9781644135945

The Light of the World
Ember Wednesday
Gathered at the feet of Mary (the stational church for the day is that of St. Mary Major), we
contemplate the fruitfulness of the Holy Ghost in the Church of Christ. “O God, when Thou
didst go forth in the sight of Thy people, making a passage for them, . . . the earth was moved,
and the heavens dropped [manna], alleluia. Let God arise, and let His enemies be scattered;
and let them that hate Him flee from before His face” (Introit). This Introit gives us a picture
of the power and the efficacy of the operations of the Holy Ghost among the Israelites of the
Old Testament as they wandered through the desert to the Promised Land.
The visible works of the Holy Ghost in the Church. On the feast of Pentecost the prophecy
made by the prophet Joel was fulfilled: “And it shall come to pass after this that I will pour
out My Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy; your old
men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. . . . And I will show wonders
in heaven; and in earth, blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke. The sun shall be turned into
darkness, and the moon into blood before the great and dreadful day of the Lord doth come.
And it shall come to pass that every one that shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be
saved” ( Jl 2:28 ff.).
At Pentecost God poured forth His Spirit upon the Church, and He continues to send
forth the Spirit at all times and in all ages, as has been visibly manifested by the miracles which
have been worked in the Church from the beginning even until now. This visible manifestation
of the power of the Holy Ghost is described in the Epistle. “And by the hands of the apostles
were many signs and wonders wrought among the people. And they were all with one accord in
Solomon’s porch. But of the rest no man durst join himself unto them; but the people magnified
them. And the multitude of men and women who believed in the Lord was more increased;
insomuch that they brought forth the sick into the streets and laid them on beds and couches,
that when Peter came, his shadow at the least might overshadow any of them, and they might
be delivered from their infirmities. And there came also together to Jerusalem a multitude out
of the neighboring cities bringing sick persons and such as were troubled with unclean spirits,
who were all healed” (Acts 5:12–16).
The Church has never lacked miracles. They are a continual witness of the presence and of
the fruitfulness of the Holy Ghost in the Church. There is much human weakness in the Church,
many faults and many scandals; but in spite of this human element with its imperfections and
sins, we find everywhere the effects of the work of the Holy Ghost. We can place our full trust
and confidence in the Church in which the Holy Ghost lives and works, in spite of all the faults
and the mistakes of its human members.
The invisible work of the Holy Ghost in the Church has been described by the Lord: “No
man can come to Me except the Father, who hath sent Me, draw him” ( Jn 6:44). The essential
element in the work of the Church is the grace of the Holy Ghost. It is the Holy Ghost who
unites the Father and the Son; He also joins us to the Son and, through the Son, to the Father.
Everything depends on His operation in us. The more fully we allow ourselves to be drawn and
guided by the Holy Ghost, the closer we shall come to Jesus and His mysteries and His graces.
The Holy Ghost must draw us to every good thought and word and deed. Every act of faith, of
hope, and of love for God requires the inspiration and the help of the Holy Ghost. If our virtues
and our deeds are to be truly perfect and worthy of God, they need the special and continual
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