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We Tabernacle the Paraclete
"The Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead, shall quicken also your mortal bodies, because of His Spirit that dwelleth in you." (Rom. 8/11.)
Your Holy Spirit is mysterious, Lord. We hear so little and yet His Voice, we are told in the Liturgy for Pentecost, resounds to the end of the earth; and You Yourself announced Him as the One who would teach us all things and recall to our minds, at the needful moment, all Your doctrine. Ought we not to know Him better?
At Baptism He first makes His entrance within the cloistral stillness of the Human Soul, and love's Guest-hall enshrines the splendor of the Triune God! At this hallowed hour the foundation of Supernatural Living is laid, and that mysterious mentor, Conscience, is enriched, ennobled, presided over by the Spirit of Wisdom, the Divine Luminary, the Lord of Infinite Truth. We tabernacle the ever-tranquil Trinity Whose indwelling consecrates and hallows, and it is this union of the Soul with Divinity, this companionship with God, that sums up the meaning of life.
The Sanctifier works in hidden ways, unceasingly. Perhaps it is because He is everywhere that we do not see Him; perhaps because He is as the very air we breathe, no special aroma betrays His Presence. It is not possible that He has been, as it were, relegated to some out-of-the-way corner; it is not true that a good work, however humble, can be unconnected with His influence or withdrawn from His initiative. He is the Source of all holy inspirations, and it is in His silence that my supernatural being takes it root. Without uttering a word He took possession of me at Baptism, and since that day He has said nothing. Those who work, answer not by words but by deeds, and I should be, in the face of all who deny and all who doubt, the living answer of the Holy Spirit.
In the secret places of our hearts too, the Spirit carries on this work. We should never end were we to tell of all His marvels. He, Who directs the whole Church and the world, inspires a baby boy in an infant's class to deprive himself of a sugar plum, and encourages a little girl not to cry although she has a toothache. Since He is at the starting point of all meritorious actions, we have the right to say that, through our mothers, He watched beside our cradles; we have the right to say that, through our Apostles He has taken possession of distant continents, and He has carried the Good Tidings to unbelievers; we have the right to say that His Love prepared all reconciliations and urged all self sacrifice, and that the virtues springing up around us, like trees in a virgin forest, have been born from seeds which He has sown, and have grown, thanks to His care.
Your Holy Spirit is mysterious, Lord. We hear so little and yet His Voice, we are told in the Liturgy for Pentecost, resounds to the end of the earth; and You Yourself announced Him as the One who would teach us all things and recall to our minds, at the needful moment, all Your doctrine. Ought we not to know Him better?
At Baptism He first makes His entrance within the cloistral stillness of the Human Soul, and love's Guest-hall enshrines the splendor of the Triune God! At this hallowed hour the foundation of Supernatural Living is laid, and that mysterious mentor, Conscience, is enriched, ennobled, presided over by the Spirit of Wisdom, the Divine Luminary, the Lord of Infinite Truth. We tabernacle the ever-tranquil Trinity Whose indwelling consecrates and hallows, and it is this union of the Soul with Divinity, this companionship with God, that sums up the meaning of life.
The Sanctifier works in hidden ways, unceasingly. Perhaps it is because He is everywhere that we do not see Him; perhaps because He is as the very air we breathe, no special aroma betrays His Presence. It is not possible that He has been, as it were, relegated to some out-of-the-way corner; it is not true that a good work, however humble, can be unconnected with His influence or withdrawn from His initiative. He is the Source of all holy inspirations, and it is in His silence that my supernatural being takes it root. Without uttering a word He took possession of me at Baptism, and since that day He has said nothing. Those who work, answer not by words but by deeds, and I should be, in the face of all who deny and all who doubt, the living answer of the Holy Spirit.
In the secret places of our hearts too, the Spirit carries on this work. We should never end were we to tell of all His marvels. He, Who directs the whole Church and the world, inspires a baby boy in an infant's class to deprive himself of a sugar plum, and encourages a little girl not to cry although she has a toothache. Since He is at the starting point of all meritorious actions, we have the right to say that, through our mothers, He watched beside our cradles; we have the right to say that, through our Apostles He has taken possession of distant continents, and He has carried the Good Tidings to unbelievers; we have the right to say that His Love prepared all reconciliations and urged all self sacrifice, and that the virtues springing up around us, like trees in a virgin forest, have been born from seeds which He has sown, and have grown, thanks to His care.
Were we able to conceive even a faint idea of the splendor of the Human Soul guided and adorned by the Spirit of Truth, the God of all Grace, we should find no language sufficiently rich to trace its faintest outline. Words are meager, crude, futile and meaningless when called upon to paint spiritual beauty. To say we are Temples of the Holy One, Whose Sacred Sanctuary is the Soul, does not give the faintest vision of the sublimity of this truth.
Only surface loveliness and truant glimmerings from this inner Shrine can be revealed by words―the choicest. The wonder is that the Soul's borrowed splendor does not transfuse the body, and that companioning with God, its thoughts, its words and its acts bear not always the imprint of His Presence. How marvelous to have it in our power to be guided in our judgment by Him, our pronouncements dictated by Him, our sufferings accepted from Him, and our joys rooted and made perfect in Him? Christ says: "The Holy Spirit will teach you all things." How true this is! Many a time we have had ample proof of this. How often we are surprised at the words we utter! How often we are unconscious of having said anything vital! Yet the suffering soul will tell us―perhaps years after―that on a certain day, we said a word that has been to it a ray of light through many years. Surely this is the Spirit of Truth working in us.
"The Paraclete, the Holy Ghost, will teach
you all things." (John 14/26.)
"The soul that listens to His Voice will make rapid progress in perfection"
The action of the Holy Spirit on souls is necessary for their sanctification, for Our Lord Himself tells us: "Unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God."
If the Holy Spirit has full sway in our tabernacle, His Presence cannot but be a help to souls. We must never fail to remember that souls differ from one another, and they are to be treated, therefore, individually. Some souls receive more light than others; some have keener appreciation of truth; others have distorted ideas as to right and wrong; some have no conception of the refinements of life; many are in a network of temptation and difficulty unknown to us; many are weighted with trials, are despondent, and some despair. We cannot, therefore impose our point of view, but rather work along the lines of those we hope to help. Dealing with souls―and who does not deal with souls either directly or indirectly?―requires profound humility with an understanding patience drawn from the Heart of Christ. After all, we are but agents of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is never in haste, but always considerate of the limitations of each individual soul, and is delicately tender where tenderness is needed. Holiness, Love―these words express the work of perfecting us in the image of God. For the Holy Spirit should be especially emphasized where it is a question of sanctification; and certainly nothing is more to the point than to name the Spirit of Love where a work of love is in question.
We, who are so placed as to be of help to souls, should engrave upon our minds this truth―unless we draw our light and strength from close union with the Spirit of Love, we risk making disastrous mistakes.
In Love With The Divine Outcast
Pellegrini & Company
Sydney, Australia, 1934
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