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Devotion to

The Holy Spirit

BY

REV. JOSEPH McSORLEY, C.S.P.

New York

THE PAU LI ST PRESS
401 We*t 59th Street





Devotion to the Holy Spirit

9

By

REV. JOSEPH McSORLEY, C.S.P.

New York 19, N. Y.

THE PAULIST PRESS
401 West 59th Street



PRINTED AND PUBLISHED IN THE U. S. A.

BY THE PAULIST PRESS, NEW YORK 19
,
N. Y.



Devotion to the Holy Spirit

BY REV. JOSEPH MCSORLEY, C.S.P.

t

“I have long thought that the secret but real cause of the

so-called Reformation was that the office of the Holy Ghost

had been much obscured in popular belief.
,,—Cardinal

Manning .

URELY we shall not exaggerate, if we

declare that Pope Leo’s Encyclical

Letter on Devotion to the Holy Spirit
,

1

is one of the most timely and signif- .

icant of that long and splendid series

of pronouncements which distinguished his reign.

In the outspoken and emphatic language character-

istic of Catholic authority, this document com-

mended devotion to the Holy Spirit as most dear

to the Pope’s rwn heart, and as a salutary and effi-

cient remedy for prevalent evils. A yearly novena

was prescribed for the season of Pentecost, the fre-

quent preaching of sermons and conferences on

the Holy Spirit was suggested, and all intrusted

with the direction of souls were charged that “it is

their duty to impart to the people with more zeal

and fullness the teachings relative to the Holy

Ghost.” For, said the Holy Father, “perhaps even

i Encyclical Letter on the Holy Spirit, Pope Leo XIII., May 9, 1897.



DEVOTION TO THE HOLY SPIRIT

today there are Christians who would answer as of

old the Ephesians answered the Apostle Paul: ‘We

have not even heard if there be a Holy Spirit.’
”

Now, the effect of this letter of the Supreme

Pontiff was at once to awaken new love for the

Holy Spirit throughout the length and breadth of

the Catholic world. Nor has this beneficent influ-

ence yet ceased. Since, however, progress is ever

possible, and since the directions of authority be-

come fruitful in proportion as they succeed in

arousing our personal zeal and diligent coopera-

tion, we must ever be striving to lend new impetus

to the movement. We know that authoritv aims
%/

at eliciting personal effort from us. Neither God

nor Church will save us without ourselves, and we

are never freed from the necessity of zestfully la-

boring as God and Church direct. Considering,

then, the important part played by special devo-

tions in the spiritual life, and the supreme wisdom

of heartily obeying even the slightest suggestions

of authority, we must feel it incumbent on us to

make devotion to the Holy Spirit a predominant

influence in every life that we can shape or sway.

And because, in the words of Pope Leo, our “love

of a good is proportioned to the fullness and clear-

ness of our knowledge,” we must often think, and

read, and pray about this matter that, by gaining

fuller knowledge, we may attain to deeper love.

4



DEVOTION TO THE HOLY SPIRIT

As the Holy Father has pointed out, a proper

understanding of this devotion in question neces-

sitates some knowledge of Catholic doctrine con-

cerning the Most Blessed Trinity. In regard to

that mystery, then, let us recall the teaching which

bears most directly upon our subject.

Theological Aspects.

God, the Infinite Creator of all things, is in Per-

sonality threefold, but in Nature a simple Being,

one and undivided. This Triple Personality, how-

ever, in no way militates against Divine Unity, for

the distinction oLPersons is confined to Their rela-

tionship with each other. Outside the Trinity, in

operations which affect creatures, no One Person

acts separately from the other Two. The Trinity

is the efficient cause of the creation of men, as of

their sanctification. Theologians, though, indulge

in a form of speech called “appropriation,” by

which certain acts common to the whole Trinity

are specially assigned to One or Other of the Per-

sons, the reason being the peculiar harmony of

these acts with the personal characteristic distin-

guishing that Person from the other Two.

Now, it is the teaching of faith that the human

soul is constituted in the life of grace by the in-

dwelling presence of God. The Creator is, of

course, always and necessarily present in every

5



DEVOTION TO THE HOLY SPIRIT

creature both by ubiquity and by omnipotence, but

sanctifying grace implies that He is present in a

new way, dwelling in the soul now by love, as pre-

viously He dwelt in virtue of His immensity.

