Volume Two – Chapter L: The Influence of the Holy Ghost in the Perfect Soul (continued)
The Activity of the Uncreated Gift in Our Souls
We have truly received the supreme Gift. Through charity and the gift of wisdom, from which proceeds a quasi-experimental knowledge of the presence in our souls of the divine Persons, who always remain united, we can enjoy this gift.
At this point in our study, we consider it advisable to insist on the principal effects attributed to the Holy Ghost by appropriation, although the Father and the Son also concur in their production, as They do in the every effect of the divine power that is common to the three Persons (3).
[Here Fr RGL is explaining that there is a reason that we distinguish the Holy Ghost and his gifts as being of him and coming from him, even though of course all good comes through God overall and there is always concurrence in the will of God and his action among the Holy Trinity. By recognizing and understanding the Holy Ghost as the uncreated Gift, people are better able to recognize his works and cooperate with them.]
The uncreated Gift first of all strengthens, preserves, and increases the created gift of sanctifying grace in our souls. Therefore, says St. Thomas, our Lord, speaking to the Samaritan woman, calls grace “a fountain of water, springing up into life everlasting.” In contrast to dead water preserved in cisterns or ditches, living water is not separated from its gushing source and, under the impulsion of its source, always flows toward the ocean.
3 Cf. St. Thomas, Contra Gentes, Bk. IV, chaps. 21f: “De effectibus attributis Spiritui Sancto.” Among these effects, St. Thomas points out especially infused contemplation and infused love, which give the holy liberty of the children of God. In chapter 22 he says: “The special characteristic of friendship is to converse with one’s friend. Moreover, the conversation of man with God is by the contemplation of Him, as the Apostle said (Phil. 3:20): ‘Our conversation is in heaven.’ Because therefore the Holy Spirit makes us lovers of God, it follows that by the Holy Spirit we are made contemplators of God; whence the Apostle says (II Cor. 3:18): ‘But we all beholding the glory of the Lord with open face, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, as the Spirit of the Lord.’” These effects attributed to the Holy Ghost by appropriation are also produced by the Father and the Son, for they are effects of the divine power common to the three Persons, but they have a special resemblance to personal Love, which is the proper name of the Holy Ghost.
[Fr. RGL and St. Thomas, through this footnote, are explaining that while all gifts, glory, and holy effectiveness come from God, Jesus taught and the Apostles recognize that distinguishing a portion of those gifts and applying them to the Holy Ghost as bestowed by him helps humans to recognize and utilize these gifts. Specifically, the effect of the Holy Ghost is most easily recognized as resembling the personal love that humans (should) feel for each other. Therefore, St. Thomas quotes St. Paul to explain that by recognizing the Spirit in action, one can better see the transfer of holiness from God to human.]
Thus sanctifying grace is not separated from the source of living water, the Holy Ghost; it is He Himself who preserves it in us and gives it that strength of impulsion which drives it in a way toward the spiritual ocean that is eternal life. In this sense St. Paul says: “The charity of God is poured forth in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, who is given to us.”
Hence the Holy Ghost sometimes gives the perfect soul a confident certitude of being in the state of grace, according to the words of St. Paul: “The Spirit Himself giveth testimony to our spirit, that we are the sons of God.” He gives us this testimony, says St. Thomas, by the filial affection which He excites in us, and by which, in a way, He makes Himself felt by us as the life of our life.
However, this sort of transitory certitude is far from having the clarity of evidence, for we cannot perfectly discern the filial affection inspired from a natural act of God, from an inefficacious love, accompanied at times by a certain lyricism, which may exist without grace, as happens in some poets.
[Fr. RGL and his quote of St. Paul continue to emphasize that the Holy Ghost is felt as a force that is always in motion, as it is “poured forth.” The Holy Ghost is not a static state of being. The Holy Ghost himself continually gives witness and testimony on behalf of people as they go through life, through the affection that is excited throughout life. Notice, however, the significant caution that Fr. RGL makes; one I would have added at this point in the text as commentary if he had not. That is to not confuse lyricism without grace as the action of the Holy Ghost. This refers to people who self glorify and get carried away in aesthetics of their own creation as thinking they are channeling or experiencing Holy Ghost, for they are not. We can all think of people who speak in tongues, are slain in the spirit, who are hysterical or excessively sensitive to every fleeting thought in their heads who do not realize that they are experiencing these sensations without grace, and hence they are not of the Holy Ghost. God’s glory and grace, not the individual’s, are the hallmark of an authentic event of the Holy Spirit.]
