Et emitte coelitus
Lucis tuae radium.
Veni, Pater pauperum,
Veni, dator munerum,
Veni, lumen cordium.
Consolator optime,
Dulcis hospes animae,
Dulce refrigerium.
In labore requies,
In aestu temperies,
In fletu solatium
O Lux beatissima,
Reple cordis intima
Tuorum fidelium!"
I cannot do better than explain these words of the Holy Church,
which express in so many beautiful forms the comforting grace of
the Holy Ghost.
Who is this Divine Comforter? God the Holy Ghost. Not an
attribute of God, such as His omnipotence, His omnipresence, His
justice or mercy, but the Person of God Himself. God lives in
Himself an eternal, infinite life; a mysterious life to us, in
that He needs no other object besides Himself to give Him life.
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God is but one being; and hence the Holy Ghost is the same God as
the Father and the Son; but God possesses, as it were, a
threefold personal life, which, being mutually dependent and
united, is but one. The Father is the Infinite Personal Cause of
His own Divine Life; the Son is the Personal Life of God,
begotten of the Father; and the Holy Ghost is God personally
enjoying, living the Divine Life, begotten by Himself. Think of
it! This is what we invoke when we cry, __Veni, Sancte
Spiritus!__ This is what was promised by our Lord, when He
said: "I will ask the Father, and He will send you another
Comforter." The Life of God! Life full beyond human imagination,
of ineffable joy, and of peace that passes understanding! Life
full of beauty, sublimity, and majesty! Life of omnipotence and
of glory! "O Lord, my God," exclaims the enraptured Psalmist, in
one of the Psalms of to-day's matins, "Thou art exceedingly
great! Thou hast put on praise and beauty, and art clothed with
light as with a garment." [Footnote 27]
[Footnote 27: Ps. ciii. 1,2.]
[USCCB: Ps. civ. 1,2.]
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The sun rises in his splendor, and no man may look with
unblenched gaze upon it; but who shall describe the dazzling
brightness of Him who dwells in light inaccessible! And it is a
ray of the light of the Life of God we crave for our darkened
souls, when we say, __Veni, Sancte Spirtus, et emitte coelitus
lucis tuae radium!__ "Come, O Holy Spirit, and send forth upon
us a ray of Thy heavenly light!"
The coming of the Holy Ghost to man is the completion of the
mysterious union between God and us. By the Father Almighty we
are created. Something of the hidden essence of Life is given to
us in creation. "And the Lord God formed man of the slime of the
earth: and breathed into his face the breath of life, and man
became a living soul." [Footnote 28]
[Footnote 28: Gen. ii. 7.]
In creation, we are united to the Life of God the Father. By the
Incarnation of the Word, the Son of God, we became, as St. Peter
declares, "partakers of the Divine nature." Humanity became
united to the Life of God the Son through Jesus Christ; and now
the Life of God the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of Love, descends and
fills with Divine grace the hearts of the faithful children
begotten to God through the creation and Incarnation; the union
between God and man is complete, and the love of God to man is
exhausted.
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Truly, the Father Almighty was a Comforter, to bring us out of
nothingness, and bestow upon us the boon of being and the joys of
an eternal existence. God the Son was a Comforter in redeeming
us, and regenerating us, and giving us the right, which angels
might envy, to call our Creator our __Father__; but the Holy
Ghost was yet another Comforter, and He would not deny Himself to
those whom the Father had loved to create, whom He had yet loved
more so as to send His only-begotten Son, that whosoever
believeth in Him "might have life, and might have it more
abundantly"; and thus the life of man becomes exalted and deified
by its union with the Eternal, Infinite life of the Triune God.
Look down from the deck of a ship in mid-ocean, and pierce the
mighty depths of waters with a glance. Look up into the blue
vault of heaven, and with unaided vision scan the uttermost
bounds of space, far beyond the dizzy distances where roll the
last stars in their lonely course; but fathom if you can the
height, the depth, the immensity of that Infinite Life of the
Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, in which, as in a boundless
and fathomless ocean of comfort, and as in a measureless
firmament of glory and of rapture, the soul of man is swallowed
up and lost in the love of his God.
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But who among men belong thus entirely to God? To whom does the
Holy Ghost come in His fulness? Not to all; for I read that our
Lord said that "the world cannot receive Him, because it seeth
Him not, nor knoweth Him." [Footnote 29] To whom, then? Let St.
