The Abiding Presence of the Holy Ghost in the Soul

NIHIL OBSTAT
A. R. P. RAPHAEL MOSS, O.P., S.T.L. R. P. AELRED WHITACRE, O.P., S.T.L.
NIHIL OBSTAT
ARTHUR J. SCANLAN, D.D. Censor Deputatus
IMPRIMATUR:
JOHN CARD. FARLEY Archbishop of New York
March 21st, 1918
Printed in the United States of America
In English-speaking countries the Church has been at a disadvantage in the way in which she has had to expound her doctrine, for she has been forced for many years to limit her attention just to those parts of her teaching wherein the Protestant bodies parted company from her. Without any desire to stir up barren controversy, she has naturally in self-defence been at pains most precisely to define those portions of her gospel most likely to be misunderstood. This has resulted, unfortunately, in her leaving in the background the other mysteries of faith, often richer in themselves, more helpful to her children. Now, however, that she is becoming more able to realize herself to the modern world, an opportunity opens for explaining hidden doctrines, of which the value to the Catholic in the development of his inner life is considerable.
It is to further this development that these meditations have been drawn up, since hardly anything can render us more sensible of our worth and Christian dignity than does the teaching of Our Lord on the indwelling of the Spirit of God. Cardinal Manning has indeed made this the subject of two volumes, The Internal Working of the Holy Ghost and The Temporal Mission of the Holy Ghost , which are still obtainable, and there are also such books as Sermons on the Holy Ghost (Cathedral Library Association).
But as yet in English there is no such direct exposition of Catholic teaching as Père Barthélemy Froget, O. P., has attempted in his De l'Inhabitation du S. Esprit dans les ames justes (Lethielleux, Paris, 1890). Like nearly all the doctrinal works of French origin, this treatise seems at times to suppose among the laity a deeper knowledge of the rudiments of scholastic philosophy than usually obtains among us, though the author has endeavored to help this out by occasional notes or explanations. To avoid this difficulty (which a mere translation would not lessen, but increase), the material of the book has been rearranged in a series of meditations which will, it is hoped, bring out in an easier form what might otherwise be too abstruse to be of general interest.