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. On that day
the Holy Ghost began to manifest His gifts in the mystic body of
Christ, by that miraculous outpouring already foreseen by the
prophet Joel (2.28-29), for the Paraclete "sat upon the apostles
as though new spiritual crowns were placed upon their heads in
tongues of fire" (S. Cyril Hier. _Catech_. 17). Then the apostles
"descended from the mountain," as St. John Chrysostom writes, "not
bearing in their hands tables of stone like Moses, but carrying
the Spirit in their mind, and pouring forth the treasure and the
fountain of doctrines and graces" (_In Matt_. Hom. I, 2 Cor. 3.3).
Thus was fully accomplished that last promise of Christ to His
apostles of sending the Holy Ghost, who was to complete and, as it
were, to seal the deposit of doctrine committed to them under His
inspiration. "I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot
bear them now; but when He, the Spirit of Truth, shall come, He
will teach you all truth" (John 16.12-13). For He who is the
Spirit of Truth, inasmuch as He proceedeth both from the Father,
who is the eternally True, and from the Son, who is the
substantial Truth, receiveth from each both His essence and the
fullness of all truth. This truth He communicates to His Church,
guarding her by His all powerful help from ever falling into
error, and aiding her to foster daily more and more the germs of
divine doctrine and to make them fruitful for the welfare of the
peoples. And since the welfare of the peoples, for which the
Church was established, absolutely requires that this office
should be continued for all time, the Holy Ghost perpetually
supplies life and strength to preserve and increase the Church. "I
will ask the Father, and He will give you another Paraclete, that
He may abide with you for ever, the Spirit of Truth" (John 16. 16,
17).
By Him the bishops are constituted, and by their ministry are
multiplied not only the children, but also the fathers that is to
say, the priests to rule and feed the Church by that Blood
wherewith Christ has redeemed Her. "The Holy Ghost hath placed you
bishops to rule the Church of God, which He hath purchased with
His own Blood" (Acts 20. 28). And both bishops and priests, by the
miraculous gift of the Spirit, have the power of absolving sins,
according to those words of Christ to the Apostles: "Receive ye
the Holy Ghost; whose sins you shall forgive they are forgiven
them, and whose sins you shall retain they are retained" (John
20.22, 23). That the Church is a divine institution is most
clearly proved by the splendor and glory of those gifts with which
she is adorned, and whose author and giver is the Holy Ghost. Let
it suffice to state that, as Christ is the Head of the Church, so
is the Holy Ghost her soul. "What the soul is in our body, that is
the Holy Ghost in Christ's body, the Church" (St. Aug., _Serm_.
187, _de Temp_.). This being so, no further and fuller
"manifestation and revelation of the Divine Spirit" may be
imagined or expected; for that which now takes place in the Church
is the most perfect possible, and will last until that day when
the Church herself, having passed through her militant career,
shall be taken up into the joy of the saints triumphing in heaven.