By Henry Aloysius Barry
Epiphanius says:—"If we consider the order of persons, the Son, the Second Person, is the medium between the First from Whom He is generated and the Third, Who, only on the supposition of the Son, proceeds also from the Father, through the Son." It remains, therefore, that in His personal character, that is to say, "Love," the Holy Ghost is the divine cord that binds the Father and Son, and, being the kiss of the Father and Son, will bind and reconcile us, ipso facto by grace, to the Father and Son. "Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing that you may abound in hope, and in the power of the Holy Ghost." What does so much discourse on procession mean? The skeleton of Christ is all that the most of mankind can boast in their lives. His Spirit they have not. St. Bernard speaks of three advents of the Son of God, when the Son of God was be-fleshed and robed with human infirmities; the second, in spirit and virtue; the third, in glory and majesty. Peter de Blois calls the first "humble and hidden," the second, "mysterious and full of love." St. Paul verifies this personal sway of the Holy Ghost, this internal sanctification of men, this wonderful kingdom within us. Said he to the Romans, "That I should be the minister of Christ Jesus among the Gentiles; sanctifying the Gospel of God, that the oblation of the Gentiles may be acceptable and sanctified in the Holy Ghost." (xiv, 16.) The apostle here puts his hand on the lever which lifts the mere skeleton of Christ to the living state, with its veins and arteries, with a proper circulation of blood and a pulse—His Spirit. "But I dare not speak of any of these things which Christ worketh by Me, for the obedience of the Gentiles, by word and deed.
By the virtue of sign and wonders, in the Holy Ghost." (18,19.) Does He separate the Son from the spirit? Listen! "I beseech you therefore, brethren, through our Lord, Jesus Christ, and by the charity of the Holy Ghost, that you help me in your prayers for me, to God." (v. 30.) Look around you upon the lives of the nations and of men and point out where the spirit of Jesus, the sweet, hidden, self-forgetting, humble, patient, compassionate, poverty-loving Jesus, that is to say, where the living Christ is? The nations are snarling at one another and sleep in coats of mail; their policies are shaped by men, whose sense of justice is blunted by the influence of the anaesthetic of money and ambition, and, the misery of it all is that such representatives of government are in the most of instances chosen by the rank and file of the people after their platform has been defined and openly declared. Great armies are mobilized to terrify and hoodwink the weak who bleat like sheep at the sight of the shears, because they are to lose their fleece, and, all is done under the hypocritical shield of so-called civilization and Christianity, though Jesus Christ said distinctly to those who would follow in the leadership of His spirit, "Put up thy sword," I am the "Prince of Peace," My spirit is "Love" and "Justice." Great syndicates are grinding down the poor, cornering the markets, and law-makers, sworn to guard the people's interests, become as the results of lobbying, the tools of the trusts, the puppets of vested interests. Whilst, in the meantime, the few are growing enormously affluent and the poor people are becoming poorer; yet, the name of Christ is, to outward appearance, honored. His name is received with a certain manifestation of deference but, O how little of His spirit is in the world, especially in the hearts of the rich and powerful! It is a hollow mockery to make profession of Christianity, whether it be nations or individuals, and, at the same time, be without the spirit of Christ, that is to say, the Holy Ghost. The Prophet says all this in speaking of our Lord, "The spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him; the spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the spirit of council and of fortitude, the spirit of knowledge and of godliness." (Is. xi, 2.) Again, love of God cannot be of the right sort and not be built upon respect and fear, "And He shall be filled with the spirit of the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge according to the sight of His eyes, nor reprove according to the hearing of His ears." (v. 3.) Harken ye rich individuals and corporations, u He shall judge the poor with justice and justice shall be the girdle of His loins; and faith the girdle of His reins." (v. 4, 5.)
