This is the penultimate post on Manning’s works for now.
I am sorry to leave the work of this great man. I feel a
connection to him from my stay at St. Mary of the Angels for three months in
2012. Daily, I worshipped in the Church where Manning himself sometimes came,
and in the buildings where the Oblates of St. Charles lived, I lived for a
short, but happy time.
The Holy Spirit moves us and others to form our lives. The
Holy Ghost is, as Manning teaches us, “the efficient cause of all grace.”
The Holy Ghost raised Christ from the dead. The Holy Ghost
came into the Church and into us at Pentecost. And, we need His help now more
than ever.
“And as the Holy Ghost is the Creator and Sanctifier of the
Church,” writes the Cardinal, “He is also its Guide and its Light.”
Manning quotes many references from St. Paul St. Paul
How do we become unconscious of this grand heritage of the
life of the Spirit within us?
“…ay, even from your Baptism…the Holy Ghost has been within
you; all through your growth, in your childhood, in every age, in all your
spiritual life, the Holy Ghost has been with you, springing up as a fountain of
grace. You have been encompassed and enveloped by the love of God.”
…
“We have been wasting the grace of God all our life long,
and there has been a hand unseen pouring in oil, lest the light of the lamp
should die out.”
…
“The Giver of all the sweetness of God is within you,
waiting only for you to ask it of Him. He has shed it abroad in your hearts
even when you have not asked it…”
Cardinal Manning stares we must do three things. First, we
must adore the Holy Spirit as we do the Father and the Son. Second, we must
“…have a more lively conception of His presence within us.” Third, “…we must
realize and have a perception that He is at all times bearing ‘testimony in our
hearts that we are sons of God.’ We must in turn speak with Him, and love Him,
and praise Him, and glorify Him, both by inward acts of adoration in our soul
and by outward acts of obedience in our lives.”
We must also make reparation to the Holy Spirit for our many
sins. I shall continue in one more posting.
