The manner and extent of the action of the Holy Ghost in
individual souls is no less wonderful, although somewhat more
difficult to understand, inasmuch as it is entirely invisible.
This outpouring of the Spirit is so abundant, that Christ Himself,
from whose gift it proceeds, compares it to an overflowing river,
according to those words of St. John: "He that believeth in Me, as
the Scripture saith, out of his midst shall flow rivers of living
water"; to which testimony the Evangelist adds the explanation:
"Now this He said of the Spirit which they should receive who
believed in Him" (John 7.38, 39). It is indeed true that in those
of the just who lived before Christ, the Holy Ghost resided by
grace, as we read in the Scriptures concerning the prophets,
Zachary, John the Baptist, Simeon, and Anna; so that on Pentecost
the Holy Ghost did not communicate Himself in such a way "as then
for the first time to begin to dwell in the saints, but by pouring
Himself forth more abundantly; crowning, not beginning His gifts;
not commencing a new work, but giving more abundantly" (St. Leo
the Great, Hom. iii, _de Pentec_.). But if they also were numbered
among the children of God, they were in a state like that of
servants, for "as long as the heir is a child he differeth nothing
from a servant, but is under tutors and governors" (Gal. 4.1, 2).
Moreover, not only was their justice derived from the merits of
Christ who was to come, but the communication of the Holy Ghost
after Christ was much more abundant, just as the price surpasses
in value the earnest and the reality excels the image. Wherefore
St. John declares: "As yet the Spirit was not given, because Jesus
was not yet glorified" (John 7.39). So soon, therefore, as Christ,
"ascending on high," entered into possession of the glory of His
Kingdom which He had won with so much labor, He munificently
opened out the treasures of the Holy Ghost: "He gave gifts to men"
(Eph. 4.8). For "that giving or sending forth of the Holy Ghost
after Christ's glorification was to be such as had never been
before; not that there had been none before, but it had not been
of the same kind" (St. Aug., _De Trin_., 1. iv, c. 20).
Human nature is by necessity the servant of God: "The creature is
a servant; we are the servants of God by nature" (St. Cyr. Alex.,
_Thesaur_., 1. v, c. 5). On account, however, of original sin, our
whole nature had fallen into such guilt and dishonor that we had
become enemies of God. "We were by nature the children of wrath"
(Eph. 2.3). There was no power which could raise us and deliver us
from this ruin and eternal destruction. But God, the Creator of
mankind and infinitely merciful, did this through His only
begotten Son, by whose benefit it was brought about that man was
restored to that rank and dignity whence he had fallen, and was
adorned with still more abundant graces. No one can express the
greatness of this work of divine grace in the souls of men.
Wherefore, both in Holy Scripture and in the writings of the
fathers, men are styled regenerated, new creatures, partakers of
the Divine Nature, children of God, godlike, and similar epithets.
Now these great blessings are justly attributed as especially
belonging to the Holy Ghost. He is "the Spirit of adoption of
sons, whereby we cry: Abba, Father." He fills our hearts with the
sweetness of paternal love: "The Spirit Himself giveth testimony
to our spirit that we are the sons of God" (Rom. 8.15, 16). This
truth accords with the similitude observed by the Angelic Doctor
between both operations of the Holy Ghost; for through Him "Christ
was conceived in holiness to be by nature the Son of God," and
"others are sanctified to be the sons of God by adoption" (St. Th.
3a, q. xxxii, a. 1). This spiritual generation proceeds from love
in a much more noble manner than the natural: namely, from the
uncreated Love.