“God by His grace dwells in our souls as in a

temple, intimately and specially. Hence arise

these bonds of love whereby the soul is more

closely united to God than a friend to his dearest

friend, enjoying Him fully and sweetly. This won-

derful union—Indwelling, as it is called—is pro-
duced in reality by the presence of the whole Trin-

ity, and only on the part of the recipient differs

from that which makes the saints in heaven

blessed.” 2

The Indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

This indwelling of God in the soul is by “appro-

priation” assigned to the Holy Ghost. The reason

is that it seems to be peculiarly in accord with what

we know of his Personal characteristic. For the

note which distinguishes Him from Father and Son

consists in this, that He is the flowing forth of

Divine Love—Amor Procedens—and his proper
name is said to be Donum (Gift).3 Hence we ap.-

propriate to him that indwelling by which God, the

Blessed Trinity, is bestowed on man and made

2 See the Pope’s Encyclical.

3 St. Thomas, Summa Theologica
, I., qu.xxxvii. a.i. and qu.xxxviii. a.ii

6



DEVOTION TO THf HOLY SPIRIT

present in the soul in this new and marvelous

manner.

This union of God with the soul occurs whenever

a human creature, being invested with sanctifying

grace, becomes a participant in the divine nature.

For by grace it shares in a life and power naturally

proper to God alone, and thus transcends the rank

of all created natures . 4 This deification—as it has
been called by the Fathers of the Church—is ef-
fected not by destroying human nature, not by

nullifying its powers, but by elevating these to a

new and higher order wherein they become of

greater and divine worth. It is the indwelling

Spirit of God Who, by uniting His Divine Sub-

stance with His beloved creature, through grace,

thus raises man to the sublime dignity of Divine

Sonship.

This fact that God actually and substantially

dwells within the sanctified soul is, then, the ex-

plicit teaching of the Catholic Church . 5 The life

of grace means this: it means that there has been

effected between the soul and God a union closer

and more real than any other, the union of the two

natures of Christ alone excepted. Since the hu-

man race began the Holy Spirit has been thus ac-

4 C. Mazzella, S.J., Be Gratia Christi, prop, xxxiii.

5 St. Thomas, C. Gentiles
, iv. 18 ; J. Franzelin, S.J., Be Beo Trino , th.

xliii.; C. Pesch, S.J., Be Beo Trino
,
prop, lxxxix.

;
H. Hurter, S.J.,

Be Beo Trino, th. cciv.

7



DEVOTION TO THE HolY SPIRIT

tive among the souls of men, ever sanctifying by

His Presence such as clung to God with firm and

generous hearts . 6 So it was with Adam when he

became the son of Ood by grace, so it was with

David, Elias, Zacharias, John the Baptist, Simeon

and Anna. So it has been with every soul within

or without the body of the church that has been

raised to the supernatural life of grace. Each has

been sanctified by the presence of the Holy Spirit.

For, on Pentecost “the Holy Ghost did not come to

commence His indwelling in the souls of His saints,

but to penetrate more deeply into them, not be-

ginning at that time to bestow His gifts, but pour-

ing them out in greater abundance, performing no

new work, but continuing what He had already

begun.” 7

Degrees of Union.

But as in human friendship, so in this mysterious

union of the soul with God, there are degrees and

gradations. Sanctity varies in the individual; so

also the intimacy of union with God. And since

the Pentecostal advent of the Holy Spirit, this

grace of union has been bestowed to an extent ut-

terly inconceivable. “For this gift, ‘this sending of

the Holy Ghost, after the glorification of Christ,

6 Mazzella, prop, xxxvii.

7 Quoted from St. Leo the Great in Pope’s Encyclical.

8



DEVOTION TO THE HOLY SPIRIT

was to be such as had never been before; not that

it had never been given before, but that it had

never been given to the same degree.” 8 So abun-

dant is this outpouring that the Christian soul can

go on ever strengthening the divine life within, ever

binding itself more intimately to God, gaining new

titles to love, forging stronger chains of affection,

winning closer embraces. As flame in the blazing

fire, as a lover in the arms of his beloved, so is God

in the soul. Personally, and literally by the actual

presence of His Divine Substance, He rests in His

creature as truly as He dwells in the Tabernacle

containing the consecrated Host.

It is this privilege of the Christian which sur-

passes all others, as it is the one to which all others

tend. The time of Sacramental Communion is a

moment of ineffable sweetness indeed, and human

nature can never mount beyond the height reached

when Jesus Christ, God and Man, comes to rest in

the arms of His devout lover. Still, the physical

presence of the Body of Christ does not last for

long. With the corruption of the elements, the

physical and bodily union between the worshipper

and his Lord comes to an end. But grace remains.

