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State of the question. It seems that "gift" is not a
proper name of the Holy Ghost because it is also used for
the Son, "I son is given to us,"[516] and "God
so loved the world, as to give His only-begotten
Son."[517] This name, moreover, does not appear
to signify any property of the Holy Ghost since it is
predicated with respect to creatures, which are able not
to be and which are not from eternity.
Reply. Nevertheless the reply is that "gift" taken
personally in God is the proper name of the Holy Ghost.
1. Proof from authority. This is proved by the
authority of St. Augustine: "As to be born is to be
the Son from the Father, so for the Holy Ghost to be
the gift of God is to proceed from the Father and the
Son."[518]
2. The theological proof. A beautiful explanation is
taken from the fact that the Holy Ghost is personal
love, as was explained above.[519] Here St.
Thomas reconciled the theories of the Greek and Latin
Fathers; for the Latins the Holy Ghost is personal
love, for the Greeks He is the uncreated gift of God.
The reasoning may be summed up as follows: Since a gift
implies a gratuitous donation based on love, the first
thing that we give another is the love by which we will
good for him. Thus love is the first gift and the root of
all other gifts. But the Holy Ghost proceeds as
personal love. Therefore He proceeds as the first gift
and consequently "gift" is a name proper to Him, that
is, it belongs to Him rather than to the Son.
If however "gift", is understood essentially, it
belongs to the three divine persons, who are able to
communicate and give themselves to us gratuitously. If
"gift" is taken notionally, according to its passive
origin from the giver, it refers also to the Son, but
less properly than to the Holy Ghost, who alone proceeds
as personal love.
The reader is referred to the article.
Thus once again is confirmed the Latin theory of the
Trinity, according to which the Son proceeds as the
intellectual word and the Holy Ghost as love. This
doctrine admirably agrees with revelation and is based on
the fact that the Son is called the Word in the prologue
of the Fourth Gospel, and on the fact that the
Scriptures call the Holy Ghost the uncreated gift of
God; for the primary gift is love, the root of all
gratuitous donation. St. Thomas thus preserves what the
Greek Fathers taught about the Holy Ghost, the
uncreated gift, and His indwelling in the souls of the
just.[520] The Greek theory is more concrete; it
speaks of God the Father as the Creator, of the Son as
the Savior, and of the Holy Ghost as the Sanctifier.
The Latin theory is more abstract; in a more abstract
way it considers the divine nature common to the three
persons and the participation in that divine nature, which
is habitual grace without which the indwelling of the Holy
Ghost does not take place. The Latins had to be more
abstract in their approach because they began with the
divine nature as that which is common to the three
persons. Gradually it became clearer that every divine
operation ad extra, such as creation and sanctification,
is common to the three persons because it proceeds from the
omnipotent divine will, which as an attribute of the
divine nature belongs to all three persons. Thus the
Father cannot be said to be the Creator in the sense that
He alone creates, nor is the Holy Ghost properly the
Sanctifier as if He alone sanctified, but these terms
are predicated of these persons by appropriation. It was
necessary for the Latins in this way to complement the
concept of the Greeks.
Those who write about love from the psychological or
theological viewpoint ought to keep in mind that love,
especially pure and gratuitous love, is the gift par
excellence from which other gifts flow. The Latin theory
offers an excellent explanation for the Greeks, frequent
assertion that the Holy Ghost is the fountain of living
water, the source of all graces, namely, because He is
love and the first and most excellent gift. This is a
legitimate commentary on our Lord's words to the
Samaritan woman and on the following: "If any man
thirst, let him come to Me, and drink... . Out of
his belly shall flow rivers of living water. Now this He
said of the Spirit which they should receive."[521]
Corollary. As Christians we should try to attain a more
intimate union with the Holy Ghost, who is the most
excellent of all divine gifts and the root of all others.
This present doctrine should be applied to all those who
are seeking to live an interior life and not only to those
who are led by God along extraordinary paths and who
receive graces which are not given to all. If anyone
should ask whether our Lord's words, "If thou didst
know the gift of, God..." pertain to the ascetical
life or the mystical life, it seems to me the question
smacks of pedantry. Indeed it refers to the spiritual
life, a spirituality it is true that is profound and leads
to eternal life, for which the mystical life is only a
normal and preliminary disposition in perfect souls.
In the Contra Gentes St. Thomas presents a beautiful
chapter on the other proper and appropriated names of the
Holy Ghost.[522] The Holy Ghost is often called
the nexus or bond of the Holy Trinity, the complacent
joy of the Father and the Son, since the Holy Ghost is
produced by the joyous love which the Father has for the
Son. He is called the Paraclete and the consoler of the
soul, the spiritual unction, which heals the wounds of
our souls; the power of the Most High, because love is
the greatest power; the finger of God, because the
sending of the Son was the beginning of salvation, and
the Holy Ghost is, as it were, the index and sign of
sanctification.[523]
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