John answer us: "As many as received Him (Jesus Christ, who is
the Word of God), to them He gave power to become the sons of
God, to them who believe in His name. Who are born, not of blood,
nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of
God." [Footnote 30]
[Footnote 29: St. John xiv. 17.]
[Footnote 30: Ibid. i. 12, 13.]
It is not enough, then, to be a creature of God, to be born of
the flesh, or of the will of man. The soul who would receive the
Holy Ghost, to see and have God in His fulness, must be born of
God. "Except a man be born of water and the Holy Ghost, he cannot
enter into the kingdom of God." [Footnote 31] As the Son of God
became incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin, so the sons of
men must be born again of water and the Holy Ghost in Baptism, to
become the sons of God. Then, and then only, can we call God
Father. Then, and then only, do we "receive the spirit of
adoption of sons," as St. Paul declares, "whereby we cry, Abba
(Father)." [Footnote 32] We must believe in the Word made flesh,
in Jesus Christ, else that other Comforter will not come unto us;
and hence the Church invokes the Holy Ghost to come down into the
hearts of the __faithful__, or the believers in Jesus Christ.
[Footnote 31: Ibid. iii. 5.]
[Footnote 32: Rom. viii. 15.]
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"Come, O Holy Spirit! fill the hearts of thy faithful, and kindle
in them the fire of thy love." Alas! for those who do not realize
this great truth. By their rejection of Jesus Christ and the new
birth unto God in Baptism, they remain for ever in the lower
sphere of the simple creature, with no hope of the enrapturing
vision of the Blessed Trinity when their souls shall have passed
beyond this human life, in which the choice of that higher
destiny is given to them. This is the first thought suggested to
us by the opening invocation of the sequence of the Mass.
And now the sentiment of the sequence suddenly changes. Though we
be so exalted by the Divine relationship, though the light of
Heaven's glory is beaming upon our footsteps as we advance
towards it, and our loosened tongues cry out with St. Paul, "O
the depth of the riches of the wisdom and of the knowledge of
God!" [Footnote 33] yet what is our human life now compared with
the Heavenly Life in God! It is a blessed truth to me, some of us
say, and a hope that I would not part with for life; but though
inexhaustible riches, and crowns and harps of gold, are waiting
for me in the kingdom of the Heavenly Father, here I am poor,
here my heart is too sad to sing.
[Footnote 33: Rom. xi. 33.]
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Though there I shall possess wisdom, to which the wisdom of this
world is foolishness, yet here I am ignorant. There shall be no
want, I know; but here I am ever in want. I cry, Give, give, and
my soul is never satisfied. There, in the light of glory, shall
be peace, rest, and victory; but here is toil, strife,
temptation, defeat, and my heart is oft darkened within me, even
to forget my God. Hark what the Holy Church inspires you to say:
"Veni, Sancte Spiritus,
Veni, Pater pauperum,
Veni, dator munerum,
Veni, lumen cordium!"
"Come, O Holy Spirit!
Come, O Father of the poor!
Come, O giver of every gift!
Come, O light of every heart!"
Are you poor? Repine not, for Jesus has said it is a blessed
state. God loves you, and has given you poverty, that through it
you may receive the Holy Ghost, the Comforter. Money is the
riches of man, but the comforting grace of the Holy Ghost is the
riches of God; and the poor may have that easily if they will.
God has deprived you of the things of this world that you may set
your heart on Him. Wonder not that thousands of Christians have
left all, and vowed themselves to poverty, that they may get the
grace of God easily, like you.
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Ask for grace, then, poor man, and your requests shall be quickly
granted. Cry with the Holy Church--__Veni, Pater pauperum!__
Come, O Father of the poor! and the Comforter will come, and pour
out upon you a flood of graces that shall make your heart sing
for joy. Then you will say with the Psalmist, enjoying nothing
here below, "The Lord is the portion of my inheritance and my
cup; it is Thou who wilt restore my inheritance to me." [Footnote
34]
[Footnote 34: Ps. xv. 5.]
[USCCB: Ps. xvi. 5.]
Are you in ignorance of what is best for you here and hereafter?
Is it hard for you to think of God? Lift up your heart, and
say--__Veni, Sancte Spiritus! Veni, dator munerum!__ Come, O
Giver of every good and perfect gift!--and you shall receive the
Comforter's gift of Divine Wisdom.
Are you ignorant of the truths of faith, or do they seem
difficult to you and beyond your grasp? Pray--__Veni, dator
munerum__!--and the Comforter will bestow upon you the light of
the gift of understanding.
