I’d love to have feedback, has anyone else read The Holy Ghost, The Sanctifier – written by Henry Edward, Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster? Hopefully the link above works, if not, you can find a free ebook version on googlebooks.com.
A dear friend introduced me to this little treasure, and we decided to read it together and text our thoughts about it to one another. This seemed like a good idea at the time, but I quickly found that I needed a dictionary and a thesaurus for the sake of breaking down words I did not understand and my Verbum Bible study software for theological truths that were way too lofty for my little brain to reach. Also, and mostly, my thumbs couldn’t text as fast as I could formulate a thought. Since I find I learn best when I re-write what I read, and include my thoughts and understandings with the text I am reading, I had the brilliant idea to use all ten fingers on the laptop and attempt to make it coherent enough for new blog content.
This series will be a compilation of snippets of text from the book and my thoughts, musings and questions for my own personal study and comprehension. I’ll share it here on New Things, for the sake of anyone who wants and dares to attempt to glean from the mess of a tired brain with scattered thoughts and storms.
Okay…Chapter I
– The Devotion of the Catholic Church to the Holy Ghost
1. God is One in absolute perfection. Three Persons exist in the One; the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. All divine worship is given to all Three Persons in The One God.
Though each Person of the Godhead is one in unity and purpose with the other, and share in the divine operations in man (who He made in His image), they each have unique and individual missions and activity in their presence and relationships with man.
God the Son, Jesus, the Redeemer has a relationship with man that is unique to His Person…by the combination of divine and human natures in the single person of Christ (hypostatic union), He has united man to God because He alone is God embodied in flesh; God in human form (incarnate). In the same way, the Holy Spirit has a unique relationship with man, as Sanctifier. I am looking forward to learning about this role, and so far, in chapter one am only getting hints at what this word means. This does not exclude the other Divine Persons of the Godhead from the work of redemption, because they are One. If I understand correctly, the role of the Holy Spirit as Sanctifier is in relation to the equipping man with what is needed for him to live a holy life. I know that is a very simplified understanding, but for now it is good enough for me, as it makes my head hurt to try and break it down further. I look forward to diving a little deeper as I continue.
New Things 