The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1913-05-17
The Communion Of the Holy Ghost
Sermon Preached Sunday Morning by
Rev. M. O'Brien, Pastor of St.
Thomas Church.
"The Grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ and the Love
of God and the Communion of the Holy Ghost be
NTH YOU QU" ST. Paul to tho Corinthians.

Nv \ oAA w SN0 wi AAVAAA0ASs
fellowship. st. Paul means the active
presence of God--lSod continually in
the midst OF men ana touching their
daily livcs-God their daily inspira-
tion--the Comforter to whom we look
for assistance. Tho Holy Spirit In
then the God Of continual contact
with human life. the ever pleading,
ever helping God, tho Paraclete sent
to continue and confirm the work Of
Jesus Christ upon earth. What the
branch is to the leaves and blossoms,
what the soul is to the body. what the
law OF gravitatiOn is to the universe
Of planets around US. such is the Holy
Ghost in the Church OF Christ-bind-
ing all members together in unity and
communion.
The work OF the Holy Spirit lies In
two orders: in the order of nature and
in the order OF Grace. When the
world was void and empty. as we are
told in Genesis, the Spirit Of God went
forth over the face Of the waters. The
Holy Spirit went forth over the
"Rising world of waters dark and deep
Won from the void and formless in.
finite"
Slowly and beautifully like the com
ing OF the dawn order energies out of
chaos, the waters retire to the rivers
nnd the seas to their appointed places. t,
The mountains rise towards heaven;
streams mcandcr to the sea: trees bud
and burst into blossom; the bright
! vcsturc Of life, woven OF leaf and fow-
or. extends over thousand hills and
stretches along Il thousand Valleys
| earth. with its heart Of fire and crowns
of snow. It's succession of day and
| night, OF spring and summer and au-
tumn and winter as 1t moves around
| tho s,,n-earth is Tapped in universal
law. And the order brought out OF
chaos by the Spirit of God reaches
| beyond our earth to tho myriad worlds
around us and governs all things from
the glow worm that pnles it's ineffec-
t,al fire before the dawn to the larg-
est star gllttering in the depths Of
space.
No wonder that God looked upon Ills
creation and saw that it was good: 1t
was perfected. adorned, glorified by
the Holy Spirit No wonder the prin1i-
tive man was pantheistic and identi-
\ fled the Creator with the glorious work
of EIis han;.::
! But the ITny Spirit has perfected
Of nature: it is in the order of Grace.
But, like His work in the order of ma
ture. it is a governed law. a har1noni-
GUS and a beautiful whole. rotor to
the Church of God--tho Holy Catholic
Church of which, by the Grace of God,
we are members.
That Church is the work of the Holv
Spirit; that Church is the society of
souls united in a corporate body by
the presence and action Of the Holy
]; Spirit That Church is as fair in the
order Of Grace as earth or star in the
order of nature. a new creation in
the world the Catholic Church is not
!, an aftcr-thought in the divine mind,
; but a continuation and end of the
! creative act. When Jesus Christ as
cendel into Heaven He sent the Holy
, Spirit to bind together into one cor
+ and to preserve that body, that spir-
e itual society to the end of time Once
e more the Spirit OF God goes forth and
\ the Church comes into existence and
by the presence of the Holy Spirit
: animating. unifying and directing that
g spiritual society the Church will con-
tinue to the end of time. Sects may
i divide and subdivide: republics rise
G and kingdoms go down; worn-out
f forms, including the entire wreck OF
e an expiring civilization, may pass
t away to be superseded by newer forms
= and a newer civilization: but, en-
y throned upon the eternal rock, with
II celestial beauty as her garment, the
d Catholic Church looks out unmoved
e upon the wreck of empires and re.
mains unchanged and Interchangeable
y amid the revolutions of men. Fol
d nineteen hundred years the Church