The Holy Ghost, the Spirit of Jesus, abides in the

soul; and with Him, both Jesus and the Father.

This indwelling is invisible, as indeed the union of

8 See the Pope’s Encyclical.

. <j



DEVOTION TO THE HOLY SPIRIT

the Second Person with the humanity of Christ was

invisible. Like the transformation of bread into

the body and soul and divinity of Jesus Christ, it

produces no sensible result. But just as surely as

Transubstantiation makes Christ’s Body present

where previously It was not, so surely does the

sanctification of the soul by the entrance of the

Holy Spirit bring God Himself into the human

heart, there to abide as a King upon His own

throne.

Sense of Doctrinal Proportions.

Such, then, is the doctrine at the basis of devo-

tion to the Holy Ghost. That devotion takes its

rise in the consciousness that through the indwell-

ing of the Holy Ghost the Christian soul has be-

come the temple of God, that it has been conse-

crated by the Divine Presence as truly as if it were

a tabernacle marked by the lighted lamp as the

abiding place of Jesus Christ. For this conscious-

ness naturally impels the soul to direct special

thought and nourish special affection towards that

Person of the Most Blessed Trinity through Whom
this grace is bestowed.

What rank this devotion holds in the spiritual

life we learn from the Holy Father’s emphatic

eulogy. Deaf to his teaching and blind to all spir-

itual perspective would we be if we ignored this

10



DEVOTION TO THE HOLY SPIRIT

great truth, while exerting ourselves to gain vogue

for the pretty little specialties begotten of pious

imaginations. It is true that in every household

use can be found for small things as well as for

great, and the wondrous number and variety of

Catholic devotions may well justify pride and

admiration. Nevertheless, the sense of doctrinal

proportion must be respected, and it were most un-

seemly if those ardent in carrying on the propa-

ganda of minor devotions should remain “wrapped

in error and ignorance as to the benefits and graces

that have always flowed and still flow from this

Divine source—error and ignorance, indeed, unbe-
fitting the children of light.” 9

Characteristics or the Divine Comforter.

Individually, at least, each one of us can do

something toward dissipating that ignorance by en-

lightening our own souls; and though the subject

seems to be fathomless, that does not excuse us

from the endeavor to learn something concerning

it. It is true, even the personal characteristic of

the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity seems to

be shrouded in peculiarly deep mystery. The

names of Father and Son in nowise adequately or

exhaustively describe the proper personality of

9 See the Pope’s Encyclical.

11



DEVOTION TO THE HOLY SPIRIT

Those so named, but we imagine, at least, that we

understand Their relationship to the Divine Nature

far better than we do that of the Third Person. Of

His characteristic we gain but the merest hint in

such unsatisfying statements as theology ventures

to advance. Nevertheless the symbols assigned to

Him, and the works appropriated to Him, do afford

some aid. First of all, we notice how they seem

to throw about Him the kindly light of tenderness

and love. The gentle air, the brooding dove, the

soft, clinging cloud-shadow, the dawning light, the

parted tongues of fire—these symbols intimate to
us how sweetly lovable must be this Best Gift of the

Father and the Son. And then the offices appro-

priated to Him as most in harmony with His per-

sonal character—to sanctify the human soul, to in-
spire the patriarchs with longing for the Messias’

coming, to pour sweet strains of heavenly music

into psalmist-souls, and illumine the prophets with

the gleam of a light never seen upon earth—these,
and the espousing of Mary, and the forming of the

body of Jesus, and His baptism, and the consecrat-

ing of the Apostles, all indicate how greatly our

love and worship would increase did we but know

the Third Person of the Godhead better. For all

the precious graces that come in the Sacraments

are His Gift, and all the sweetness and strength and

comfort infused in prayer, and every good deed of

12



DEVOTION TO THE HOLY SPIRIT

all the millions of priests He has anointed with His

holy unction since the Church began—all these are
His work, too.

So out from the obscurity breaks a glimmering

of the loveliness of that Divine Comforter Whose

advent it was expedient we should purchase even

at the cost of Christ’s departure. Surely devotion

to Him will bring some new nobility into our sor-

didly selfish lives.

What Is Implied by the Devotion.