Are you ignorant of the ways of God's providence? Do you look
around, and see the wicked prospering, the good suffering, the
widow oppressed, and the orphan deserted, while wickedness and
injustice are enthroned in high places, and are you tempted to
doubt if God careth for His own? Pray with the Church--__Veni,
dator munerum!__--and the Comforter will bring you His gift of
knowledge.
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Are you wayward in heart, now overzealous and now too lukewarm,
oftentimes grieved and cast down at the ill-success of your
undertakings or your prayers, and disappointment and disgrace
make you feel as if you would almost give up trying to be good?
Cry to the Giver of every good gift, and say--__Veni, Sancte
Spiritus!__ and that Comforter will enlighten you with His gift
of counsel.
Are you hard-hearted, stubborn, and resentful, easy to take
offence? Do the sins and offences of others destroy your peace of
mind, and dry up within you the fountains of mercy and pity for
sinners? Do you wish you could feel more like God, kind and
long-suffering, and less like Satan, watching for the falls of
others, and exulting over them? Oh! cry to the Holy Ghost, and
that Comforter, the Spirit of perfect charity, will soften that
dry heart of yours with the grace of His gift of piety.
Are you timid and shamefaced in your service to God? Are you a
victim to human respect? Are you a Christian who is ashamed of
Christ, and do you draw back from a bold, consistent profession
of your holy faith when the wicked scoff and sneer? Or, are you
one who dares do great things for the God who has done so much
for you?
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Does your heart burn to offer Him a glorious and complete
sacrifice, and yet you can not summon up the courage to
accomplish it? Put up your supplication, and say--__Veni, Sancte
Spiritus! Veni, dator munerum!__--and the Comforter, the Divine
Strengthener, will come with His grace, and cover your weak soul
with the armor of His gift of fortitude.
Are you proud? Does the demon of intemperance, of anger, or of
lust creep stealthily into your breast, and leave foul traces of
his presence there? Is the majesty, the power, the holiness of
that God to whom you belong forgotten? Do you tremble no more
when you hear of justice, of chastity, and of the judgment to
come? Pray, for your danger is great. Put up a strong and earnest
cry, and say--__Veni, Sancte Spiritus! Veni, dator
munerum!__--and the Comforter will be with you, bringing the
help you need in your peril, with the grace of His gift of the
fear of God.
These seven good and perfect gifts it is the office of the Holy
Ghost to impart to those who ask for them. We prize the simple
gifts of friendship and affection which serve us in our daily
life for our comfort or protection. Oh! that we but knew the
gifts of God, the Holy Ghost, the Comforter. Friends bestow their
gifts and depart, but the Almighty Friend abideth with His gifts
for ever in the faithful soul.
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The gifts of men wear out and tarnish, and the rust and moth
corrupt them; but the gifts of God are as incorruptible and as
unchangeable and as eternally bright and beautiful as His own
divine, unchangeable life.
The sequence now invokes the Holy Ghost as "the Light of every
heart." The soul of the innocent child, of the pure-minded youth
and maiden, of the upright man and pious matron, of the aged
Christian, whose locks are whitened in the service of God, is
bright with this heavenly Light; but even these know their hours
of heaviness of spirit. "Though one may have rejoiced in many
years," as says the Scripture, "he must remember the darksome
time, and the many days, in which the passed things shall be
accused of vanity." [Footnote 35]
[Footnote 35: Eccles. xi. 8.]
There are times to the merriest soul when the heart is dark. The
hour of sorrow will come sooner or later--sorrow for earthly
losses and disappointments, grief for the misspent years, anguish
for our or others sins and misfortunes; the grave will open at
our feet and rob us, the house will be hung in black, the
mourners will go through the streets, the clods will fall upon
the coffin, and we shall return to the home that has been
despoiled, and cover our faces against the light of day, and sit
in loneliness and gloom with our own darkened hearts.
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Speak not to us now, nor smile upon us when our hearts are dark.
Leave us alone. Alone with what? Alone with my own wretchedness
and comfortless thoughts, says the unbeliever. Leave me alone,
says the Christian, with my God. Yes, the Christian has his God
to go to in his darkest hour. He has always abiding with him that
other Comforter, the Light of every heart.
Sinner! now contrite and sorry for the bitter past, who, weeping
with the penitent Psalmist, say, "My heart hath expected reproach
and misery. I looked for one that would grieve together with me,
but there was none; and for one that would comfort me, but I
found none" [Footnote 36]--you have a Comforter to go to. Raise
your drooping head, and cry--__Veni, lumen cordium!__ Come, O
Light of every contrite heart! and the seeds of the grace of
contrition, which He has already planted in your soul, will
spring up, and bear the sweetest fruits of peace and pardon. Go
to thy God, and confess thy sins to Him, and when the Holy Ghost
shall give thee the grace of absolution, thou shalt return
lighter of footstep and comforted in spirit.
