The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1917-06-02
DEVOTION TO THE HOLY SPIRIT.

The Gospel of this Sunday speaks of
the Third Person of the Most Holy
Trinity. Now, although the feast of
Pentecost is usually dedicated to some
description Of His Divine Personality
and His Seven Gifts we shall antic-
ipate somewhat this Festival and de-
vote these few lines to a similar
theme. The subject is OF endless
beauty, power, holiness and the fruit
full source of many practical lessons.
We select two for consideration, the
necessity Of devotion to the Holy
Spirit, as the Spirit of Light and Love
the two great needs of the age in
which we live. In the world we see
the great truths of religion ''as
through glass, darkly"; in Heaven
we shall see God face to face" and
in Him read the fulness of visible
truth. Now religion concerns itself
with the great divisions of duty-the
laws, namely, of believing and doing:
we must, therefore, have the light
necessary for seeing properly the dog
mas of faith, and of the command
ments of God and of His Church..
The world today is writing a great
question mark after the fundamental
truths of Divine Revelation. Poor,
blind, deluded world, that hath shut
its eyes and hardened his heart, lest
it should come to a knowledge Of the
truth, and be saved! We, Catholics,
have to live our lives in the midst of
the spirit of the world. Our eyes can
not help seeing this absurd question
mark; our ears are filled with the
despairing doubts of our felloW-men
Have any mists crept up before our
eyes? Have any questionings haunted
our ears? We are the "children of
light" while the world is seated in
Nevertheless, we must have a care
lest the light which is in us be turned
into darkness.
Time was when a great light shone
IN the midst of the darkness and, says
st. John, 1.-The darkness did not COM
prehend it." The very children of
Abraham, proud of their traditions of
revelation and divine faith, shut their
eyes to this light. Have we nothing
to fear? Are we unmindful that hui
man reason, although a divine gift, can
be turned against God and His Revela-
tiOn-not because reason is essentially
at fault, but because it is wrongly
used. All history shows the yagaries
of philosophers and thinkers" from
the Babel down through the philoso-
piers of Greece and Rome, the sects
of Judaism, the heretics of Christian
times, even to the second Babel of
tongues confounding the intelligence
of men in our own day. Reason is
good, but not all-sufficient God shows
us this by deigning to give us eternal
truth, built, not on reason, but on the
authority of infallible Revelation. Els
sential Truth has spoken; the reason
while it can show us the necessity of
accepting Revelation, must bow to the
mysteries contained in that Revela-
ton. Still, we are human, and temp
tations to doubt may, perhaps, assail
us. Thank God, we do not fight alone
The Spirit of Light, if we invoke His
gracious help, can in a moment dispel
every darkness. Even to those whose
faith is so clear and strong as to BATTLE
every beginning of doubt. Duty some
times comes clad in a shadowy raj
ment. The mind pauses, perplexed!
There is a parting of the ways" and
guide there is none. The greatest
saints have at times felt this perplex-
ity-the greatest theologians have con-
fessed it. And when human reason
and human prudence can go no more,
the Spirit of Light has revealed the
way.
We need not merely light to know,
but love to spur us on to do. Love
| lightens every labor, sweetens every