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The
Power of the Spirit in
Us:
We are once born of the
Spirit we shall be led
by it in all reforms we
do and to abstain from
all things which are a
hindrance, an
obstruction to the full
and complete harmonious
life of the Spirit in
us. And he who cannot
see the enemies of the
Spirit which he
indulges, only proves
his own blindness
consequent on his
faithlessness, for there
is no virtue which the
Spirit does not teach if
we would hear its
whispering voice in our
hearts. The miser is an
outward example of what
the Christian should
cheerfully do from the
Spirit of God living
within. What does not
the miser do for his
God, Mammon? Should not
the Christian be willing
to do the same for his
God, Love and Wisdom?
Ah, would only
Christians take the
example of the miser in
his abstinence, in his
sacrificing all things
to the one object. Do
for the establishment of
Christ's Kingdom upon
Earth what he does for
money. (Diary, November
1, 1843)
On Divine Guidance in
Life:
Humbly and freely I
confess with a deep
sense of humility that
my labour is useless and
my ability to benefit or
accomplish any thing in
the view of the world
Christian or worldly is
daily becoming to me
fainter and fainter. The
Spirit which guides and
controls me I have no
disposition to rebel
against but would meekly
submit to its supreme
and perfect guidance and
do feel that in this my
life, light, and love is
the greatest, however
small and insignificant
it may seem to the
world, and in reality it
may be. It is all that I
can be, and attempt to
be more would end in
making me less. It would
seem that I am doing
very little indeed here,
but this is not
criterion for what I
feel conscious, of what
I feel is being done for
me, and through me, and,
if this be a delusion,
how to awaken myself
from it is to me
unknown. O, I would
submit to be guided by a
little child, be willing
to obey a stranger in
the street, to do
anything that Spirit
permitted me to do it,
but unless so, there
seems nothing so
impossible for me to do
as to disobey it. I have
no fear, but that a holy
pure trust in God will
do more than any other,
than all other efforts,
have the power of doing.
(Diary, May 30, 1844)
Fidelity to the Spirit's
Guidance:
Surely all things in the
Holy Church are good;
but good when we keep in
view the aim of all
things -- the bringing of
the soul nearer and near
to God and in more
perfect union with Him.
What does this for our
soul, we should be
faithful to, and not be
led astray by taking up
anything else. Perhaps
my love for simplicity,
or sincerity, in
devotion, is too strict
for many souls. Let each
soul study the way in
which the Holy Spirit
attracts it, be faithful
to Him that attract, and
not depart on any
account from it.
Fidelity to the
"solicitations: of God's
grace, recollection in
order to obtain this
knowledge, and
mortification, purity of
heart, in order to
remove whatever may
hinder the operation of
grace in the soul --
Voila tout!
What you say of the
sacrament of Penance
seems most true. It is a
miracle of grace, no
less for priest than for
penitent. Nowhere and in
no function, it seems to
me, does the priest
represent Our Lord in
all His Divine character
so literally as in this
Holy Sacrament. It is
indeed a wonder how two
souls, entire strangers
to each other, can at
once be knit into holy
bonds of friendship, so
close, so sincere, so
sacred.
Sometimes when I speak
to the souls in this
Holy Sacrament, I
realize the words of Our
Lord to be literally
true: "He that heareth
you, heareth Me." For it
seems to me that I only
the passive, yet
conscious organ of His
Divine voice to their
souls. (Letter to Mrs.
King, March 25, 1863)
Renewal of the
Christian Life:
Religious institutions
repeat the history of
the Church. They start
from a Pentecostal gift
of the Holy Spirit.
Placing souls, thus more
and more under the
immediate guidance of
the Divine Spirit will
have far reaching and
practical results. An
advantage to the soul
being guided immediately
by the divine light, it
will increase individual
action, liberty and
energy. They will take
the direction as the
natural leaders of all
the great enterprises of
society and embracing
also in their view and
actions the whole world.
An advantage to the
priesthood freeing it
from the care and
solitude of minute and
over direction of souls.
Thus priests will have
the leisure to devote
themselves to the study
of theological science
and solution of the
great problems of the
age. Freed from all
entanglements of family
relations by the grace
of their vocation and
placed in intimate
relation with the
universal interest of
the Church whose house
is the whole world and
whose interest is the
whole human race, who
are better calculated by
their very position to
study and solve the
religious, intellectual
and social problems of
their age and give
further impulse to every
true progress? The
priesthood will become
what it ought always be,
the channel of light and
inspiration to the
world.
