The book I have been reading and will share on this blog for the rest of the week, The Temporal Mission of the Holy Ghost, is one very personal to me. Written in 1865, this book reveals the truth of the one, true, holy, Catholic and apostolic Church for our times.
Manning notes that the dividing line between darkness and light has harden, become obvious, as some people, like himself, have received and accepted illumination regarding the nature of the Church, while others are falling into shadow and darkness of errors.
I noted before that Manning wrote that the Church is immutable "in its knowledge, discernment and enunciation of the truth..."
The continuous enunciation of the truth, from the apostles and "not only from council to council" but from the "living voice" of the Church, in and with the Holy Spirit, gives all authoritative dogmatic decrees, plus an assurance of truth.
This continuous enunciation, knowledge, and discernment were given ten days after the Ascension, at Pentecost, as Manning notes.
He quotes St. Paul on the theme of unity; "One body and one spirit; as you are called in one hope of your calling; One Lord, one faith, one baptism. One God and Father of all, who is above al and through all, and in us all. "
The oneness of the Holy Spirit gives all members of the Church a unity. Manning traces St. Paul's theme of oneness in both the Epistle to the Romans and to the Corinthians as well as in Ephesians.
"All these things one and the same Spirit worketh, dividing to every one according as he will. For as the body is one and hath many members; and all the members of the body, whereas there are many, yet are one body; so also is Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body..."
This overwhelming testimony to the Oneness of the Holy Spirit with all the members of the Catholic Church reveals the glory of the True Church as one with Christ. The Ascension is the necessary event which brings about Pentecost, the birth of the Church, in the coming of the Holy Spirit. Manning writes that the coming o the Holy Ghost is likewise declared to be the condition of the creation, quickening, and organisation of the mystical body, which is the church of Jesus Christ."
Such writing gives one hope and great joy in the future of the Church, not as a Triumphant creator of Christendom, which we most likely will never see again, but as the great mover and preserver of the gifts and Presence of the Holy Spirit in the world.
How much teaching has been lost in recent times...
To be continued...