The Gifts of the Holy Ghost

Description

EPUB & AZW3 is entire new ed., and PDF is the 1951 ed.

cf. the new English translation

Latin original

in Cluny Media's Thomistic Institute Series

From Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P.'s The Three Ages of the Spiritual Life, part I, article IV, "The Seven Gifts of the Holy Ghost" (fn. 39), the relationship between the gifts of the Holy Ghost and the beatitudes, based on St. Thomas Aquinas's (originally St. Augustine's) doctrine:

1. Gift of Wisdom → Peacemakers (IIa IIae, q.45, a.6): "it gives peace and allows the soul possessing it to give it to others, at times even to the most troubled"
2. Gift of Understanding → Clean of Heart (q.8, a.7): "those who possess this cleanness of heart begin here on earth, in a certain way, to see God in all that happens to us"
3. Gift of Knowledge → Mourners (q.9, a.4): "shows us the gravity of sin" (which is the turning to creatures instead of God)
4. Gift of Counsel → The Merciful (q.52, a.4): "inclines the soul to mercy"
5. Gift of Piety → The Meek (q.121, a.2): "makes us see in men not rivals, but children of God and our brothers"
6. Gift of Fortitude → Those Hungering & Thirsting for Justice (q.139, a.2): they "never become discouraged"
7. Gift of Fear → The Poor in Spirit (q.19, a.12): "they possess the holy fear of the Lord, which is the beginning of wisdom"

The relationship of the gifts to the virtues:

See also Benedict Ashley, O.P.'s "The Gifts of the Holy Spirit."

KOReader notes:

Introduction to the 2016 Edition,

09/01/24Introduction to the 2016 Edition, : 7

While it is titled The Gifts of the Holy Spirit, it could also bear the title (with equal accuracy): How God Guides Us in Truth and Love.

Introduction to the 1951 Edition,

09/02/24Introduction to the 1951 Edition, : 35

three of his works in the vernacular have survived, because of their popularity and wide circulation

09/02/24Introduction to the 1951 Edition, : 35

To assist missionaries to India in the salvation of souls he wrote an explanation of Christian doctrine in 1640

09/03/24Introduction to the 1951 Edition, : 47

fruits of the Holy Spirit and the beatitudes. St. Thomas links these very closely with the gifts

09/03/24Introduction to the 1951 Edition, : 48

all the beatitudes are fruits, but not all the fruits are beatitudes.

09/03/24Introduction to the 1951 Edition, : 49

Not every good action is a fruit, for many such actions, especially in the early stages of the spiritual life, are produced with difficulty and at great cost.

09/03/24Introduction to the 1951 Edition, : 49

The Holy Spirit, through grace, orders human action—in relation to man himself, in relation to his neighbours, and, lastly, in relation to those things that are below him.

09/03/24Introduction to the 1951 Edition, : 52

All the force of the irascible appetite is aroused for the protection of these frail treasures.

09/03/24Introduction to the 1951 Edition, : 52

The virtue of fortitude moderates the impulses of the irascible passions; the gift of fortitude leaves man utterly tranquil under the providence of God and indifferent to the presence or absence of the external goods of fortune.

09/03/24Introduction to the 1951 Edition, : 53

The obstacles to man’s dealing justly or gratuitously with his neighbour are his inordinate desire to possess temporal goods and his unwillingness to associate with the needy or the miserable lest such association diminish his own poor store of happiness.

Chapter I: The Treatment of the Gifts of the Holy Spirit in Sacred Scripture

09/03/24Chapter I: The Treatment of the Gifts of the Holy Spirit in Sacred Scripture : 64

twofold defect of virtue on the part of the person and of the virtue itself

defect because virtues operate in a human mode?

09/03/24Chapter I: The Treatment of the Gifts of the Holy Spirit in Sacred Scripture : 73

spirits are subject to the will of the prophet

prophecy = government?

09/03/24Chapter I: The Treatment of the Gifts of the Holy Spirit in Sacred Scripture : 75

Many who wish to proceed in all things with excessive caution and certitude are often deterred from these motions of the Holy Spirit by their own narrowness of heart. They are not fit to be moved to great or difficult things unless their hearts are free and they have confidence in the interior assistance of God.

excessive planning

09/03/24Chapter I: The Treatment of the Gifts of the Holy Spirit in Sacred Scripture : 76

Without labour, they run in the way of God.

09/03/24Chapter I: The Treatment of the Gifts of the Holy Spirit in Sacred Scripture : 78

This defect is removed by a further perfection, which is called a gift, because it exceeds the ordinary manner of human operation

Chapter II: The Distinction between the Gifts and the Virtues

09/04/24Chapter II: The Distinction between the Gifts and the Virtues : 98

Maccabees, for the success of war is not in the multitude of the army, but strength comes from heaven

09/04/24Chapter II: The Distinction between the Gifts and the Virtues : 98

forty-third Psalm, for they did not get possession of the land by their own sword: neither did their own arm save them, but Thy right hand and Thy arm and the light of Thy countenance

09/04/24Chapter II: The Distinction between the Gifts and the Virtues : 105

They are given for a man to follow the impulse of the Holy Spirit just as the moral virtues are given so that he may follow reason, as St. Thomas asserts.