[Footnote 36: Ps. lxviii. 21.]
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Christian mourner and sufferer, I know that the brightest days
are obscured by the clouds of sorrow which hang over your
bereaved head, and the nights are oppressed with a thicker
darkness than comes when the sun goes down; but a Light is
shining ever in heaven, behind the dark clouds which hover over
this world--the comforting Light of every sad heart. Call to
Him--__Veni, Sancte Spiritus! Veni, lumen cordium!__--and
though the tears cease not to flow, yet comfort will steal in
upon you, and the spirit of holy resignation to that higher and
better will in which you trust will descend, and abide with you
for ever.
While I am speaking, there is one, now lying in a poor, humble
cabin, whom God has been pleased to afflict with a lingering
illness, which must soon end in death. As she told me of the
long, weary days and sleepless nights she spent, I said to her:
"You must be very lonely." "Not so lonesome," she replied; "for,
after all, God is not far away." On another occasion, I said:
"This world is but short, my poor child; but, short as it is, it
has pleased God to give you many dark days of suffering in it."
"Ay, priest dear," she answered, "it is His blessed will, glory
be to Him. But, then, when once I am on the bright side of the
cloud, it is not much thinking of the dark side I'll be."
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Oh! surely you, and all who invoke that Divine Comforter, will be
ready to exclaim, in the words of the sacred song,
"Consolator optime!
Dulcis hospes animae,
Dulce refrigerium!"
O Thou of all consolers the Best! most welcome Guest of every
soul! O sweet Refreshment to the weary heart! no labor for either
earth or heaven tires when Thou art near. No burning heats dry up
the welling springs of grace whilst overshadowed by Thy dove-like
wings. No sorrow wrings the breast to which Thou canst not bring
a solace, and wipe the tears away.
"In labore requies,
In aestu temperies,
In fletu solatium!"
In all that concerns our happiness, here and hereafter, there is
the Holy Ghost, the giver of all happiness, the heavenly
Comforter. Whichever way we turn, there is the God of love
beforehand with us, waiting with His gifts of peace.
Look at the Holy Church herself. Is she not our pride, our glory,
our comfort? Why is she holy? Because the Holy Ghost dwells
within her. If we have any comfort from the security and surety
of our faith, it is because the Holy Ghost keeps that faith pure
and unchangeably true. If we have any comfort in her words of
wisdom, her good instructions, her guidance of our souls in a
holy life, it is because the Holy Ghost keeps her pure in morals.
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If we have any comfort in the Sacraments, those blessed means of
grace, it is because the Holy Ghost is the life-giving power in
them all. If we think a good thought, or speak a good word of
prayer, of kindness or advice; if we do a good deed of mercy or
of charity, it is because the Holy Ghost is the Inspirer of them
all. Through His influence all conversions are made, whether of
sinners or of unbelievers. He is the Infinite Goodness, the
Source of all holiness, and there is nothing that is good but
cometh from Him. Nay, more, my brethren. If God the Father was
good to us in creating us, it was because of the love of the Holy
Ghost. If God the Son was good to us in redeeming us and bringing
us to salvation, it was because of the same Holy Spirit; and now
He Himself, God the Holy Ghost, fills up the measure of His
mercies, and God Himself can do no more.
__O Lux beatissima!__ exclaims the Church. O most blessed
Light! fill the depths of the hearts of Thy faithful. Break
forth, Christian soul, into singing, and with rapture praise the
Holy Ghost.
Yes, Holy Spirit, Heavenly Dove! may we never cease to invoke
Thee in our needs, and praise Thee for the comfort Thou dost
bring us. The words of the Psalmist are upon our lips: "Oh! how
Thou hast multiplied Thy mercies, O my God! The children of men
shall put their trust under the covert of Thy wings.
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They shall be inebriated with the plenty of Thy house; and Thou
shalt make them drink of the torrent of Thy pleasure. For with
Thee is the fount of life; and in Thy light"--O Lux
beatissima!--"we shall see light." [Footnote 37]
[Footnote 37: Ps. xxxv. 8-10.]
---------------
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Sermon VIII.
The Duty Of Upholding The Pope's
Temporal Sovereignty.
