The Abiding Presence of the Holy Ghost in the SoulJarrett, Bede
Religion
The Abiding Presence of the Holy Ghost in the Soul
Jarrett, Bede
Holy Spirit; Presence of God
3. This leads us to the last notion of grace, that it is in the
supernatural order what the soul is in the natural order. My soul
is everywhere in my body and gives evidence of its presence by the
life there manifest; cut off a portion of the body, amputate a
limb. It dies. The soul is no longer in it. So does grace work. It
is right in the very essence of the soul, at the heart of it, and
works through into all the faculties and powers by means of the
virtues. It is the life of the whole assemblage of these habits of
goodness. As soon as it is withdrawn, then at once charity goes,
for we are out of friendship with God, and charity is nothing
other than the love of God. Hope still and faith in some form
remain, but without any inner life or energy to quicken them. All
else is a crumbled ruin, without shape or life, a sight to fill
those that can see it with horror and disgust. With grace the soul
is once more thronged with vital activities, for grace is life.
Grace it is that gives the same charm to the soul as life gives to
the body; it imparts a freshness, an alertness, an elasticity, a
spontaneous movement, a fragrance, a youth. By grace we are
children in God's eyes, with the delicate coloring and sweetness
of a child; without it we are old, worn, dead, not only useless to
ourselves, but a pollution to others. Need one wonder if all life
is different to the soul in sin? Religion, God, Heaven, Mass,
prayers, have lost all attraction and are full of drudgery.
Outwardly we feel the same; but our attraction to these higher
gifts has gone, a prodigal as yet content with the husks of life's
fruitage, relishing only the food of swine, without grace,
spiritually dead.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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