The Holy Ghost “dwells in light inaccessible” which seems obscure to us because it is too strong for us, but His inspiration reassures us, according to the words of the Apocalypse: “To him that overcometh, I will give the hidden manna, … and a new name written, which no man knoweth, but he that receiveth it” (Apocalypse 2:17.)
For the same reason the Holy Ghost strengthens our faith and makes it penetrating and sweet. St. Paul says: “The Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God… Now we have received… the Spirit that is of God, that we may know the things that are given us from God” (Cf. I Cor. 2:10, 12.)
In consequence also, the Holy Ghost strengthens the certitude of our hope, a certitude which is not yet that of salvation, but that of tending toward salvation; a certitude that increases in the measure in which we draw near to the end of the journey.
[Fr. RGL quotes one of St. Paul’s most insightful passages in his comprehension of how the Holy Ghost actually works. Those of you who are computer programmers can especially relate to the brilliance of St. Paul’s insight when he says “The Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God…” The Holy Ghost is, like the air, and like the water, in constant motion, touching all that is of God, and all that is of humankind, and making those connections wherever humans are receptive. The Holy Ghost touches and accesses those deep things of God that humans could not otherwise hope to reach, and bring them into contact with people, who he is also constantly searching. The Holy Ghost in this sense is a universal broker and agent, constantly looking for receptivity in humans, and then bringing to those spiritual ports the deep experience of God. This is why people often marvel at the unexpected places and ways that the Holy Ghost
operates. The Holy Ghost sees potential receptivity where the person themselves may not. In this way, as Fr. RGL describes it, like the seed that needs to be made fecund, nurtured, fed, and drawn toward God, the Holy Ghost “strengthens the certitude of hope… which is not yet that of salvation, but that of tending toward salvation.” Think of the sunflower seed that is sanctifying grace, and then as that seed grows to a flower, its face naturally follows the sun to collect the most light. That is how the Holy Ghost operates, by searching all the human sunflowers who seek the light, and making that match between their face and God’s light. The Holy Ghost constantly searches for those who are open to the light of God, and then brings to them, sometimes in unexpected ways, what he has retrieved for them from “the deep things of God.” It is recognition of this blessed process that causes Fr. RGL to proclaim it as “penetrating and sweet.” And it is because there is this sunflower-to-sun relationship that governs each plant’s growth that makes it a unique one-off relationship, so that “a new name written, which no man knoweth, but he that receiveth it.” It is not the secrecy that is the point, it is the totally unique and individual “your name only based on your own access to the hidden manna” that is the point and the objective, said to each person who listens to the Holy Ghost and receives.]
Showing posts with label Fr. Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange OP. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fr. Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange OP. Show all posts
Sunday, August 12, 2007
Out of Print Book Excerpts and Commentary
“The Three Ages of the Interior Life” (Prelude of Eternal Life) by Fr. Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange is one of the most important Catholic books of this century. It is out of print and pricey so I will type in excerpts (green) and my commentary (slate blue.)
Volume Two – Chapter L: The Influence of the Holy Ghost in the Perfect Soul
“If thou didst know the gift of God!” John 4:10
For a clear understanding of the nature of the mystical union, we must treat of the influence of the Holy Ghost in the perfect soul by recalling the most indisputable and lofty principles commonly taught on the subject. To see their meaning and import, we shall consider first the Holy Ghost as the supreme gift, and secondly what follows this gift is the perfect soul.
The Holy Ghost is called the Gift par excellence. Christ alluded and more than alluded to this title when He said to the Samaritan woman: “If thou didst know the gift of God!” The created gift of sanctifying grace, united to charity, in itself immensely surpasses all natural gifts, those of the richest imagination, of the keenest intellect, of the most energetic will. Grace, the seed of eternal life, even immensely exceeds the natural life of the angels, the natural strength of their intellect and will; it also exceeds, and that greatly, as St. Paul says, graces that are gratis datae and, so to speak, extrinsic, like the gift of miracles, the gifts of tongues, and prophecy.
