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State of the question. It appears that "gift" is not a
personal name because the divine essence is the gift which
the Father gives the Son. Moreover, a gift is
something inferior to the giver. Finally, gift implies a
reference to creatures and is predicated of God in time,
whereas personal names are predicated of God from
eternity.
Reply. Nevertheless the reply is that it belongs to a
divine person to be given and to be a gift.
1. Proof from authority. This entire doctrine has its
source in the words of our Lord as explained by St.
John and St. Paul. Jesus said to the Samaritan
woman: "If thou didst know the gift of God, and who
He is that saith to you, Give Me to drink; thou
perhaps wouldst have asked of Him, and He would have
given thee living water... . But the water that I
will give him, shall become in him a fountain of water,
springing up into life everlasting."[498] The
living water springing up into life everlasting is grace,
the seed of glory, but the spring of the living water or
the font of grace is something else than grace. These
words are explained by our Lord Himself later on: "If
any man thirst, let him come to Me, and drink. He that
believeth in Me, as the Scripture saith, out of his
belly shall flow rivers of living water. Now this [the
Evangelist adds] He said of the Spirit which they
should receive, who believed in Him; for as yet the
Spirit was not given, because Jesus was not yet
glorified."[499] It pertains, then, to the glory
of Christ to give His supreme gift, the uncreated gift
of the Holy Ghost. The same doctrine is found in St.
Paul's letter to the Romans: "The charity of God is
poured forth in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, who is
given to us."[500]
In the light of these texts of the New Testament many
passages of the Old Testament, cited by the Fathers,
especially Didymus, appear much clearer.[501] In
Jeremias we read: "They have forsaken Me, the
fountain of living water, and have digged to themselves
cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no
water."[502] How true these words are of those who
put aside everything that disposes to the contemplation of
God and lose themselves in mere human learning and are
busy with trifles! They gnaw at the shell and never taste
the meat, as Pope Leo XIII pointed out.[503]
In the prophecy of Isaias we read: "For I will pour
waters upon the thirsty ground, and streams upon the dry
land: I will pour out My spirit upon thy seed, and My
blessing upon thy stock."[504] "And the spirit of
the Lord shall rest upon him."[505] "And the
Lord will give thee rest continually, and will fill thy
soul with brightness, and deliver thy bones, and thou
shalt be like a watered garden, and like a fountain of
water whose waters shall not fail."[506] And in the
prophecy of Joel we read: "I will pour out My spirit
upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall
prophesy,... moreover upon My servants and handmaids
in those days I will pour forth My spirit."[507]
These words of Joel were quoted by St. Peter on
Pentecost to explain the extraordinary events of that
day: "For these are not drunk, as you suppose, seeing
it is but the third hour of the day: but this is that
which was spoken of by the prophet Joel: And it shall
come to pass, in the last days (saith the Lord) I will
pour out of My spirit upon all flesh... and they shall
prophesy."[508]
In the psalms we often read of the font of life," or
with thee is the fountain of life: and in thy light we
shall see light";[509] "His wind (spirit) shall
blow, and the water shall run";[510] "the stream
of the river maketh the city of God joyful."[511]
In the mirror of sensible things by this metaphor of the
spring of living water we find a wonderful expression of
the Holy Ghost, the font of all graces. We may add
those texts of the New Testament in which the Holy
Ghost is promised or the mystery of Pentecost is
commemorated, "We shall give you another Paraclete,
"[512] "Receive ye the Holy Ghost."[513]
After these preliminary remarks it will be easy to
understand the reply to this article: It is proper for a
divine person to be given and to be a gift.
This is theologically explained in the body of the
article. Obviously the syllogism is explicative and not
objectively illative because we do not arrive at a new
truth distinct from the truth contained in the passages
quoted from revelation. The theological explanation is an
analysis of the concept of gift. The word "gift"
implies the aptitude to be given, an aptitude toward the
giver and to him to whom the gift is made so that the
receiver may really accept and enjoy the gift. But any
divine person can be given by another inasmuch as it
proceeds from that person, and a divine person may be
possessed by a rational creature if the creature also is
given the ability to enjoy the divine person. Therefore
the name "gift" is a personal name, or it belongs to a
divine person to be given and to be a gift.
The reader is referred to the article,[514] where we
see that this presence of the Holy Ghost in the just is
real and not an intentional, representative, or affective
presence like the presence of the humanity of Christ or of
the Blessed Virgin Mary, who remain physically
distant.
Reply to the first objection. "The Holy Ghost gives
Himself inasmuch as He has disposition over Himself and
is able to enjoy Himself, just as a free man is said to
have disposition over himself... . But in the case
when the gift is said to be from the giver (by origin) it
is thus distinguished personally from the giver and then
'gift' is a personal name."
It should be noted that as the Holy Ghost gives Himself
so Christ gives Himself in Holy Communion, especially
when He gave Himself to His apostles with His own
hands. To give oneself is much more excellent than to
give something external to oneself; it is a sign of great
love. Thus in God, the Father gives Himself to the
Son and to the Holy Ghost, communicating something of
Himself, His own divine nature.
Reply to the third objection. "'Gift' when it is used
as a personal name in God does not imply subjection but
only origin with regard to the giver. In comparison to
the receiver, however, it implies free disposition (if
the gift is inferior to the giver) or fruition (if the
gift is a divine person)." This is the basis of that
mystical, fruition union in which the soul of the just
man, already purified, experimentally knows the divine
persons as really present in itself and enjoys them
imperfectly in this life in anticipation of the perfect
enjoyment in heaven. From this it follows that infused
contemplation, which proceeds from a living faith
illuminated by the gifts of knowledge and wisdom, and the
mystical union that results, are not something
extraordinary like the gifts of prophecy and tongues.
They are rather something at once eminent and normal in
perfect souls, a certain normal beginning of eternal
life, like the acts of the gifts or virtues which are
perfected by the gifts of the Holy Ghost, as St.
Thomas said in speaking of the beatitudes.[515]
Reply to the fourth objection. "A divine person is
called gift from eternity although He is given in time"
for He has this aptitude to being given from eternity.
Nor does the name "gift" imply a real relation to
creatures but only a relation of reason.
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