Whether the Invisible Mission of the Divine Person Is Only According
to the Gift of Sanctifying Grace?
Objection 1: It would seem that the invisible mission of the divine
person is not only according to the gift of sanctifying grace. For the
sending of a divine person means that He is given. Hence if the divine
person is sent only according to the gift of sanctifying grace, the
divine person Himself will not be given, but only His gifts; and this
is the error of those who say that the Holy Ghost is not given, but
that His gifts are given.
Obj. 2: Further, this preposition, "according to," denotes the
habitude of some cause. But the divine person is the cause why the
gift of sanctifying grace is possessed, and not conversely, according
to Rom. 5:5, "the charity of God is poured forth in our hearts by the
Holy Ghost, Who is given to us." Therefore it is improperly said that
the divine person is sent according to the gift of sanctifying grace.
Obj. 3: Further, Augustine says (De Trin. iv, 20) that "the Son, when
temporally perceived by the mind, is sent." But the Son is known not
only by sanctifying grace, but also by gratuitous grace, as by faith
and knowledge. Therefore the divine person is not sent only according
to the gift of sanctifying grace.
Obj. 4: Further, Rabanus says that the Holy Ghost was given to the
apostles for the working of miracles. This, however, is not a gift of
sanctifying grace, but a gratuitous grace. Therefore the divine
person is not given only according to the gift of sanctifying grace.
_On the contrary,_ Augustine says (De Trin. iii, 4) that "the Holy
Ghost proceeds temporally for the creature's sanctification." But
mission is a temporal procession. Since then the creature's
sanctification is by sanctifying grace, it follows that the mission
of the divine person is only by sanctifying grace.
_I answer that,_ The divine person is fittingly sent in the sense that
He exists newly in any one; and He is given as possessed by anyone;
and neither of these is otherwise than by sanctifying grace.
For God is in all things by His essence, power and presence, according
to His one common mode, as the cause existing in the effects which
participate in His goodness. Above and beyond this common mode,
however, there is one special mode belonging to the rational nature
wherein God is said to be present as the object known is in the
knower, and the beloved in the lover. And since the rational creature
by its operation of knowledge and love attains to God Himself,
according to this special mode God is said not only to exist in the
rational creature but also to dwell therein as in His own temple. So
no other effect can be put down as the reason why the divine person is
in the rational creature in a new mode, except sanctifying grace.
Hence, the divine person is sent, and proceeds temporally only
according to sanctifying grace.
Again, we are said to possess only what we can freely use or enjoy:
and to have the power of enjoying the divine person can only be
according to sanctifying grace. And yet the Holy Ghost is possessed
by man, and dwells within him, in the very gift itself of sanctifying
grace. Hence the Holy Ghost Himself is given and sent.
Reply Obj. 1: By the gift of sanctifying grace the rational creature
is perfected so that it can freely use not only the created gift
itself, but enjoy also the divine person Himself; and so the
invisible mission takes place according to the gift of sanctifying
grace; and yet the divine person Himself is given.
Reply Obj. 2: Sanctifying grace disposes the soul to possess the
divine person; and this is signified when it is said that the Holy
Ghost is given according to the gift of grace. Nevertheless the gift
itself of grace is from the Holy Ghost; which is meant by the words,
"the charity of God is poured forth in our hearts by the Holy Ghost."
Reply Obj. 3: Although the Son can be known by us according to other
effects, yet neither does He dwell in us, nor is He possessed by us
according to those effects.
Reply Obj. 4: The working of miracles manifests sanctifying grace as
also does the gift of prophecy and any other gratuitous graces. Hence
gratuitous grace is called the "manifestation of the Spirit" (1 Cor.
12:7). So the Holy Ghost is said to be given to the apostles for the
working of miracles, because sanctifying grace was given to them with
the outward sign. Were the sign only of sanctifying grace given to
them without the grace itself, it would not be simply said that the
Holy Ghost was given, except with some qualifying term; just as we
read of certain ones receiving the gift of the spirit of prophecy, or
of miracles, as having from the Holy Ghost the power of prophesying
or of working miracles.
_______________________