To this the Church makes answer that her doctrine of the indwelling of the Spirit of God by means of the Sevenfold Gifts goes a long way to remove the load from my own shoulders and suggests to me a perfectly true sense in which my soul is ruled not by me but by another. As far, then, as these things can be stated in human language, we may say that the gifts differ from the virtues in this—the gifts are moved into operation not by me but by God.
When I perform an act of virtue, it is obvious that (not excluding God’s grace) it is I who performs it and I acquire merit in consequence; but in the movement of the gifts, it is not I but God who is the mover. He is the sole mover. In the actual movement of the soul under the influence of the gifts, I cannot claim any lot or part—I cannot claim any merit at all. He has His hand on the tiller—He guides, steers, and propels. Hence, it is He, not I, who has control of my soul. With the four gifts that perfect my intelligence, He illumines my mind; with the one gift that perfects the will, He inflames my desire; and with the two gifts that perfect the passions, He strengthens my emotions of love and fear with His intimate indwelling.
By the instrumentality of the gifts, the soul is keyed-up to the level of God, tuned to concert pitch. To vary the metaphor, the soul is made so responsive to the divine influence that, like some delicate electrical receiver, it registers every passing breath of God. I must remember that it is His doing, not mine.