And now what is implied by devotion to the Holy

Spirit? First of all, an endeavor constantly to at-

tend to His Presence in our souls. If we were to

do that well and lovingly, we should need no other

form of recollection. To gaze affectionately on the

face of God unveiled is the life of the blessed in

heaven. To remain close to Him each moment

while here upon earth, to acquire the habit of ever

directing the will lovingly toward Him, to contem-

plate Him hidden in the soul’s depths under the

veil of faith, that is a life of the best and highest

prayer, a life that has transformed thousands of

men and women into saints. Like Adam in the

garden, we walk daily in the company of God.

Like the Virgin after the angelic salutation, we

bear within us the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of the

Most High. And as the Sacred Heart of our Divine

13



DEVOTION TO THE HOLY SPIRIT

Saviour was thrilled with the ineffable and meas-

ureless graces poured into It by the Holy Spirit, we,

too, are quickened and sanctified and made more

than human by His loving touch.

The flame-illumined crystal, shot through and

through with splendor, but typifies our souls when

by the indwelling Spirit we are made partakers of

Divinity. God’s spirit in the innermost depths of

our being is soothing, healing, livening, strengthen-

ing, uplifting, comforting, purifying us, hour by

hour. He is ever gently stirring our souls as the

summer air that breathes so softly amid the forest

leaves. Truly God is with us. Truly we are His

temples, bearing Him in our bodies—a precious
treasure in earthen vessels.

When first this truth is presented to our minds,

we draw back in astonishment and doubt. Then,

as conviction slowly dawns, we feel stunned and

bewildered. We have been walking among
crowded sand-hills that shut away the view on

every side, and suddenly we come out upon a great

shoreless sea stretching away into infinite space.

The mist is gathered thick above the water. Noth-

ing can be seen except brooding mist, and nothing

heard but the thunder of the hidden surf. We are
humbled, awed, terrified. The great God dwelling

in us! What can it mean?

And then the story of Bishop Cheverus come

14



DEVOTION TO THE HOLY SPIRIT

back to us, perhaps; how the sainted priest con-

fessed his humiliation when someone said to him:

“What! you believe that Jesus Christ, the Incarnate

God, descends from heaven each morning to enter

your bosom? Why, you would be rapt into the

ecstasy of a saint!” “At these words,” said the

good old prelate, “I blushed with shame, for so it

should be.”

The Ever-Living Presence Within Us.

Thus we find it beyond belief that we are still so

worldly and selfish and sinful, with the Spirit of

God really dwelling in us. But it is a fact that can-

not be gainsaid. The privilege is not optional.

Whether we will it or not, we have been “born

again” into the life of grace, the supernatural or-

der, and have come into the company of the saints;

for our great glory should we persevere, for our

inevitable and well-deserved shame and ruin were

we now to become castaway. Far better the mol-

lusk on the seashore, or the toad imprisoned in a

rock, than a soul turned away from God. But

though the issue is in our own hands, the choice of

evading responsibility has not been given us.< We
are equipped for the struggle, but its necessity is

upon us; we must face it, whether for better or for

worse. “Your members are the members of

Christ.” “Your body is God’s temple.” “Be ye,

15



DEVOTION TO THE HOLY SPIRIT

therefore, perfect even as your Heavenly Father is

perfect.”

It is true that the first deep realization of this

truth may be fearful and oppressive; the initial

step in devotion to the Holy Ghost is apt to be made

in dread and trembling. “This indeed is an awful

place: for God was in this spot and I knew it not,”

we say at our first long look into the depths of our

souls. It is as if, while imagining yourself to be

alone at night, you were to turn about and sud-

denly see a face in the dark, with great eyes that

seemed to pierce you through and through. But,

as you recover from the momentary terror, you

find that the face is as sweet and loving as that of

the mother who used to bend over your childhood

crib, and that the eyes resting on you are soft and

winning, and deep with an infinite tenderness be-

yond all ever seen before. And then your heart

leaps up in an answering love, as if now at last its

quest were ended and it had found an object

worthy of all its loving worship.

The Soul Enshrining the Deity.

And so it really is. There is a hunger in the hu-

man soul unsatisfied by all the joys that creatures

can bestow. There is a love best appreciated when

the eyes are closed, and mentioned only with bated

breath, as something too sacred to be conversed

16



DEVOTION TO THE HOLY SPIRIT

about in common tones. It is the love of God, sur-

passing the love of woman, and its joys transcend

the bliss of the mother and her smiling babe, of

the bridegroom and his bride, of the faithful pair

that have seen their golden jubilee of wedded life.

Searching for this love we ever tend to make gods

of our fellow-creatures. But no creature can re-

main our God for long, and left without a God we

become again unhappy and restless.