09/04/24Chapter II: The Distinction between the Gifts and the Virtues : 120

For example, although the forward progress of a ship may be the same, there is a vast difference in its being moved by the laborious rowing of oarsmen and its being moved by sails filled with a strong breeze.

09/05/24Chapter II: The Distinction between the Gifts and the Virtues : 126

Aristotle’s Eudomian Ethics: “For those who are moved according to a divine instinct, there is no need to take counsel according to human reason

09/05/24Chapter II: The Distinction between the Gifts and the Virtues : 134

This special assistance is called a gift both because it is gratuitously given to raise the faculty to the supernatural order and because it supplements the deficiencies of the faculty.

Don;t gratiasanans & elevans do this?

09/05/24Chapter II: The Distinction between the Gifts and the Virtues : 135

the infused virtues are substantially divine gifts their mode of acting is human and inferior to that of the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

09/05/24Chapter II: The Distinction between the Gifts and the Virtues : 141

This regulative principle varies the morality of the virtues subject to it.

Chapter III: The Gift of Understanding

09/06/24Chapter III: The Gift of Understanding : 167

material error does not destroy faith, so long as there is no pertinacity—without which no one is a heretic. For material error is not a mortal sin, and it can coexist with grace and the gifts which are found in those having grace.15 Therefore, error and the gift of understanding are in some way compatible

09/07/24Chapter III: The Gift of Understanding : 184

This notion of two types of evidence in the same habit is better explained by the example of the subalternated sciences.

09/07/24Chapter III: The Gift of Understanding : 186

of its very nature the gift of understanding involves evidence.

isnt tjis faith!

09/07/24Chapter III: The Gift of Understanding : 194

gift of understanding, on the other hand, employs a simple judgment and intuition built upon a penetration of the terms, in a way similar to the habit of first principles

09/07/24Chapter III: The Gift of Understanding : 194

It is the function of faith to assent, but it pertains to the gift of understanding to penetrate.

09/07/24Chapter III: The Gift of Understanding : 197

“How shall this be done?”62 the blessed Virgin asked the angel. This question was not caused by any diffidence or hesitation. It was brought about by the gift of understanding seeking a full interior understanding of the mystery, in so far as it can be understood in this life.

09/07/24Chapter III: The Gift of Understanding : 198

In general, the object of the gift of understanding is whatever lies hidden and impenetrable to the light of natural reason.

09/07/24Chapter III: The Gift of Understanding : 198

A thing may lie hidden either under accidents, or under words, or under figures or similitudes, or under appearances attained by the senses, or under its causes, or under its effects.

09/07/24Chapter III: The Gift of Understanding : 198

Secondarily, things of the natural order, inasmuch as they are subordinate to the supernatural, fall within the scope of the gift.

09/08/24Chapter III: The Gift of Understanding : 203

of marriage in one who professes continence is not without evil.

09/08/24Chapter III: The Gift of Understanding : 204

you see that the desire should not be aroused where there is no need for it. In fact, its presence is harmful, if not by destroying sanctity through consent, at least in diminishing the spiritual delight of holy minds

09/08/24Chapter III: The Gift of Understanding : 204

The soul wages these glorious battles so that it might be called from strife to the delight of intelligible beauty.”

Chapter IV: The Gifts of Wisdom and Knowledge

09/09/24Chapter IV: The Gifts of Wisdom and Knowledge : 247

The simple judgment without reasoning and investigation of causes pertains to faith. The scientific and analytic judgment is the province of wisdom.

09/09/24Chapter IV: The Gifts of Wisdom and Knowledge : 249

to assent to one truth according to another is to judge of it from its cause

09/09/24Chapter IV: The Gifts of Wisdom and Knowledge : 250

gift of knowledge, which, although it proceeds analytically, judges through created causes and not the highest causes

09/09/24Chapter IV: The Gifts of Wisdom and Knowledge : 271

There is no such experience as supernatural union with created things and inferior causes from which the gift of knowledge could take its origin.

Chapter V: The Gift of Counsel

09/10/24Chapter V: The Gift of Counsel : 299

Because of the uncertainty of created things, surety is required from a higher instructor, the Holy Spirit, just as reason in its natural discourse is often corrected by faith.

09/10/24Chapter V: The Gift of Counsel : 303

(synderesis and ebulia,

What’s ebulia?

Notes

09/10/24Notes : 311

Cf. Cursus Theologicus, in Secundam Secundae, Questio Prima, Disputatio Sexta, De revelationibus privatis.