The Holy Ghost is the uncreated Gift, infinitely superior to that of sanctifying grace and of charity, superior to every degree of charity, and every degree of glory.
[Fr. RGL is describing here three levels of gifts from God. The lowest level is the natural gifts. The next highest level is sanctifying grace, united to charity. The third highest level and the highest that can be obtained is the Holy Ghost. ]
He is, first of all, the uncreated Gift, as the final and eternal term of the divine fecundity of the heavenly Father and of His Son. By the eternal generation of the Word, the infinitely good Father communicates to the Son all the divine nature, gives Him to be God of God, light of light. The Father and the Son breathe forth the personal Love that is the Holy Ghost [1]. The third divine Person thus proceeds from the mutual love of the Father and the Son; He is the uncreated Gift which the first two Persons give each other, the unique gift, by an eternal spiration that communicates all the divine nature to the Holy Ghost.
St. Thomas explains why the Holy Ghost is called the personal and uncreated Gift. He says that every gift proceeds from a gratuitous donation whose source is love, and the first thing we give to some one is the love by which we wish him well. Thus love is the first of all gifts, the principle of all the others. Consequently the Holy Ghost, who is the personal subsistent Love, deserves to be called the personal and uncreated Gift.
[Fr. RGL uses a very helpful analogy. He likens sanctifying grace, the second level of the gifts, to be a seed, whose value is even higher than the natural state of angels, who have eternal life already by default through their natures. God gives sanctifying grace, united in charity, to each human as like a seed so that each human can aspire to eternal life in God. Thus sanctifying grace is a created gift, just as a seed is created. However, for that seed to grow, it needs water, air, light, and nutrients, for those make a seed viable and allow its growth. The Holy Ghost is like those needs of the seed that provide the energy and ability to grow. Thus the Holy Ghost is the highest level of gift, for it is the love from and for God that allows the sanctifying grace of the seed of a human to grow into eternal life. It is not a created gift, as are sanctifying grace and charity, because it is emanated from the divine eternal fecundity of God and His Son. “Fecundity” is a biological term, referring to an organism’s ability to live, thrive, and reproduce. So sanctifying grace, united to charity, is the seed to eternal life, but the Holy Ghost is the fecundity of that seed.]
This supreme Gift, which the first two divine Persons make each other from all eternity, has been given to us in time by our Lord Jesus Christ. He had already given us the Eucharist at the Last Supper, and His precious blood on the cross; He has given us grace by all the sacraments. Lastly, He willed to give us the supreme Gift, the uncreated Gift, to crown all His benefactions. He had promised to send us the Holy Ghost and, in fact, He sent Him to us on Pentecost.
[Here, building on the same analogy, you can better understand why Jesus Christ instituted the sacraments. Everyone knows that one seed does not guarantee growth, and certainly not year after year. Every year a seed needs to be sown anew. So the sacraments are the means by which each human’s soul sows seeds for their eternal life throughout their life. The more seeds that are properly planted the more assurance one can have in the crop’s harvest. The sacraments provide continuous seeds of sanctifying grace, and the Holy Ghost ensures their fecundity and growth toward God. Thus people should be eager for access to the sacraments, and then be open to the love and instruction of the Holy Ghost, to allow the seeds to germinate and grow within.]
The grandeur of this supreme gift appears more clearly in comparison with the others, even with the most sublime among them. Our Savior had already merited for us all the effects of our predestination: our vocation to Christian life, our justification or conversion, final perseverance, and the glory of the elect redeemed by His blood; but He willed to give us still more, to bestow on us the uncreated Gift, the Holy Ghost.
When the apostles received the Holy Ghost, they were enlightened, strengthened, confirmed in grace, and transformed; and, under the direction of the Holy Ghost, they persevered even to martyrdom.
This discussion shows why the names proper to the Holy Ghost are personal Love and the uncreated Gift. By appropriation, He is also called the Comforter. He is, indeed, the great spiritual friend who comforts us in the sorrows of life, in anxiety which sometimes grows into anguish. Thus He comforted the apostles, deprived of our Lord’s sensible presence, when the great difficulties of their apostolate were beginning. For each of us Pentecost was renewed when we received confirmation.
