We ought to pray and invoke the Holy Spirit, for each of us greatly needs His protection and His help. The more a man is deficient in wisdom, weak in strength, borne down with trouble, prone to sin, so ought he the more fly to Him Who is the never ceasing Fount of Light, Strength, Consolation and Holiness.” – Pope Leo XIII
7 gifts of The Holy Spirit: Book of Isaiah-Chapter 11: “And there shall come forth a rod out of the root of Jesse, and a flower shall rise up out of his root. 2 And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him: the spirit of wisdom, and of understanding, the spirit of counsel, and of fortitude, the spirit of knowledge, and of godliness. 3 And he shall be filled with the spirit of the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge according to the sight of the eyes, nor reprove according to the hearing of the ears. 4 But he shall judge the poor with justice, and shall reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked. 5 And justice shall be the girdle of his loins: and faith the girdle of his reins.”
Please check in to my site now and then, as I will be editing and adding to it periodically, and I will be adding video and reading various Christians texts, such as Holy Scripture. I will also be reading the words of Church Saints, Church Doctors & other texts, which can inspire and help one recollect the power and peace of The Holy Trinity, as a great help in continuing on the path of Christian Perfection.
(The following text is from a book titled The Holy Ghost Manual, compiled and edited by Rev L.M Dooley, S.V.D. pub. Refuge of Sinners 2015)
SWEET GUEST OF MY SOUL:
“Through Baptism man is born again of water and the Holy Ghost. From that moment on, the Holy Ghost dwells within him through sanctifying grace, renders His voice audible, and prays in him with unspeakable groanings. As a consequence, man’s prayers are most powerful and pierce the very clouds. All his works, too, are sanctified through the indwelling of the Holy Ghost. Let us rejoice at this marvel of love of the Holy Ghost so great Who is the breath of love existing between the Father and the Son” (Father Janssen).
This doctrine of his indwelling of the Holy Ghost in the soul of the just is evidenced in the New Testament in the clearest of terms, as something that is quite a matter of fact. “Know you not that your members are the temple of the Holy Ghost, who is in you, whom you have from God; and you are not your own?” (1 Cor. 6:19)
But why is this indwelling of the Godhead attributed to the Holy Ghost, since all three divine Persons, by reason of the unity of Their nature and Their blessed repose in Each Other, are present within us through love? The Holy Ghost is the first gift sent us by the Father and the Son as guarantee and token of other gifts to come. He is the Kiss* of God the Father and God the Son, and through Him we are incorporated most intimately with the Godhead. He is the One Whom we receive in out soul’s hidden recesses. Thanks to this possession, we become capable of worthily reciprocating this Kiss of God. His love exalts us to a blessed and profitable embrace of the Father and the Son, for He has been sent to us from Them as the best of all gifts.
*(St, Ambrose, St. Jerome and St. Bernard of Clairvaux ventured to refer to the Holy Ghost as “the kiss of the Father and the Son.)
Just as the Holy Ghost is the link in the eternal love of the Blessed Trinity, so He is the same bond between the Blessed Trinity and us, and none other can play this role but He. “Inhabitation by the Holy Ghost is the requisite condition that the soul in grace be enlightened and rendered happy by the Father with His only begotten Son. This is so simply because He, the Holy Ghost, is the effusive communication of Their eternal and unconstrained Love, and through His coming to the chosen creatures He effectively deposits all these goods, which derive their origin from this love” (Schell). Chief among these goods, in the present order, traceable to the pure love of God, are; sanctifying grace and the sonship of God, the divine and moral virtues, the seven Gifts and twelve Fruits of the Holy Ghost. The eight Beatitudes must be also included, in so far as they are attitudes and dispositions of the soul, rendering it capable of laying hold of the Kingdom of Heaven.
Participation in these spiritual goods is not equal in every justified soul, but depends upon the mystery of the divine economy of grace, and upon the willingness and magnanimity of the soul in her striving to correspond to the inspirations of the Holy Ghost. A very decisive role in all this is played by the seven Gifts.
If we cast a glance at the rich equipment, of our spiritual armor and all the means at hand in the spiritual life, we find, besides sanctifying grace and special graces vouchsafed, the sonship of God and the virtues, still others, as for instance, the revelation of God Himself, Holy Scripture, the sacraments, guidance on the part of the Church, prayer and meditation, the immediate inspiration and promptings of God, the intercession and protection of the saints and, in addition, the religious and moral influences at work in our environment and in the vicissitudes of every-day life. In spite of these helps, however, we find souls whose conditions as to walks of life and calling are identical, for instances, Catholics in similar positions in the same locality, religious in the same community, whose response to these internal and exterior helps shows a remarkable difference in fruitfulness. In so far as no personal motive should be imputed, one understands this difference from the lesser or greater influence of the seven Gifts, which play a great role in the activity and employment of these means of grace in the religious sphere.
