The Indwelling Of The Holy Spirit In The Souls Of The Just. Part 28.

According To The Teaching of St. Thomas Aquinas

"Because the charity of God is poured forth in our hearts, by the Holy Ghost, Who is given to us." Romans v. 5.

Yet it is not only the Holy Ghost we receive through grace and with grace, but all Three Persons of the Holy Trinity. Our Lord says explicitly in the Gospel of St. John: "If anyone love Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to Him, and will make Our abode with Him." John xiv. 23.

This is why the Apostle, in his exhortations to the early Christians, on the necessity of shunning all sin, of preserving pure and without spot the sanctuary of their soul, could find no more powerful appeal, no more urgent reason, no more persuasive argument, than the fact that they were the temple of God: "Know you not that you are the temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? But if any man violate the temple of God, him shall God destroy. For the temple of God is holy, which you are." 1 Cor iii. 16, 17.

We must pause here, lest we multiply excessively the Scripture texts that prove the fact of a mission, a giving of the Divine Persons, an indwelling of the Holy Spirit in the just soul. Our present task will be to gather together the teachings contained in these passages and set them forth in concise language.

What first strikes the reader in all these texts, taken in their natural and obvious meaning, and that shines forth with the clearest evidence, is the fact of a special presence of God in souls in the state of grace. In truth, if the Holy Ghost is sent to these souls, is it not in order that He be present to them otherwise than He is present elsewhere, for if He be present to them in the common ordinary way, what does this second mission mean, and what new thing does it give to the soul?

The Indwelling Of The Holy Spirit In The Souls Of The Just. Part 27.

According To The Teaching of St. Thomas Aquinas

There is perhaps no truth more frequently alluded to in the Gospel and in the Epistles of St. Paul than that of the mission, that is to say, the giving, the indwelling of the Divine Persons in the souls of the just. When about to leave this earth to return to His heavenly Father, Our Lord promised to send the Paraclete to His Apostles, wishing thereby to comfort them, and to lessen somewhat the sorrow caused by His departure: "I tell you the truth; it is expedient to you that I go; for if I go not the Paraclete will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you." John xvi. 7.  "When the Paraclete cometh, Whom I will send you from the Father, the Spirit of Truth Who proceeds from the Father, He will give testimony of Me, and you also will give testimony of Me, because you have been with Me from the beginning" John xv. 26, 27.

Again He said to them: "If you love Me, keep My Commandments. And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Paraclete, that He may abide with you forever; the Spirit of Truth, Whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth Him not, nor knoweth Him; but you shall know Him, because He shall abide with you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you orphans, I will come to you." John xiv. 15-18. This new Comforter Whom Jesus promises to His Apostles, is no other than the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of Truth, as He calls Him, i.e., the Spirit of the Son, Who Himself is the substantial and essential Truth: "I am the truth." John xiv. 6.  As long as He dwelt among them, Jesus Himself comforted His disciples; now that His departure will unavoidably expose them to tribulations of all kinds, He promises them another comforter, the Holy Ghost, Whom He will send from the Father.

This mission of the Holy Ghost, this giving of the Paraclete, Whom Jesus promised to His chosen ones, was not, however, to be the exclusive privilege of the Apostles; it was intended also as the privilege of all those who, through grace were made the children of God This is why St. Paul, writing to the Galatians, says to them: "Because you are sons, God hath sent the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying Abba (Father). Galatians iv. 6.  "You have not received the spirit of bondage again in fear, but you have received the spirit of adoption of sons, whereby we cry, Abba (Father)." Romans viii. 15.