[Fr. RGL correctly points out that yes, Jesus Christ has merited for all the ability to have that seed in each person’s possession, growth of which will take the soul to eternal life in God. The Holy Ghost, however, helps to ensure that the seed will grow and make that journey. He uses the example of the Apostles to show that the Holy Ghost is the means through which the small sprouts of each Apostle endured hardship, even to the ultimate harvest of martyrdom. When the physical presence of the Lord was taken to heaven the Holy Ghost was sent to them to work as comforter, strengthening rod, and source of renewal. One does not have to be an expert gardener to understand these principles. Jesus Christ merited for all the vocation to God, the ability to claim the seed of one’s soul to be directed toward eternal life in God. The sacraments provide the renewed provision of viable seeds starting with baptism and continuing throughout the ups and downs of life. A person who is baptized but then no longer pursues the sacraments is betting that the seed he or she is given at baptism will remain viable, without making an effort to accept the gifts that Jesus Christ instituted for that very purpose. Even the oak trees do not shed one acorn throughout their life span. Jesus repeated used examples of sowing of seeds so that all could understand the seeds, and then the ground they grow upon, before the harvest. The sacraments, starting with baptism, are the continual supplies of seeds, of sanctifying grace, for each soul. And then as God the Father and Jesus Christ are not residing physically with human, the Holy Ghost flies among people, breathing on and watering the seeds, so that they can grow to their fruition, and not expire arid and desiccated.]
1 In the Blessed Trinity we distinguish the essential love common to the three divine Persons, the nominal or spiritual love, by which the Father and the Son spirate the Holy Ghost, and personal love, which is the Holy Ghost Himself, the term of active spiration, as the Word is the term of eternal generation.
Volume Two – Chapter L: The Influence of the Holy Ghost in the Perfect Soul
“If thou didst know the gift of God!” John 4:10
For a clear understanding of the nature of the mystical union, we must treat of the influence of the Holy Ghost in the perfect soul by recalling the most indisputable and lofty principles commonly taught on the subject. To see their meaning and import, we shall consider first the Holy Ghost as the supreme gift, and secondly what follows this gift is the perfect soul.
The Holy Ghost is called the Gift par excellence. Christ alluded and more than alluded to this title when He said to the Samaritan woman: “If thou didst know the gift of God!” The created gift of sanctifying grace, united to charity, in itself immensely surpasses all natural gifts, those of the richest imagination, of the keenest intellect, of the most energetic will. Grace, the seed of eternal life, even immensely exceeds the natural life of the angels, the natural strength of their intellect and will; it also exceeds, and that greatly, as St. Paul says, graces that are gratis datae and, so to speak, extrinsic, like the gift of miracles, the gifts of tongues, and prophecy.
The Holy Ghost is the uncreated Gift, infinitely superior to that of sanctifying grace and of charity, superior to every degree of charity, and every degree of glory.
[Fr. RGL is describing here three levels of gifts from God. The lowest level is the natural gifts. The next highest level is sanctifying grace, united to charity. The third highest level and the highest that can be obtained is the Holy Ghost. ]
He is, first of all, the uncreated Gift, as the final and eternal term of the divine fecundity of the heavenly Father and of His Son. By the eternal generation of the Word, the infinitely good Father communicates to the Son all the divine nature, gives Him to be God of God, light of light. The Father and the Son breathe forth the personal Love that is the Holy Ghost [1]. The third divine Person thus proceeds from the mutual love of the Father and the Son; He is the uncreated Gift which the first two Persons give each other, the unique gift, by an eternal spiration that communicates all the divine nature to the Holy Ghost.
St. Thomas explains why the Holy Ghost is called the personal and uncreated Gift. He says that every gift proceeds from a gratuitous donation whose source is love, and the first thing we give to some one is the love by which we wish him well. Thus love is the first of all gifts, the principle of all the others. Consequently the Holy Ghost, who is the personal subsistent Love, deserves to be called the personal and uncreated Gift.
