Having thus paid due tribute of faith and worship owing to the
Blessed Trinity, which ought to be more and more inculcated upon
the Christian people, we now turn to the exposition of the power
of the Holy Ghost. And, first of all, we must look to Christ, the
Founder of the Church and the Redeemer of our race. Among the
external operations of God, the highest of all is the mystery of
the Incarnation of the Word, in which the splendor of the divine
perfections shines forth so brightly that nothing more sublime can
even be imagined, nothing else could have been more salutary to
the human race. Now this work, although belonging to the whole
Trinity, is still appropriated especially to the Holy Ghost, so
that the Gospels thus speak of the Blessed Virgin: "She was found
with child of the Holy Ghost," and "that which is conceived in her
is of the Holy Ghost" (Matt. 1.18, 20). And this is rightly
attributed to Him who is the love of the Father and the Son, since
this "great mystery of piety" (1 Tim. 3.16) proceeds from the
infinite love of God towards man, as St. John tells us: "God so
loved the world as to give His only begotten Son" (John 3.16).
Moreover, human nature was thereby elevated to a _personal_ union
with the Word; and this dignity is given, not on account of any
merits, but entirely and absolutely through grace, and therefore,
as it were, through the special gift of the Holy Ghost. On this
point St. Augustine writes: "This manner in which Christ was born
of the Holy Ghost, indicates to us the grace of God, by which
humanity, with no antecedent merits, at the first moment of its
existence, was united with the Word of God, by so intimate a
personal union, that He, who was the Son of Man, was also the Son
of God, and He who was the Son of God was also the Son of Man"
(_Enchir_., c. xl; St. Th., 3a, q. xxxii, a. 1). By the operation
of the Holy Spirit, not only was the conception of Christ
accomplished, but also the sanctification of His soul, which, in
Holy Scripture, is called His "anointing" (Acts 10.38). Wherefore
all His actions were "performed in the Holy Ghost" (St. Basil _de
Sp. S_., c. xvi), and especially the sacrifice of Himself:
"Christ, through the Holy Ghost, offered Himself without spot to
God" (Heb. 9.14). Considering this, no one can be surprised that
all the gifts of the Holy Ghost inundated the soul of Christ. In
Him resided the absolute fullness of grace, in the greatest and
most efficacious manner possible; in Him were all the treasures of
wisdom and knowledge, graces _gratis datae_, virtues, and all
other gifts foretold in the prophecies of Isaias (Is. 4.1, 11.23),
and also signified in that miraculous dove which appeared at the
Jordan, when Christ, by His baptism, consecrated its waters for a
new sacrament. On this the words of St. Augustine may
appropriately be quoted: "It would be absurd to say that Christ
received the Holy Ghost when He was already thirty years of age,
for He came to His baptism without sin, and therefore not without
the Holy Ghost. At this time, then (that is, at His baptism), He
was pleased to prefigure His Church, in which those especially who
are baptized receive the Holy Ghost" (_De Trin_., 1. xv, c. 26).
Therefore, by the conspicuous apparition of the Holy Ghost over
Christ and by His invisible power in His soul, the twofold mission
of the Spirit is foreshadowed, namely, His outward and visible
mission in the Church, and His secret indwelling in the souls of
the just.