The Gift of God: The Holy Spirit by Fr. Andrew Apostoli CFR

Author:Fr. Andrew Apostoli CFR [Apostoli CFR, Fr. Andrew]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: TAN Books
Published: 2017-08-18T05:00:00+00:00

Pope Leo XIII, by stating that the Holy Spirit “renders (the soul) like Himself,” is telling us that the soul is transformed by the Divine Indwelling into the likeness of God Himself. Let us take the example of a piece of wood thrown into a fire. It can burn so intensely that at some point we can hardly distinguish the wood from the fire. The wood is so thoroughly saturated with the fire that it takes on the appearance of the fire. In a similar way, a soul possessing the Blessed Trinity within it takes on the beauty and the life of the Blessed Trinity. We do not become God Himself, in a pantheistic sense, like becoming a “Fourth Divine Person.” Rather, we are transformed into the likeness of God so thoroughly that His divine image is impressed on the soul. Since this is the special work of the Holy Spirit, we speak of being “sealed” with the Holy Spirit. This means that the divine image of the Holy Spirit is impressed onto the soul, like a royal seal on wax. St. Paul mentions this “sealing” with the Holy Spirit:

In Him (Jesus) you too were chosen: when you heard the glad tidings of salvation, the word of truth, and believed in it, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit Who had been promised. (Ephesians 1:13)

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.