“We seek Him down the nights and down the days;

We seek Him down the arches of the years.”

And at last, Augustine-like, we find Him within

—

God, the Holy Ghost; and, as Catherine of Siena,

building a little chapel in the soul we worship Him

there with fervor for evermore. Now is our God

always with us, embracing, caressing us in the

sacred privacy of love’s communion : “I to my Be-

loved, and His turning is toward me.”

The old charm of selfishness is gone now. From

morn till night we are under the eyes of the God

Who loves us. The most trifling infidelity is now

become an unpardonable crime, as if grieving the

Holy Spirit were the same with neglecting the

slightest wish of the dear invalid whose sensitive,

restless eyes ever follow the nurse moving about

the sick-room. A venial sin seems like a sacrilege

now, as if we were close to the Tabernacle, or at

17



DEVOTION TO THE HOLY SPIRIT

the altar-rail. Dreadfully wearing all this! some-

one says. Ah ! but the reward. Who can describe

the joys of the saint? On the edge of the sun-

scorched desert is the cool wood with its heavy

leaves, and its damp moss, and its running stream.

And here, far from the worry of creatures and the

taint of sin, the soul finds rest and peace and a

Divine Comforter. And that dear solitude is loved

as no other spot on earth. In the shadow, unseen

of men, here within my heart, God dwells with me

and I with Him. No pulse of mine can beat, no

breath be drawn, but He knows it. I live, now no!

I, but He lives within me. And sooner than lose that

sweet consciousness of His Presence, that sense of

His watchful eye, I would suffer the bitterest pain.

For with Him pain is paradise, and without Him

life is a dreary torment.

Obedience to Inspirations.

But mere loving attention to the fact of God’s in-

dwelling is not the last of our relationship with

Him. The will must enter actively into our inti-

macy, our contemplation must be that of faithful

servants, whose eyes are bent upon their master’s

hands, and who await only the signal to obey with

alacrity and exactness. If, then, our devotion to

the Holy Spirit be real, it will imply ready and per-

fect obedience to His inspirations. And as atten-

18



DEVOTION TO THE HOLY SPIRIT

tion to Him is the perfection of the life of prayer,

so obedience to His inspirations is the perfection of

the active life. For what are the gifts of the Holy

Spirit if not habits of soul disposing us to do God’s

will promptly and perfectly . 10

Consideration of this simple truth may help us

to realize the true ideal of spiritual direction,

namely, that God is the supreme director of souls,

and that all human consultation is of use in pro-

portion as it leads to the recognition and fulfill-

ment of the Divine Will. We need to be instructed
and perhaps encouraged by others, but we must

also make large use of our own enlightened com-

mon sense, and the impulses of grace in our souls.

The frequent advice of others may be perfectly in-

dispensable to our success, and consequently is to

be sought; but we should not neglect opportunities

of useful work, merely because no one has sug-

gested our embracing them. Nor can we always

have a director within call, unless indeed it be the

indwelling Spirit. And therefore the best direc-

tion is that which trains men in prompt and spon-

taneous fidelity to the guidance of God’s Holy

Spirit, as the normal spiritual life is that wherein

the soul, instead of merely shaping itself on the

10 “The gifts of the Holy Spirit are habits which perfect man in

prompt obedience to the Holy Spirit.”—St. Thomas, Summa Ttieolo-
gica, I., 2se., qu.lxviii. a.iii.

19



DEVOTION TO THE HOLY SPIRIT

minute details of a model provided by an adviser,

uses its own intelligence to recognize, and its own

will to execute, God’s particular designs in its re-

gard. How simple in sublimity the rule of life

which has for its supreme principle the conscience,

instructed by authoritative teaching, and energized

by the promptings of the Holy Spirit

!

Safety in External Standards.

But does this not render the individual lawless

and his conduct arbitrary? In the spiritual life,

thus conceived, there must be danger of pride,

fanaticism, vagrant fancies, illusions, and the

worst possible self-deception. That is true; and

ruin would be imminent were there no balance, no

corrective, no external standard of guidance.