These institutions will
be first to practice
what they teach to
others -- for ordinarily
the power of a preacher
depends on the
correspondence of his
own life to what he
teaches -- by increased
attention and fidelity
of its members and
greater reliance for
strength on the
inspirations and
guidance of the Holy
Spirit. This will
develop in their members
greater activity of the
intelligence and
increased energy of will
and spontaneity of life.
These qualities render
them attractive and
popular everywhere
thought the world.
Christianity was not
intended to be confined
in its actions
exclusively to those
virtues which will
secure the soul's
salvation; it was
intended to exercise and
develop all moral
virtues and make great
men, great Christian
heroic men. Its chief
aim is to sanctify the
soul by the gifts and
fruits of the Holy
Spirit. It was not its
primary work to free men
from sin, this was a
condition to the result.
By a sublime synthesis
of the natural and
supernatural, of the
union of the most
thorough manhood with
the most exalted faith,
of the most perfect
liberty of the human
will, with the action of
Divine grace, they will
make manifest the
highest ideal of the
Christian life and
character. They will
know how to secure both
at the same time,
salvation and manhood,
humility and dignity,
faith and science, ante
and post mortem
happiness, obedience and
liberty, outward act
with inward guidance,
perfect intelligence,
republicanism and
catholicity in
synthesis, natural and
supernatural in one. For
perfect God and perfect
man in one personality,
hypostatic union,
constituted Christ, so
he who unites the
perfect action of Divine
grace with perfect
operation of human
nature in one
personality is a
complete Christian. A
saint is a man who is
prompted in all his
actions by the divine
instinct of the Holy
Spirit, a divine-man!
By the sacrament of
Baptism, the Holy Spirit
communicates Himself to
the essence of the soul
and substantially dwells
within it as in His
temple. To this
indwelling divine
presence is attached
certain virtues, gifts
and privileges which are
infused therewith into
the soul. It is by the
exercise of these
dispositions called
habits or virtues and
the cooperation with the
movement of the Holy
Spirit in the soul that
the soul is sanctified.
Sanctification is
nothing else than the
soul acting habitually
by the instinct of the
divine ideal, the Holy
Spirit.
The first of these
habits or dispositions
infused into the soul
relate it directly to
God and are therefore
called theological
virtues -- faith, hope
and charity. These being
the proximate means of
uniting the soul to God,
all other exercises
whatever of the
spiritual life is to be
directed to their
perfection.
The next are the
intellectual and moral
virtues -- intelligence,
science, wisdom and
prudence, temperance,
fortitude and justice;
the four latter are the
moral or so called
cardinal virtues. The
object of the practice
of these virtues is to
bring the passions,
appetites, the will to
obey promptly the
dictates of reason.
The next in order are
the gifts of the Holy
Spirit. These are
wisdom, intelligence,
science, counsel, piety,
fortitude, fear. The
object of these gifts is
to render reason prompt
obeying and following of
the inspiration of the
Holy Spirit.
These virtues and gifts
are dispositions and
must be practiced and
cooperated with to a
greater or less extent
by every adult, to
attain the supernatural
end for which he was
created. Such is the
teaching of the angelic
Saint Thomas. By the
faithful practice of
these virtues and
docility to the Holy
Spirit, man is rendered,
as far as this is
possible, perfect as his
heavenly Father is
perfect. While at the
same time is
established, the kingdom
of heaven or God in the
soul. The kingdom of God
in the soul consists in
the possession , to a
certain degree of
perfection, of the
beatitudes. These are
purity of heart -- the
sight of God; the thirst
for justice -- its
fullness; peacemaker --
children of God;
merciful -- receiving
mercy; meekness --
inheriting the earth;
suffering persecution --
great reward; mourn --
they shall be comforted;
poor in spirit, for
theirs is the kingdom of
God. These beatitudes
terminate as flowers do
into fruits of the Holy
Spirit -- to wit,
charity, joy, peace,
patience, benignity;
goodness; longanimity;
meekness, faith,
modesty, continence and
chasitity, (December
1875)
The Holy Spirit and a
New Era:
The increased action of
the Holy Spirit, with a
more vigorous
cooperation on the part
of the faithful, which
is in process of
realization, will
elevate the human
personality to an
intensity of force and
grandeur productive of a
new era to the church
and to society -- an era
difficult for the
imagination to grasp,
and still more difficult
to describe in words,
unless we have recourse
to the prophetic
language of the inspired
Scriptures. (1886: The
Church and the Age, pp.
39-40)
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