisdom and of Truth, not as expressive of His peculiar origin, but in the sense that these are "gifts" of the Holy Ghost. These observations are made in order to remove the illusion that because the Holy Ghost is "Love," "Goodness," "Sanctity," "Charity" by virtue of His peculiar procession, His operations in our soul are confined to the will. As a matter of fact if we have the charity of God, the pure love which emanates from the Holy Ghost, we will increase in knowledge. This is a psychologic law. This law is best exemplified in the lives of the saints. Under the promptings of love first of all,—a movement of the heart—they turned to God, studied and meditated upon Him. Their knowledge of course grew and kept on growing, and their love kept pace with its consecutive growth. Day by day their growing love started in quest of new knowledge of God, of His more intimate ideas and more internal principles, the attributes of God and the beauty of the divine nature, the heart-life of the Son of Man—all; and, these ever drew and spurred them on to deeper admiration and a broader, nobler, purer love. Deeper and deeper, I say, their love-lighted souls delved until they burst forth in flames, that consumed and transformed them into other-Christs. The fires of love that warm the heart must throw light. Nor is this surcease of knowledge and this internal enlightenment on the higher voice of life the result, merely, of the love of the Holy Ghost. It is besides a direct "fruit" of His bestowal. The love of the Holy Ghost, that breathes enlightenment and wisdom, is not of course a natural thing, as would be for example a taste for theological speculation,; but, rather, the effects of charity, the fruits of which we find, as we remarked, in the saints, who form in consequence thereof the chandeliers of the house of Israel dispersing the darkness of life from about themselves and by their recorded works and actions and the memory of their sanctified personalities performing a similar service in our behalf. Our present theme lies not, however, in the direction of the 'gifts' of the Holy Ghost. The important truth we are to absorb is the deep rooted conviction that the character of the will and its spiritual qualities and endowments find their ideal or eternal archetype and prototype in the procession of the Holy Ghost and the panacea of its manifold needs and wide circle of deficiencies in the same source, inasmuch as the Holy Ghost is, before all things, the embodiment, so to speak, of charity, the love and sanctity of God, aye, that He is the powerhouse of the human will. There is in the christian world a good deal of faith, giving this word a moral breadth of interpretation. Can we say that there is as much love?