(Preached On The Feast of Pentecost,
1870, When A Collection Was Made
For The Holy Father.)
Zach. vi. 13.
"__He shall bear the glory,
and shall sit and rule upon his throne;
and he shall be a Priest upon his throne__."
We celebrate on this day the foundation of the Catholic Church.
For it was on this day that the Holy Ghost came down on the
Apostles to bestow those gifts of grace which make the Catholic
Church a reality. This descent of the Holy Ghost was the
fulfilment of prophecies made by the ancient prophets of the old
law, who, under the figures of Sion and Jerusalem, have described
the Holy Roman Church, and the universal Church under her
obedience, diffused through out the world. In their inspired
visions respecting the building of the second temple, among
others, they have foretold the foundation, the extension, and the
glory of this true and everlasting Church and kingdom of Christ
upon the earth.
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As, for instance, the prophet Zacharias, sent by God to build the
walls of Jerusalem and the second temple, has foretold the
institution of the sovereign pontificate of the Bishops of the
Roman Church, the Vicars of Christ, who unite the priestly and
the royal dignity in their persons, in the words of my text. "And
thou shalt take gold and silver: and shalt make crowns, and thou
shalt set them on the head of Jesus the son of Josedec the
high-priest. And thou shalt speak to him, saying: BEHOLD A MAN,
THE ORIENT IS HIS NAME: and under him shall he spring up, and
shall build a temple to the Lord. Yea, he shall build a temple to
the Lord; and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule
upon his throne; AND HE SHALL BE A PRIEST UPON HIS THRONE." This
is the kingdom of Jesus Christ, called by the prophet THE ORIENT,
which he exercises through his Vicars, the Roman Pontiffs, and
which is a spiritual sovereignty, with a temporal sovereignty
annexed, as is shown by the words, "a priest upon his throne," as
well as by the emblem of the two crowns, one of gold and one of
silver. The prophet also foretold that the new Jerusalem, the
city of this priestly monarch, should be built of a size so great
that it could not be enclosed by walls. "I will be to it a fire
round about: and I will be the glory in the midst thereof.
Jerusalem shall be inhabited without walls, by reason of the
multitude of men." [Footnote 38]
[Footnote 38: Zach. ii. 4.]
[USCCB: Zechariah ii. 9.]
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This is the Holy Roman Church, considered in its Catholic
extension as the mother and mistress of churches in all parts of
the world, which are bound together in one Holy Catholic Church
by their obedience to the supremacy of the Roman Pontiff. The
Holy, Catholic, Apostolic, Roman Church includes the whole vast
number of the faithful in her fold in fact, and all mankind in
right. No walls--that is, no bounds short of the limits of the
earth--can be set to her rightful jurisdiction. And beyond this,
the prophet teaches us that her strength does not consist in
fortifications and bulwarks of stone, or, in other words, is not
derived from any material resources, whereas it is spiritual in
its origin and nature. God is a wall of fire round about her, and
her glory in the midst of her. The Roman Church is made glorious
by the gifts of the Holy Ghost, by spiritual might and force, by
truth, grace, and sanctity. These same divine gifts and powers
pervade the whole Catholic Church by virtue of communion with the
See of the Vicar of Christ. The burning light of faith, the
burning fire of charity, are concentrated within, and diffused
all around the Catholic Church, constituting all her glory and
all her power, and by these she illumines and inflames the whole
world.
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The Church is really and truly a kingdom, that is, a stable and
perfect society, established upon a permanent constitution, with
a hierarchy having power to make laws and exercise jurisdiction,
and bound together in unity by a monarchical regimen. This
kingdom is spiritual, because it is established for the spiritual
and eternal welfare of men, and because it is founded on ideas
and principles which belong to the supernatural order. That is,
it is founded on faith in Divine revelation, in truths and
doctrines made known by Divine inspiration, and on a right and
authority conferred immediately by Jesus Christ, acting in his
quality of Redeemer and Regenerator of mankind. Moreover, it is
by supernatural and Divine grace, by Divine, life-giving
sacraments, that men are constituted members of the Church and of
the hierarchy. The Church overcomes the minds and hearts of men
by truth and grace, by inward conviction and conversion, and
thus, through both mind and heart, subdues them entirely to
herself. She makes individuals and nations her subjects, by
making them parts of the Church, and thus amenable to her laws.
They are subject to her jurisdiction, as the spiritual kingdom of
God, in everything which relates to doctrine, sacraments, and
morals; and, therefore, in everything, even of the natural and
temporal order, so far as it relates to religion and morality.
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