The Divine Guest

 The Divine Guest

"The Apostle tells us that the Soul is the dwelling of the Holy Ghost; (Romans 8:11) but he also assures us that our Bodies are the Temple of the same Divine Spirit, (1 Corinthians 6:19) and bids us make them serve justice, unto sanctification. (Romans 6:19) He graces them with a germ of immortality, which will rest upon them even in the tomb, and give them to rise again, at the last day, spiritualized, (1 Corinthians 15:44) and bearing on them the seal of the Divine Paraclete, who deigned to be their Guest during the term of their mortality.

After having thus made the Christian to be his dwelling-place, the Holy Ghost bestows upon him what may fit him for his high destiny. Think, for a moment, of the beauty of the Theological Virtues! Faith puts us into the certified and real possession of the divine truths which our mind cannot, in this present life, understand; Hope gives us both the divine assistance we stand in need of, and the eternal happiness we look forward to; Charity unites us to God by the strongest and sweetest of ties. Now it is the indwelling of the Holy Ghost within him that the Christian is indebted for these three virtues—these three means whereby regenerated man is made capable of attaining the end of his creation. The Holy Spirit marked his first entrance into the soul by this triple gift, which surpasses all the creature’s merits, past, present, or future.

Over and above the three Theological Virtues, he bestows on the soul four other virtues, which are the hinges whereon the rest of the moral virtues turn, and hence their name of Cardinal; they are, Justice, Fortitude, Prudence and Temperance. Though in themselves natural qualities, the Holy Ghost transforms them by making them serve the supernatural end of the Christian. Finally, as a finish to the beauty of his abode, he infuses his Seven Gifts, which are to impart movement and life to the Seven Virtues..."

[culled from the Lit Yr]