It is this which inspires the Holy Church, in the sequence of the Mass for to-day, to cry
"Veni, Sancte Spiritus,
Et emitte coelitus
Lucis tuae radium.
Veni, Pater pauperum,
Veni, dator munerum,
Veni, lumen cordium.
Consolator optime,
Dulcis hospes animae,
Dulce refrigerium.
In labore requies,
In aestu temperies,
In fletu solatium
O Lux beatissima,
Reple cordis intima
Tuorum fidelium!"
I cannot do better than explain these words of the Holy Church, which express in so many beautiful forms the comforting grace of the Holy Ghost.
Who is this Divine Comforter? God the Holy Ghost. Not an attribute of God, such as His omnipotence, His omnipresence, His justice or mercy, but the Person of God Himself. God lives in Himself an eternal, infinite life; a mysterious life to us, in that He needs no other object besides Himself to give Him life. God is but one being; and hence the Holy Ghost is the same God as the Father and the Son; but God possesses, as it were, a threefold personal life, which, being mutually dependent and united, is but one. The Father is the Infinite Personal Cause of His own Divine Life; the Son is the Personal Life of God, begotten of the Father; and the Holy Ghost is God personally enjoying, living the Divine Life, begotten by Himself. Think of it! This is what we invoke when we cry, Veni, Sancte Spiritus! This is what was promised by our Lord, when He said: "I will ask the Father, and He will send you another Comforter." The Life of God! Life full beyond human imagination, of ineffable joy, and of peace that passes understanding! Life full of beauty, sublimity, and majesty! Life of omnipotence and of glory! "O Lord, my God," exclaims the enraptured Psalmist, in one of the Psalms of to-day's matins, "Thou art exceedingly great! Thou hast put on praise and beauty, and art clothed with light as with a garment." [Footnote 27]
[Footnote 27: Ps. ciii. 1,2.]
[USCCB: Ps. civ. 1,2.]
The sun rises in his splendor, and no man may look with unblenched gaze upon it; but who shall describe the dazzling brightness of Him who dwells in light inaccessible! And it is a ray of the light of the Life of God we crave for our darkened souls, when we say, Veni, Sancte Spirtus, et emitte coelitus lucis tuae radium! "Come, O Holy Spirit, and send forth upon us a ray of Thy heavenly light!"
The coming of the Holy Ghost to man is the completion of the mysterious union between God and us. By the Father Almighty we are created. Something of the hidden essence of Life is given to us in creation. "And the Lord God formed man of the slime of the earth: and breathed into his face the breath of life, and man became a living soul." [Footnote 28]
[Footnote 28: Gen. ii. 7.]