Here, as always, the beautiful symmetry of Cath-

olic doctrine is manifested, and its unity made evi-

dent. The inner promptings of the voice of God

are to be tested by their harmony with the external

direction of authority. God will not contradict

Himself; the less obvious and certain direction is

to be corrected by the clearer. Hence, in case of

conflict, the supposed inspiration must always give

way to the explicit direction of lawfully consti-

tuted authority. This rule has been well illus-

trated in the lives of saints like Teresa, who pro-

fessed that they would obey the command of a law-

20



DEVOTION TO THE HOLY SPIRIT

ful superior more readily than they would follow

any interior suggestion, though it seemed clearly

to proceed from the Holy Spirit. Thus it is that

fidelity to the integral Catholic ideal has ever en-

abled men to steer safely between the fatal alter-

natives of fanaticism and indolent passivity. The

plumb-line of the mason, the rudder of a ship, the

beacon on a lee-shore, external authority con-

stantly guides and directs the human activity ini-

tiated perhaps by an internal prompting, but liable

to end in disaster if it neglects the corrective of

direction from without. For the demon may

whisper within us in the guise of an angel of light.

Obeying legitimate superiors, however, we can-

not go astray. The wall will be true to a hair’s

breadth, the ship will safely weather the foam-

bathed rocks; and it is the certainty of being thus

guarded against danger which enables the loyal

Catholic to work out God’s plan with untroubled

serenity.

Fidelity to Inspirations.

All this is certain; but we must not forget that

God’s plan is a harmony, that in the perfect observ-

ance of inner and outer lies the fulfilling of the law.

To work lawlessly were crime. To work only

when expressly commanded by external authority

were indolence. The danger-signals and the limits

21 -



DEVOTION TO THE HOLY SPIRIT

of progress are marked from without; the impulse

to act is often from within. The careful watch of

lawfully constituted guardians, like the swaddling-

clothes of infancy, protects against fatal chill; but

the Christian, like the babe, lives not in virtue of

swaddling-clothes alone. Faithful and energetic

correspondence to the Will of God, manifested ex-

ternally by superiors or by circumstances, and

hearty cooperation with the suggestions of the in-

dwelling Spirit—both are necessary elements in
the building up of God’s household. The Gentile

missions of Paul, the reformed foundations of

Teresa, the new institute of Ignatius, were deeds in-

spired by secret whispers that the Divine Master

communicated to these saints in the privacy of

their own souls. External authority did not give

birth to these movements. What it did, and did

thoroughly, was to provide against all possibility

of disaster.

Many a one, no doubt, is ready to say: “But I

never have any such inspirations. I never hear the

voice of God within my soul.” Cleanse away sin,

shut out the world, purify self-love, and then listen.

Why, to the worst of men God whispers His ad-

monitions through the voice of conscience, and it

must be that He will speak more often and more ex-

plicitly to souls sanctified by grace. If we are at-

tentive we shall certainly not fail to receive sug

. 22



DEVOTION TO THE HOLY SPIRIT

gestions from Him. If we are faithful to the light

given, it will go on always increasing . 11 Evening

and morning, at our going out and at our coming

in, now amid the bustle of daily, duties and now in

the retirement of a church, the good impulse may

be felt. Sometimes an inclination to prayer and

again a summons to action, first a call to mortifica-

tion and then to kindness, this time the suggestion

of a pleasant duty and later on one that is bitterly

repugnant—so the motions of the Spirit vary as he
listeth. But they gather about our pathway, ever

and always—at one time as a soothing dew and
again as a scorching fire, now as soft, low music,

and now as the trumpet-call to battle—for all ^ays
are His. He is ever beside us, ever within us, and

His inspirations fall athwart our souls as con-

stantly as the long shadows on the quiet surface of

a mountain lake. So Jesus with the disciples

trained them for their work. So, instructed by the

guiding Spirit, the Apostolic twelve revolutionized

the world. Ever contemplating and ever obeying

God, we, too, will be transformed into some greater

likeness to Him, as friends dwelling together for

years grow to resemble one another.

11 The Spiritual Doctrine of Father Louis Lallemant, S.J., p. 168.

23



DEVOTION TO THE HOLY SPIRIT

Spiritual Perfection the Result.

The result of this devotion is, in one word, Per-

fection. Its examples are the saints who in every

age and land, with an infinite variety of disposi-

tions and faculties, have learned to become perfect

instruments of the God abiding in their souls.

They have exhibited in fullness those gifts and

graces which are the proper fruits of devotion to

the Holy Spirit: wisdom, understanding, knowl-

edge, counsel, piety, fortitude, fear, charity, joy,

peace, patience, benignity, goodness, longanimity,

mildness, faith, modesty, continency, chastity

—

gifts and graces in which every good Christian

shares to some extent, but which are capable of

indefinite and lasting increase. Thus will our lives

be rounded out and perfected if we, too, learn to

love the Spirit of God and faithfully follow His

guidance. For are not all other things for the sake

of this, the visible on account of the invisible?

