Veni, Sancte Spiritus…Veni, lumen cordium; Come, O Holy Spirit…Come, shine within our hearts. (Sequence)
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
My very Dear Sons,
After two millennia, the mystery of Pentecost continues. What started in the Upper Room, in the presence of the Mother of God and the Holy Apostles, continues today on the scale of the entire world. The thoughts of men are vaster than any ocean, but they are of no account compared to the mind of God. The gifts of the Holy Spirit give us access to that divine mind, to that infinite Wisdom of God: they are like sails on the ship of our soul, designed to catch the holy inspirations of the very breath or Spirit of God.
The founder of our Benedictine monastic Congregation, Dom Prosper Guéranger, gave in his time a remarkable teaching on the seven gifts of the Holy Ghost. Let us pause briefly today in order to gather something of his teaching. According to him, it is the sixth gift of the Holy Spirit, the gift of understanding, that leads souls to that blessed state of contemplation, so important to monastic life. I quote here the abbot of Solesmes, who is speaking to those outside the monastery walls as well as to monks:
There will be a feeling of surprise and hesitation arising in the minds of many at hearing the word, contemplation. They have been taught to look on contemplation as an element of the spiritual life which is rarely to be hoped for, and almost impossible for persons who are in the ordinary walks of life. We must begin, then, by telling them that such an idea is a great and dangerous error, and one that checks the progress of the soul. No: contemplation is a state to which, more or less, the soul of every Christian is called. It does not consist in those extraordinary effects which the Holy Ghost occasionally produces in some privileged souls, and by which He would convince the world of the reality of the supernatural life. It is simply a relation of close intimacy existing between God and a soul that is faithful to Him in action…This light does not remove the sacred obscurity of faith: but it enlightens the eye of the soul, strengthens its perception, and widens its view of divine things (Lit. Year, Paschal Time, bk. 3, p. 428).
Perhaps it would be helpful to step back a moment and to situate this teaching about the gift of understanding in the larger picture of the theology of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, reminding ourselves of the basic elements that are taken for granted but always helpful to recall.
The first point is that the human soul, wounded by original and personal sin, is entirely purified through Holy Baptism and placed in the state of grace, even though a certain tendency toward evil remains. When a person sins in a serious, mortal way this state is lost, but it can be restored by properly receiving the Sacrament of Penance or Reconciliation as is now said. In any case to this soul in the state of grace a variety of wonderful riches are given. All the important virtues are infused into the soul, including virtues like Justice, Temperance, Prudence, and Fortitude, which are the principal moral virtues. The theological virtues of Faith, Hope, and Charity, the greatest of these treasures, are also given. Then come the Gifts of the Holy Spirit. A long tradition counts seven of them, including the gift of understanding.
As Dom Guéranger just told us, these gifts, although supernatural in character are nevertheless counted, not among the miraculous, charismatic graces, such as that of working miracles called “extraordinary” but rather as part of the normal endowment of the Christian soul. They are for everyone. In their initial stage they are like shining gems of small proportions, ready to enrich and transform the faithful soul. As life continues, if the person cultivates of develops these Gifts by prayer and good life, they grow like seeds into something similar to the tree mentioned in the Gospel:
Another parable he proposed unto them, saying: The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field. Which is the least indeed of all seeds; but when it is grown up, it is greater than all herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come, and dwell in the branches thereof. (Mt. 13:31-32).
This development of the Gifts is also likened to the mast and sails of a great ship. The sails catch the wind and move the vessel forward. If the gifts are allowed to develop in us and not be smothered by sin, they become an important means of “transportation” we might say, on our journey to Heaven.
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Veni, Sancte Spiritus…Veni, lumen cordium; Come, O Holy Spirit…Come, shine within our hearts. (Sequence)
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
My very Dear Sons,
After two millennia, the mystery of Pentecost continues. What started in the Upper Room, in the presence of the Mother of God and the Holy Apostles, continues today on the scale of the entire world. The thoughts of men are vaster than any ocean, but they are of no account compared to the mind of God. The gifts of the Holy Spirit give us access to that divine mind, to that infinite Wisdom of God: they are like sails on the ship of our soul, designed to catch the holy inspirations of the very breath or Spirit of God.
The founder of our Benedictine monastic Congregation, Dom Prosper Guéranger, gave in his time a remarkable teaching on the seven gifts of the Holy Ghost. Let us pause briefly today in order to gather something of his teaching. According to him, it is the sixth gift of the Holy Spirit, the gift of understanding, that leads souls to that blessed state of contemplation, so important to monastic life. I quote here the abbot of Solesmes, who is speaking to those outside the monastery walls as well as to monks:
There will be a feeling of surprise and hesitation arising in the minds of many at hearing the word, contemplation. They have been taught to look on contemplation as an element of the spiritual life which is rarely to be hoped for, and almost impossible for persons who are in the ordinary walks of life. We must begin, then, by telling them that such an idea is a great and dangerous error, and one that checks the progress of the soul. No: contemplation is a state to which, more or less, the soul of every Christian is called. It does not consist in those extraordinary effects which the Holy Ghost occasionally produces in some privileged souls, and by which He would convince the world of the reality of the supernatural life. It is simply a relation of close intimacy existing between God and a soul that is faithful to Him in action…This light does not remove the sacred obscurity of faith: but it enlightens the eye of the soul, strengthens its perception, and widens its view of divine things (Lit. Year, Paschal Time, bk. 3, p. 428).
Perhaps it would be helpful to step back a moment and to situate this teaching about the gift of understanding in the larger picture of the theology of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, reminding ourselves of the basic elements that are taken for granted but always helpful to recall.
The first point is that the human soul, wounded by original and personal sin, is entirely purified through Holy Baptism and placed in the state of grace, even though a certain tendency toward evil remains. When a person sins in a serious, mortal way this state is lost, but it can be restored by properly receiving the Sacrament of Penance or Reconciliation as is now said. In any case to this soul in the state of grace a variety of wonderful riches are given. All the important virtues are infused into the soul, including virtues like Justice, Temperance, Prudence, and Fortitude, which are the principal moral virtues. The theological virtues of Faith, Hope, and Charity, the greatest of these treasures, are also given. Then come the Gifts of the Holy Spirit. A long tradition counts seven of them, including the gift of understanding.
As Dom Guéranger just told us, these gifts, although supernatural in character are nevertheless counted, not among the miraculous, charismatic graces, such as that of working miracles called “extraordinary” but rather as part of the normal endowment of the Christian soul. They are for everyone. In their initial stage they are like shining gems of small proportions, ready to enrich and transform the faithful soul. As life continues, if the person cultivates of develops these Gifts by prayer and good life, they grow like seeds into something similar to the tree mentioned in the Gospel:
Another parable he proposed unto them, saying: The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field. Which is the least indeed of all seeds; but when it is grown up, it is greater than all herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come, and dwell in the branches thereof. (Mt. 13:31-32).
This development of the Gifts is also likened to the mast and sails of a great ship. The sails catch the wind and move the vessel forward. If the gifts are allowed to develop in us and not be smothered by sin, they become an important means of “transportation” we might say, on our journey to Heaven.
