Preface To The Servants Of The Holy Ghost
PREFACE
TO THE SERVANTS OF THE HOLY GHOST
THERE is a very beautiful treatise of St. Thomas Aquinas on the adorable Sacrament of the Altar. It is hard to know which to admire more, the fulness and precision of its arrangement, or the way in which he brings in the words of the Holy Ghost from the Sacred Scriptures. From this treatise, and nearly always in its very words, I have arranged these Meditations for the Servants of the Holy Ghost. In fact, all that was needed was to number or letter the divisions of the book so that they could be easily seen. The prayers and thanksgivings I have added. I have put the teaching of the Saint by itself, and the words of the Holy Ghost by themselves. In this I have only carried out what St. Thomas has himself done in the treatise. For the more part he has, after stating and explaining his points, put the texts by themselves, referring to the first point, the second point, the third point, and so on. Putting them all together, therefore, is only carrying out what this Angelic Saint has done.
It will be always easy to see to what parts of the Meditations the texts refer, as they are marked with corresponding letters and figures. You must observe, however, that there are some divisions in the Meditations in which no texts are found. In this case, of course, you will not find the corresponding letters or figures among the texts.
This arrangement makes the treatise very easy to use as Meditations. Besides, I have made this book for the Servants of the Holy Ghost; and my one hope is that it may bring their souls nearer to God, and make them dearer to Him. Therefore I have called these texts, as they stand by themselves, ‘The Voice of the Holy Ghost.’ This is a voice in which His Servants will rejoice, and in which they will ever find sweetness and strength, refreshment and light and rest. He is our Sanctifier and Comforter, who makes us and keeps us the children of God. When you understand the Meditations clearly you will go on finding new meanings in the words of Scripture which bear upon them. You would then be able to make a great number of most fruitful meditations day by day from the texts alone. We do not half enough use the words of the Holy Ghost in the Scriptures of God. If you read those words in a spirit of obedience to the Vicar of Christ and in the light of the Holy Ghost, whom you love, you will find in them untold heights and depths of meaning. They are practically inexhaustible, being ‘ever ancient and ever new,’ like God Himself. They are very bright with the finger of Him who spake by the Prophets. By themselves they seem to come to us with more of the power of God; with more of His light and more of His love. They are the former and latter rain of which the Prophet speaks: the dew of the light; a sea of the wisdom of God, in which our spirits are steeped. Call to mind the way in which the Saints have always loved and adored the words of the Holy Ghost in the Scriptures. St. Charles had a very great love and reverence for the Scriptures of God. For the last six years of his life he always read them on his bare knees and with uncovered head.
Acts of love and praise are left to yourselves, that you may make them out of your own hearts, by the help of the Spirit of God. You will see how He will teach you, if only you will let Him.
I have taken this wonderful little book of St. Thomas on the venerable Sacrament of the Altar for the first Volume of our ‘Library of the Holy Ghost,’ because the most adorable Sacrament of the Altar is part of the greatest work of the Holy Ghost. It is not that the Incarnation is His greatest work, and the Blessed Sacrament His next greatest. They are two parts of the greatest work that He has ever wrought. The mystery of the Tabernacle is a continuation of the mystery which St. John revealed when he said, ‘The Word was made flesh.’ The Holy Ghost, who overshadowed the Mother of God in Nazareth, overshadows the Tabernacle of God from the rising to the setting of the sun. Let all the Servants of the Holy Ghost strive, with ceaseless prayer, to have an ever-increasing love for the Heart of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, and let them give an ever-growing adoration to that Heart of God. Jesus is truly God and truly man: God in His Divine nature, and man in His assumed human nature. But He is only one Person—the Eternal Word, the Only-begotten Son of the Father. Therefore, as the Council of Ephesus teaches us to do, with one supplication we worship Emmanuel, that is, God with us in our nature; and we give Him one glory, because the Word was made flesh. We are also taught by the fifth Œcumenical Synod not so to adore Christ in His two natures as to bring in two adorations—one to the Godhead separately and one to the manhood separately; not in any way to confuse the Godhead and the manhood; but with one adoration to adore God, the Word Incarnate, with His Flesh, as the Holy Church has handed down from the beginning. Thus in the light of the Holy Ghost we adore the Heart of Jesus.
It may be fanciful; but it seems to me that the way in which St. Thomas’s reasons fall into threes is a wonderful sign and token that the Sacrament of the Altar is the work of the Blessed Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Even in the natural order we see something like this; as, for instance, in light. The Servants of the Holy Ghost will also see and bear in mind that there are seven great divisions of this book.
You will also observe how wonderfully St. Thomas illustrates our Sacrifice and our Sacraments by the Sacrifices and Sacraments of the Law. By his words about these things I feel sure that a flood of light will be poured for you on the Tabernacle and the Altar. I know, at any rate, that it has been so for myself; and I hope, therefore, that it will be so for other Servants of the Holy Ghost. God is one, and His works are one also, in a true sense. They are like the steps of Jacob’s ladder. From the offerings of Israel according to the flesh we learn lessons of Heaven, about the conquerors of the kingdom of the Spirit, and about the strength of the true Israel of God.
The kingdom of God, as St. Paul tells us, is justice and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost; and he tells us also that the fruit of the light is in all goodness and justice and truth. O Servants of the Holy Ghost, walk as children of the light, and live with Jesus in the adorable Sacrament of the Altar; for Jesus is the Light of the world.
May the Holy Ghost bless this book to your souls in love, joy, and peace, enriching you with all spiritual blessings, and giving you much grace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.