Surely it is so. And the ultimate end of human

existence is but the perfecting of the relationship

begun by the Holy Spirit’s entrance into the soul.

Many times the pursuit of this ideal will conflict

with prevalent notions and cherished traditions

perhaps, but it must be pursued faithfully none the

less. The world will move, be the denials of that

fact ever so numerous and loud. And as it moves,

24



DEVOTION TO THE HOLY SPIRIT

God inclines men first in this direction and then in

another. Human wills must be free and ready to

follow the divine. Ad majorem Dei gloriam must

be our ultimate principle of action, and it must

stand supreme. “God first” was the interpretation

given to this maxim by the saint who has made it

a household word among modern Catholics, and

the Exercises he invented were framed to train the

soul so that, purged of attachment to minor goods

and means, it might ever aim at whole-hearted

loyalty to the Supreme Good, the end of its exist-

ence, and always elect to follow him.

The Devotion Especially Suited to Our Day.

There is more than one reason why it seems as

though devotion to the Holy Spirit were especially

suited for our age, and above all for the people of

this country—earnest, intelligent, active and lib-
erty-loving. Mindful of the significance of those

acts of the Holy Father which officially bear upon

the whole Christian world, we may well consider

his directions to be a heaven-sent indication of the

spiritual ideals that will best avail for the perfect-

ing of the existing social order. In consecrating

the whole human race to “the Sacred Heart, the

symbol and sensible image of the infinite love of

Jesus Christ,” 12 he has directed attention toward

12 See the Pope’s Encyclical, Annum Sacrum

,

May 25, 1899.

25



DEVOTION TO THE HOLY SPIRIT

that devotion which attaches men most firmly to

the person of Him Who is their Way, their Truth

and their Life. In renewing devotion to the Holy

Spiril, he has influenced men to turn their thoughts

inward and learn the ineffable dignity of the life

of grace, and he has encouraged that love of in-

ternal personal religion, that loyalty to the inner

promptings of grace, that cultivation of the highest

form of prayer, and that sense of individual free-

dom and individual responsibility so well fostered

by this devotion, and in default of which vital

spiritue lity is so likely to decay.

A Guard Against Spiritual Dangers.

“I ha ve long thought,” said Cardinal Manning,

“that the secret but real cause of the so-called Ref-

ormation was that the oflice of the Holy Ghost had

been much obscured in popular belief.” Rut the

new religionists brought about a far worse state of

affairs. Making no headway themselves, they still

obstructed the path of others. For wild fanaticism

such ns they displayed was the one thing most

likely to discourage authority from reposing confi-

dence in the personal fidelity of the subject. Cath-

olics were forced to concentrate all resources on

the defence of points attacked. External author-

ity Was of necessity emphasized most strongly and

became all dominant, while individual initiative in

26



r DEVOTION TO THE HOLY SPIRIT

action and individual freedom in methods were

suspected to be, and often developed into, the false

and fanatical vagaries of heresy.

But today the siege is nigh over. Protestantism

has all but completed its process of self-disintegra-

tion, and now the evil most to be feared is indiffer-

entism and infidelity. To this our century tends,

as is evident, and the national genius of our own

country is such that naturalism, as the Holy Father

has warned us, is the point of danger .13 And how

thoroughly is this danger counteracted by the two

great devotions which the Pontiff has seen fit to

commend so specially—devotion to the sacred sym-
bol of the God-Man’s love for us, and devotion to

the indwelling of the Holy Spirit! We tend to hu-
manism, therefore our natural bent is caught and

directed upward to the transfixed Heart of the Sav-

iour of Mankind. Again, we tend to exaggerate

liberty, our sacred birthright—that liberty of which
the Pontiff wrote, “it is the greatest of man’s nat-

ural gifts” 14—and therefore devotion to the Holy
Spirit is commended, that human liberty may be

bound in the chains of divine love, and made over

to God in the free and spontaneous consecration of

our wills to the will of the Divinity reigning within

us. Thus has the highest authority in the Church

13 See the Pope’s Letter, Testem Benevolentise, Jan. 22, 1890.

14 See the Pope’s Encyclical, Libertas, June 20, 1888.

27



DEVOTION TO THE HOLY SPIRIT

stamped his supreme approval on a devotion which

already had been marked as specially fitted for our

day by the decree of the Baltimore Council, by the

action of the American College at Rome, by the

books and pamphlets and burning speeches of car-

dinals, archbishops, bishops and saintly priests

throughout the English-speaking world. What in-

deed can be better adapted to bring about that de-

sire so dear to the venerable Pontiff’s heart and so

repeatedly mentioned in his letters—the renewal of
Christian life in human society and the reconcilia-

tion to the faith of all those outside the Church?