The beginnings of this regeneration and renovation of man are by
Baptism. In this sacrament, when the unclean spirit has been
expelled from the soul, the Holy Ghost enters in and makes it like
to Himself. "That which is born of the Spirit, is spirit" (John
3.6). The same Spirit gives Himself more abundantly in
Confirmation, strengthening and confirming Christian life; from
which proceeded the victory of the martyrs and the triumph of the
virgins over temptations and corruptions. We have said that the
Holy Ghost gives Himself: "the charity of God is poured out into
our hearts by the Holy Ghost who is given to us" (Rom. 5.5). For
He not only brings to us His divine gifts, but is the Author of
them and is Himself the supreme Gift, who, proceeding from the
mutual love of the Father and the Son, is justly believed to be
and is called "Gift of God most High." To show the nature and
efficacy of this gift it is well to recall the explanation given
by the doctors of the Church of the words of Holy Scripture. They
say that God is present and exists in all things, "by His power,
in so far as all things are subject to His power; by His presence,
inasmuch as all things are naked and open to His eyes; by His
essence, inasmuch as He is present to all as the cause of their
being" (St. Th. 1a, q. viii, a. 3). But God is in man, not only as
in inanimate things, but because He is more fully known and loved
by him, since even by nature we spontaneously love, desire, and
seek after the good. Moreover, God by grace resides in the just
soul as in a temple, in a most intimate and peculiar manner. From
this proceeds that union of affection by which the soul adheres
most closely to God, more so than the friend is united to his most
loving and beloved friend, and enjoys God in all fullness and
sweetness. Now this wonderful union, which is properly called
"indwelling," differing only in degree or state from that with
which God beatifies the saints in heaven, although it is most
certainly produced by the presence of the whole Blessed Trinity--
"We will come to Him and make our abode with Him" (John 14.23)--
nevertheless is attributed in a peculiar manner to the Holy Ghost.
For, whilst traces of divine power and wisdom appear even in the
wicked man, charity, which, as it were, is the special mark of the
Holy Ghost, is shared in only by the just. In harmony with this,
the same Spirit is called Holy, for He, the first and supreme
Love, moves souls and leads them to sanctity, which ultimately
consists in the love of God. Wherefore the apostle, when calling
us the temple of God, does not expressly mention the Father or the
Son, but the Holy Ghost: "Know ye not that your members are the
temple of the Holy Ghost, who is in you, whom you have from God?"
(1 Cor. 6.19). The fullness of divine gifts is in many ways a
consequence of the indwelling of the Holy Ghost in the souls of
the just. For, as St. Thomas teaches, "when the Holy Ghost
proceedeth as love, He proceedeth in the character of the first
gift; whence St. Augustine saith that, through the gift which is
the Holy Ghost, many other special gifts are distributed among the
members of Christ" (Summ. Th., 1a, q. xxxviii, a. 2. St. Aug., _de
Trin_., 1. xv, c. 19). Among these gifts are those secret warnings
and invitations, which from time to time are excited in our minds
and hearts by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost. Without these
there is no beginning of a good life, no progress, no arriving at
eternal salvation. And since these words and admonitions are
uttered in the soul in an exceedingly secret manner, they are
sometimes aptly compared in Holy Writ to the breathing of a coming
breeze, and the Angelic Doctor likens them to the movements of the
heart which are wholly hidden in the living body. "Thy heart has a
certain hidden power, and therefore the Holy Ghost, who invisibly
vivifies and unites the Church, is compared to the heart" (_Summ.
Th_., 3a, q. vii, a. 1, ad 3). More than this, the just man, that
is to say, he who lives the life of divine grace, and acts by the
fitting virtues as by means of faculties, has need of those seven
_gifts_ which are properly attributed to the Holy Ghost. By means
of them the soul is furnished and strengthened so as to be able to
obey more easily and promptly His voice and impulse. Wherefore
these gifts are of such efficacy that they lead the just man to
the highest degree of sanctity; and of such excellence that they
continue to exist even in heaven, though in a more perfect way. By
means of these gifts the soul is excited and encouraged to seek
after and attain the evangelical beatitudes, which, like the
flowers that come forth in the spring time, are the signs and
harbingers of eternal beatitude. Lastly, there are those blessed
_fruits_, enumerated by the Apostle (Gal. 5.22), which the Spirit,
even in this mortal life, produces and shows forth in the just;
fruits filled with all sweetness and joy, inasmuch as they proceed
from the Spirit, "who is in the Trinity the sweetness of both
Father and Son, filling all creatures with infinite fullness and
profusion" (St. Aug. _de Trin_., 1. vi, c. 9). The Divine Spirit,
proceeding from the Father and the Word in the eternal light of
sanctity, Himself both Love and Gift, after having manifested
Himself through the veils of figures in the Old Testament, poured
forth all His fullness upon Christ and upon His mystic Body, the
Church; and called back by His presence and grace men who were
going away in wickedness and corruption with such salutary effect
that, being no longer of the earth earthy, they relished and
desired quite other things, becoming of heaven heavenly.