MEDITATIONS ON CHRISTIAN DOGMA.TREATISE II. 18. THE MISSION OF THE DIVINE PERSONS.
FOPPA, Vincenzo
St Luke
1510
MEDITATIONS ON CHRISTIAN DOGMA.
TREATISE II.
18. THE MISSION OF THE DIVINE PERSONS.
I. Our Lord several times spoke of His being sent by the
Father, and of His sending the Holy Ghost into the world.
This is called the external mission of the Divine Persons.
It corresponds externally to the internal production of the
Persons within the Godhead. It is the divine processions
of the Trinity continued on the lower plane of the world
of human souls, making the Divine Persons present in a
new way with us, and producing in us an infusion of divine
chanty and various operations of grace. The Mission, then,
consists of two elements, the eternal procession of a Divine
Person and the temporal production of grace. As in the
eternal processions there is a person producing and a per
son produced, so in the temporal mission there is a person
sending and a person sent The Father proceeds from none,
He therefore is sent by none. The Son proceeds from the
Father, and so is sent by the Father. The Holy Ghost,
who proceeds from Father and Son, is consequently sent
by Father and Son jointly. As in the Trinity, so in the
mission of the Divine Persons there is no separation of
Person from Person, but They abide in one another, and
all are bestowed when one is sent. Thus there is an unbroken chain of action binding all being together from God
down to the smallest atom. There is a supreme infinite
action in God which produces the Divine Persons. The
reverberations of that action pass on into creation, and
produce the Divine Persons in the souls of men. Their
presence and Their grace lead to the production of virtuous
acts in us; and we in turn act upon the lower creation.
II. There are two forms of the temporal mission of the
Divine Persons; one is visible and r>ne invisible. The sending of God the Son as man into the world to preach, to
labour, and to suffer visibly, was the first form of divine
mission. Such also was the coming of the Holy Ghost upon
the Apostles in flames of fire. Generally, however, the grace
of God works in secret ; for " the kingdom of God cometh
not with observation" (Luke xvii. 20). The Divine Persons
come invisibly and softly into the soul to work in it Their
powerful effects ; according to the word of Job : " If He
come to me I shall not see Him ; if He depart I shall not
understand" (Job ix. 11). This exercises our faith and
humility. We possess God, and yet we cannot be puffed
up by the certainty of possessing Him ; we still have to
work in fear and trembling ; we walk by faith in God s word,
and not with the assurance of sight. But while we fear,
we have no reason for discouragement, but rather for trust
ing with blind confidence in God.
III. Wonderful must be the effects produced in the soul
by such messengers as the Eternal Son and the Holy
Ghost. These effects are not the effects of nature. When
we speak of the divine missions we do not mean the operations carried on by the Divinity as head and source of the
natural order of the world. The mission spoken of is that
which is supernatural, and which makes God to be present
with us in special and more than natural ways. The Divine
Mission has as its object to produce sanctifying grace in
our souls and increase it, to withdraw us from sin and
eternal loss, to enable us to produce acts of virtue or render
special services to God and His Church. You really receive
at times a special influx and presence of the Divine Persons
in your soul ; you are aided by Them and act with Them
and by Them. How splendid this is ! But you need always to watch with anxiety lest the human spirit, or the
spirit of the world, or even the spirit of Satan, should in
trude itself into your mind and become the motive power
of your actions. Humility, obedience, and the love of God
will be your preservatives.
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