[Fr. RGL uses a very helpful analogy. He likens sanctifying grace, the second level of the gifts, to be a seed, whose value is even higher than the natural state of angels, who have eternal life already by default through their natures. God gives sanctifying grace, united in charity, to each human as like a seed so that each human can aspire to eternal life in God. Thus sanctifying grace is a created gift, just as a seed is created. However, for that seed to grow, it needs water, air, light, and nutrients, for those make a seed viable and allow its growth. The Holy Ghost is like those needs of the seed that provide the energy and ability to grow. Thus the Holy Ghost is the highest level of gift, for it is the love from and for God that allows the sanctifying grace of the seed of a human to grow into eternal life. It is not a created gift, as are sanctifying grace and charity, because it is emanated from the divine eternal fecundity of God and His Son. “Fecundity” is a biological term, referring to an organism’s ability to live, thrive, and reproduce. So sanctifying grace, united to charity, is the seed to eternal life, but the Holy Ghost is the fecundity of that seed.]
This supreme Gift, which the first two divine Persons make each other from all eternity, has been given to us in time by our Lord Jesus Christ. He had already given us the Eucharist at the Last Supper, and His precious blood on the cross; He has given us grace by all the sacraments. Lastly, He willed to give us the supreme Gift, the uncreated Gift, to crown all His benefactions. He had promised to send us the Holy Ghost and, in fact, He sent Him to us on Pentecost.
[Here, building on the same analogy, you can better understand why Jesus Christ instituted the sacraments. Everyone knows that one seed does not guarantee growth, and certainly not year after year. Every year a seed needs to be sown anew. So the sacraments are the means by which each human’s soul sows seeds for their eternal life throughout their life. The more seeds that are properly planted the more assurance one can have in the crop’s harvest. The sacraments provide continuous seeds of sanctifying grace, and the Holy Ghost ensures their fecundity and growth toward God. Thus people should be eager for access to the sacraments, and then be open to the love and instruction of the Holy Ghost, to allow the seeds to germinate and grow within.]
The grandeur of this supreme gift appears more clearly in comparison with the others, even with the most sublime among them. Our Savior had already merited for us all the effects of our predestination: our vocation to Christian life, our justification or conversion, final perseverance, and the glory of the elect redeemed by His blood; but He willed to give us still more, to bestow on us the uncreated Gift, the Holy Ghost.
When the apostles received the Holy Ghost, they were enlightened, strengthened, confirmed in grace, and transformed; and, under the direction of the Holy Ghost, they persevered even to martyrdom.
This discussion shows why the names proper to the Holy Ghost are personal Love and the uncreated Gift. By appropriation, He is also called the Comforter. He is, indeed, the great spiritual friend who comforts us in the sorrows of life, in anxiety which sometimes grows into anguish. Thus He comforted the apostles, deprived of our Lord’s sensible presence, when the great difficulties of their apostolate were beginning. For each of us Pentecost was renewed when we received confirmation.
[Fr. RGL correctly points out that yes, Jesus Christ has merited for all the ability to have that seed in each person’s possession, growth of which will take the soul to eternal life in God. The Holy Ghost, however, helps to ensure that the seed will grow and make that journey. He uses the example of the Apostles to show that the Holy Ghost is the means through which the small sprouts of each Apostle endured hardship, even to the ultimate harvest of martyrdom. When the physical presence of the Lord was taken to heaven the Holy Ghost was sent to them to work as comforter, strengthening rod, and source of renewal. One does not have to be an expert gardener to understand these principles. Jesus Christ merited for all the vocation to God, the ability to claim the seed of one’s soul to be directed toward eternal life in God. The sacraments provide the renewed provision of viable seeds starting with baptism and continuing throughout the ups and downs of life. A person who is baptized but then no longer pursues the sacraments is betting that the seed he or she is given at baptism will remain viable, without making an effort to accept the gifts that Jesus Christ instituted for that very purpose. Even the oak trees do not shed one acorn throughout their life span. Jesus repeated used examples of sowing of seeds so that all could understand the seeds, and then the ground they grow upon, before the harvest. The sacraments, starting with baptism, are the continual supplies of seeds, of sanctifying grace, for each soul. And then as God the Father and Jesus Christ are not residing physically with human, the Holy Ghost flies among people, breathing on and watering the seeds, so that they can grow to their fruition, and not expire arid and desiccated.]
1 In the Blessed Trinity we distinguish the essential love common to the three divine Persons, the nominal or spiritual love, by which the Father and the Son spirate the Holy Ghost, and personal love, which is the Holy Ghost Himself, the term of active spiration, as the Word is the term of eternal generation.
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