Surely the finger of God points out this devotion as

one which, earnestly cultivated, will lead all dis-

senters into the Catholic fold and inspire all Cath-

olics to lives of sanctity.

Each of us, then, may feel specially called to

cherish it. How greatly it helps to simplify our

lives! Neither badge, medal nor affiliation is nec-

essary to its practice; the sole equipment is a lov-

ingly attentive heart, and this all Christians may

lay claim to, if they will, in any place, at any time,

and under any circumstances. Love and obey the

Spirit, His outer and inner voice, and it is enough.

As a pillar of cloud and a pillar of fire, He will lead

you on and into the land of promise. The glad

spring sunshine, the grateful perfume of the pine

woods, the murmurs of splashing fountains—none
28



DEVOTION TO THE HOLY SPIRIT

of these is deiighttui compared to the gracious

caress and the sweet whisper of the indwelling

Spirit, the Spouse of our souls. It was once a cus-

tom in Catholic countries to symbolize the advent

of the Holy Ghost at Pentecost by letting fragrant

blossoms and lighted fleece fall from the ceiling of

the church. Well did those symbols recall the love

and light bestowed on those who become His

disciples.

Among the splendid old hymns that have thrilled

the church for centuries there is one, the “Veni,

Creator Spiritus,” unique in its wonderful history.

To the echo of its music kings have been anointed

and emperors crowned. While its cry went up

from the kneeling thousands, bishops have knelt

Oeneatn the consecrating oil, priests have been or-

dained, and temples erected to God. Under its in-

spiration spotless souls have consecrated their

chastity to Christ, preachers have stirred sinners to

lifelong penitence, and showers of Pentecostal

grace have flowed down on men. May it find new

echo within each Catholic soul today! Veni,

Creator Spiritus! May His advent each Pentecost

awaken us to the joyous consciousness that He is

come indeed, and is abiding within us, never more

to depart until in Heaven our eyes open to gaze

eternally upon His uncovered Face!

29



DEVOTION TO THE HOLY SPIRIT

Note.—Those who cherish devotion to the Holy Spirit will hi
much to attract and enlighten them in the following volumes., oT

tamable from any Catholic publisner:

Lallemant, S.J. : Spiritual Doctrine.

Manning: Internal Mission of the Holy Ghost.

Baker: Holy Wisdom (Sancta Sophia).

Caussade, S.J. : Abandonment; Workings of the Divine Will.

Scupoli : Spiritual Combat.

Hilton: Ladder of Perfection (Scala Perfectionis)

.

De Sales : Love of God, and other works.

A Kempis: Imitation of Christ, and other works.

Grou, S.J. : Hidden Life, and other works.

Surin, S.J. : Foundations, Letters, Catechisme Spirituel (French).

Bona: Easy Way to God.

Bowden: Spiritual Works by Louis of Blois.

Fenelon: Letters.

Froget, O.P. : The Indwelling of the Holy Spirit (English transla-

tion, Raemers).

Hcdley : Retreat Conferences.

Hahn-Hahn: Fathers of the Desert (preface by Dalgairns).

Cassian : Conferences.

Lights in Prayer of Venerable Fathers De la Puente, De la Colum-

biere and Segneri, S.J.

Rigoleus, S.J. : Walking With God.

Bellecius, S.J. : Solid Virtue.

Bridgett: Suppliant of the Iloly Ghost.

Preston: The Divine Paraclete.

Zardetti: Devotion to the Lloly Ghost.

Rawes: Little Books of the Holy Ghost.

Nieremberg, S.J. : Adoration in Spirit and in Truth.

Faber: Notes on Doctrinal Subjects, ii. 2.

Scheeben: Glories of Divine Grace.

Collins: Divine Cloud.

Tauler: Following of Christ.

Mother Juliana: Revelations of Divine Love.

Blessed Angela of Foligno: Visions and Instructions.

St. Teresa: Autobiography, and other works.

St. John of the Cross: Ascent of Mount Carmel, and other wori:Se

St. Catherine of Genoa : Life and Doctrine.

St. Bernard: Love of God, and other works.

.Joiy : Psychology of the Saints.

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