A comparison, borrowed from the natural order, will render our meaning clearer. How often do we notice that one less gifted in knowledge and scope of action is nevertheless far more practical, and achieves more than others who are endowed with greater talent and favored by a more liberal education. He is quite as handy, more congenially disposed, and in the long run this affects more than even talent. Thus, the virtues produce talent; the seven Gifts, genius.
The measure of attainment and the boundless power of the seven Gifts in our soul should be for us the object of holy desires and constant prayer, for they are free (gratuitous) gifts to us of the indwelling God, the Holy Ghost.
How clearly was the deep significance of the seven Gifts comprehended by Father Janssen! He taught members of his order to pray often and fervently for them. In morning and evening prayers this petition was voiced daily, and in his instruction the topic was one on which he loved to dilate (expound).
As the seven Gifts are to be attributed to the workings of the Holy Ghost dwelling within us, so also are all the other means of grace with which we are endowed during our years of pilgrimage here below. It is He Who sanctifies and consecrates us as temples of the Holy Trinity. Who instructs us and introduces us to all those truths revealed to us by Christ and now proclaimed by the Church. He is our Comforter in the Sacraments of Penance and Extreme Unction, in all our interior cares and anxieties, where no balm can penetrate, and this especially when death knocks at our door. He is the Giver of life in holy Baptism in the Eucharist, in Holy Orders, in Matrimony, and in all those streams of graces that either sustain or increase the Divine Life within us. He is our strength and pledge in Confirmation, through which He establishes an alliance with us which is destined to last forever. He is the mighty Petitioner within us, who gives unction and sweetness, effectiveness and favorable hearing to our prayers. He is the glowing impulse that impels us onward with the fire of His love in the service of God and charity toward our neighbor. He is that peace and joy within us, which the world cannot impart and which constitutes the happiness of the children of God and is a foretaste of eternal life.
We may also compare the indwelling and operation of the Holy Ghost within us to the functions and indwelling of the soul in the body. Of the soul’s presence and importance for our vital activities and functions, be these ever so hidden and invisible, we are convinced. In like manner we can refer by way of comparison to the stream of life-blood that flows so invisibly in our veins but at the same time laves (washes) our whole system and quickens, nourishes, repaires, warms, purifies and renders the organism capable of movement and of energy. Now in similar fashion the Holy Ghost is in the soul, or, better, He is the life-giving, nourishing, warming, purifying Blood for the supernatural life, which we possess and lead as children of God.
But more convincing, by far, than all this are the words uttered by our Divine Lord Himself in His farewell discourse on the Holy Ghost and His operations. He touches upon matters of the greatest moment and shows His tender solicitude for His own in this world. He lays greatest stress in this discourse, which embodies His wondrously Holy Testament, upon giving us an exalted comprehension of the Holy Ghost, Whom He promises to send from the Father, and in union with the Father, as the pledge of His eternal, undying love. Let us recall these unforgettable words: “And I will ask the Father, and he shall give you another Paraclete, that he may abide with you forever. The Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not. Nor knoweth him: but you shall know him; because he shall abide with you, and shall be in you” (John 14:16-17). “But the Paraclete, the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name he will teach you all things, and bring all things to your mind. Whatsoever I shall have said to you” (John 14:26). “But I tell you the truth: it is expedient for you that I go: for if I go not, the Paraclete will not come to you: but if I go, I will send him to you. And when he is come, he will convince the world of sin: because they believed not in me. And of justice: because I go to the Father: and you shall see me no longer. And of judgment: because the prince of this world is already judged. I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. But when he, the Spirit of truth, is come he will teach you all truth. For he shall not speak of himself; but what things so ever he shall hear, he shall speak, and the things that are to come, He shall shew you. He shall glorify Me because He shall receive of mine, and shall shew it to you” (John 16:7-14).
In these last words, “He shall not speak of himself, but…he shall glorify me,” we have clearly expressed the relation between the indwelling and operation of the Holy Ghost and the life and works of Christ. The Holy Ghost brings it about that Christ lives and is fashioned in us; that we are living branches of Him, the Divine Vine, the living members of His mystical body, whose Head He is. Or, as Father Janssen expressed it, that the Heart of Jesus lives with us, and we be animated with the Spirit of Christ.
To effect within us a vital union with the sacred Humanity of Jesus, as the one meritorious cause of our salvation and the one mediator between the Triune God and us—-that is the goal of the indwelling and working of the Holy Ghost within us. In this we are entirely dependent on His mercy. “No one can profess the name of Jesus except in the Holy Ghost; no one can long for Jesus; hence it must be in the power of His love through which the Father draws us to the Son of Man. No one can be joined to Christ except in the Spirit of holy union, through Whom the body of its entirety is held together and lives, animated, as it were, by one soul. This is one of the functions which the Holy Ghost effects, thanks to His coming, so that He can bring to full fruition and to effect fulfillment that ‘come, Lord Jesus’ (Apoc. 22-20) in the fullest sense of the term—in a word: that He unite us in closest union with the most holy Humanity of Jesus” (Schell).
