By Father James, O.F.M.Cap.
Rom 8:14 For whosoever are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
In one of those synthetic phrases, of which he was a master, Saint Thomas of Aquin has said: “In order to save his soul a man needs threefold knowledge : he needs to know what to believe, what to desire, and what to do.” The accuracy of this summing up reveals itself on reflection : man’s nature is a complex unity in which it is possible to discern the threefold need of knowledge, love and action. To relate these essential needs to the Spirit of Christ, the Holy Spirit, is the aim of the following pages. That they may succeed, with the help of God’s grace, in awakening souls to the very real influence of One Who has been called “the forgotten Paraclete” is my prayer and wish.
Father James, O.F.M.Cap.
Saint Bonaventure’s, University Hostel, Cork.
PART I
Knowledge of the Holy Spirit in Question and Answer
"We earnestly desire that faith may be aroused in your minds concerning the mystery of the adorable Trinity and especially that piety may increase and be inflamed towards the Holy Ghost . — Pope Leo XIII.
1. Q. Why a special booklet on the Holy Spirit ?
A. Because it is the desire of Holy Church that her children should appreciate the exact mission of the Holy Spirit.
2. Q. Do not the Faithful already know of the Holy Spirit ?
A. Yes. The Faithful are aware, by faith, of His existence and they invoke Him.
3. Q. Do the Faithful appreciate, at its true value, the work committed to the Holy Spirit ?
A. Few people are sufficiently aware of their extreme need of the Holy Spirit.
4. Q. Is it quite correct to speak of men's extreme need of the Holy Spirit ?
A. It is. Without the Holy Spirit it is impossible to understand in what being a Christian consists or to make any real progress in Christian holiness.
5. Q. In what precisely does being a Christian consist ?
A. Our blessed Lord replies: “Amen, amen I say to thee, unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.”
6. Q. It is by the power of the Holy Spirit then that a man is made Christian ?
A. Assuredly.
7. Q. Was it not by the power of the Holy Spirit also that the Son of Man was Himself conceived ?
A. Yes, but with a difference. Saint Thomas explains : “ Christ was conceived in holiness to be by nature the Son of God ; others are sanctified to be the sons of God by adoption”
8. Q. If Christians are by adoption what Jesus is by nature, then the destiny of Christ is bound up with that of Christians ?
A. Certainly. It was God's design that the Man Christ Jesus should be the Head of a new, a mystic Body.
9. Q. When did our blessed Lord take possession of this mystic Body ?
A. Pope Leo XIII replies: “ The Church which, already conceived, came forth from the side of the second Adam in His sleep on the cross, first showed herself before the eyes of men on the great day of Pentecost."
10. Q. How did our Lord take possession of His Church ?
A. By means of His Spirit, the Holy Spirit, Who “on that day (of Pentecost) began to manifest His gifts in the mystic Body of Christ.” (Pope Leo XIII).
11. Q. The mission of the Holy Spirit then is inseparably bound up with that of our blessed Lord ?
A. It is. Not only did Jesus accomplish all He did by the power of the Spirit but He explicitly declared that it was expedient for His followers that He should depart from them.
12. Q. How could it ever be expedient that our Lord should go away ?
A. Our blessed Lord is Himself the best Judge of that and He said : “ But I tell you the truth : It is expedient to you that I go. For if I go not, the Paraclete will not come : but if I go, I will send Him to you.”
13. Q. Is it true then that the Holy Spirit has come ?
A. Our blessed Lord promised that He would ; the first Pentecost is a witness to His advent.
14. Q. How is this coming to he described ?
A. Theologians speak of it as His external mission to mankind and it was to celebrate this mission that Pentecost was instituted.
15. Q. It is not being suggested that there was anything unfinished in the work of our blessed Lord ?
A. Certainly not. Our blessed Lord, as Saviour, declared upon the Cross that His work was consummated, that is, brought to its fullest achievement.
16. Q. How is it then that it is said that the Holy Spirit completes the work begun by Jesus ?
A. Because it was the design of God that the mission of our Lord, the Saviour, should be carried forward into that of God the Holy Ghost, the Sanctifier.
17. Q. Would you show from the words of Jesus that this was the divine plan ?
A. Yes. “ Jesus stood and cried, saying : If any man thirst, let him come to Me and drink . . . Now this He said of the Spirit which they should receive who believed in Him : for as yet the Spirit was not given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.”