Chapter VI: The Gifts of Piety, Fortitude and Fear

09/10/24Chapter VI: The Gifts of Piety, Fortitude and Fear : 324

thou hast made us for our God a kingdom and priests

09/10/24Chapter VI: The Gifts of Piety, Fortitude and Fear : 328

the virtue which honours superiors is called respectfulness

What is it in Latin?

09/11/24Chapter VI: The Gifts of Piety, Fortitude and Fear : 335

God is worshipped by the virtues

09/11/24Chapter VI: The Gifts of Piety, Fortitude and Fear : 339

Gregory,52 “the virtues are helped through the gifts.”

09/11/24Chapter VI: The Gifts of Piety, Fortitude and Fear : 341

personal trepidation and weakness is lessened or taken away by the gift of fortitude

09/11/24Chapter VI: The Gifts of Piety, Fortitude and Fear : 342

The gift of fortitude, on the other hand, is concerned with things which exceed human ability.”55

09/11/24Chapter VI: The Gifts of Piety, Fortitude and Fear : 344

is in an essentially human manner, according to the capacity of the subject, that the virtue

true of all virtues

09/11/24Chapter VI: The Gifts of Piety, Fortitude and Fear : 345

gift of fortitude is principally concerned with works of supererogation

Notes

09/10/24Notes : 363

“mora.” Cf. Edward Robinson, Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (Boston: Crocker and Brewster, 1865), p. 549.

Chapter I: The Essential Distinction Between the Gift of Fear and the Habit of Hope and the Other Virtues

09/12/24Chapter I: The Essential Distinction Between the Gift of Fear and the Habit of Hope and the Other Virtues : 374

There are no such things as infused intellectual virtues distinct from the gifts. There is no infused wisdom, understanding, or knowledge, but there is infused temperance or justice.

?

09/12/24Chapter I: The Essential Distinction Between the Gift of Fear and the Habit of Hope and the Other Virtues : 374

It is certain that supernatural types of knowledge are not infused, for the natural truths with which the natural virtues are concerned are known by a natural act and reasoning, not from supernatural principles.

?

09/12/24Chapter I: The Essential Distinction Between the Gift of Fear and the Habit of Hope and the Other Virtues : 378

a divine thing as revealed through faith is a formally distinct principle from the same divine thing as made connatural to the soul through love.

09/12/24Chapter I: The Essential Distinction Between the Gift of Fear and the Habit of Hope and the Other Virtues : 388

there cannot be an habitual gift whose primary and essential act is to fear God. It must pursue some good.

Chapter II: The Proper Act of the Gift of Fear

09/12/24Chapter II: The Proper Act of the Gift of Fear : 397

principal act of fear as a gift is not flight and an outlook upon evil but a reverential act toward good

How does this differ from piety?

09/12/24Chapter II: The Proper Act of the Gift of Fear : 397

Concerning past evils one does not fear, he rejoices.

Chapter VII: The Number of the Gifts

09/21/24Chapter VII: The Number of the Gifts : 440

some gifts correspond to the theological virtues

Notes

09/20/24Notes : 443

Aquinas Byrnes, O.P., ed., The Hymns of the Dominican Missal and Breviary (St. Louis: B. Herder Book Co., 1943),

Chapter VIII: The Properties of the Gifts

09/23/24Chapter VIII: The Properties of the Gifts : 473

least as far as object matter is concerned, justice is greater than fortitude and fortitude greater than temperance

09/23/24Chapter VIII: The Properties of the Gifts : 474

fear holds the lowest place among the gifts. For to withdraw from evil is not as noble as to approach to good,

Chapter IX: The Beatitudes and Fruits: The Acts and Effects of the Gifts

09/23/24Chapter IX: The Beatitudes and Fruits: The Acts and Effects of the Gifts : 482

There are four beatitudes which exclude false happiness. There are four more which tend to the attainment of true happiness. Two of these are for the active life, and two are for the contemplative. These eight beatitudes include everything that can lead to eternal life

09/23/24Chapter IX: The Beatitudes and Fruits: The Acts and Effects of the Gifts : 482

The last beatitude is, as it were, a confirmation and manifestation of the other seven.4

09/23/24Chapter IX: The Beatitudes and Fruits: The Acts and Effects of the Gifts : 483

The peace which surpasses all sense and inebriates the spirit is a work of justice—Blessed are the peacemakers

Not active?

09/23/24Chapter IX: The Beatitudes and Fruits: The Acts and Effects of the Gifts : 484

may be concluded that it is not necessary that all the gifts be exercised by all at all times, although all are necessary for salvation should the time and occasion arise. Similarly, all the positive precepts, like the virtues, need be practiced only in their proper place and time.

09/23/24Chapter IX: The Beatitudes and Fruits: The Acts and Effects of the Gifts : 485

The fruits are not distinguished from the works of the gifts and the virtues. They merely connote a certain delight and taste in their execution.