Sermon Blog

The Indwelling Spirit

Fr. Juan Velez May 17, 2024
Saint Cardinal John Henry Newman
Saint Cardinal John Henry Newman
The Indwelling Spirit
Loading
/

In his rich sermon, “The Indwelling Spirit,” St. John Henry Newman cites numerous biblical passages that reveal God’s Spirit and then proceeds to comment on the Holy Spirit’s relation to the Father and the Son. Throughout he shows how the inhabitation of the Spirit makes us children of God.

Newman writes: “The condescension of the Blessed Spirit is as incomprehensible as that of the Son. He has ever been the secret Presence of God within the Creation: a source of life amid the chaos, bringing out into form and order what was at first shapeless and void, and the voice of Truth in the hearts of all rational beings, tuning them into harmony with the intimations of God’s Law, which were externally made to them.” God speaks to us through the voice of our conscience. This passage also points to Newman’s belief in a harmonius universe created with divine ordering.

Next Newman offers us a brief theological explanation of the Holy Spirit, in the same line as St. Augustine:

 “He Himself perchance in His mysterious nature, is the Eternal Love whereby the Father and the Son have dwelt in each other, as ancient writers have believed; and what He is in heaven, that He is abundantly on earth. He lives in the Christian’s heart, as the never-failing fount of charity, which is the very sweetness of the living waters.” 

The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God who creates and gives life to all creation, sustains and renews it, the “Lord and Giver of Life” as we profess in the Creed. The Father grants to us his Spirit to dwell within us, allowing  us to participate in his divine nature. We receive the Holy Spirit at Baptism whereby we become a new creation in Christ. Newman enunciates this doctrine of baptismal regeneration which marked his departure from a Calvinist theology.

 Newman continues the sermon expounding on the Christian doctrine of the presence of Christ in the Church and in each Christian through the gift of his Spirit:

“He has come, not merely in the way of gifts, or of influences, or of operations, as He came to the Prophets, for then Christ’s going away would be a loss, and not a gain, and the Spirit’s presence would be a mere pledge, not an earnest; but He comes to us as Christ came, by a real and personal visitation.”

We do well to ask the Holy Spirit for the gifts of fear of the Lord, of fortitude, piety, counsel, knowledge, understanding and wisdom. Yet, above and beyond this, we must be aware that the Holy Spirit is the Gift Himself, the gift of whom Jesus spoke to the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s Well.

This indwelling of the Holy Spirit manifests itself in our lives gradually, over time, through work and suffering. Just as in nature there are different seasons we need to be patient and allow God to work, saying “yes” to Him. In the book The Risen Christ Caryll Houselander writes: “The beginning of the rest which will allow the Holy Spirit to flood our souls consists in accepting God’s plan, and in that plan there is winter as well as spring, spring as well as summer with its flowering, and autumn with its harvest. This means that we must deliberately refuse to be anxious.” 

With this indwelling of the Holy Spirit, we have the indwelling of Christ in our souls. Christ is born in us. The Holy Spirit makes us children of God, crying out Abba Father, and restores in us the likeness of Christ. We thus become other Christs, “another Christ” to others.

Let us pray with the Church, “Veni Creator Spiritus: Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of the faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit, and they shall be created and renew the face of the earth.

 

 

 

 

 

 


All articles

Links to Websites

About Cardinal John Henry Newman

National Institute for Newman Studies

Centro Internazionale degli Amici di Newman

The Oratory, Birmingham

Archdiocese of Birmingham, England

Our Books

About Cardinal John Henry Newman

Purchase Book


A Guide to John Henry Newman will interest educated readers and professors alike, and serve as a text for college seminars for the purpose of studying Newman.

Review by Catherine Maybanks
(Catholic Herald, April 1, 2023)

Review by Serenheed James
(Antiphon, April 2023)

 This book is being currently considered for reprinting, all enquiries to the Sales Team general@alivepublishing.co.uk
 

Purchase Book


Endorsement by Neyra Blanco (Amazon)
I bought this book for my son and he loved it, he wrote this review and urged my to submitted: “I think this book has a very beautiful message, because it shows how the young Newman was so determined to achieve his dream of becoming a priest, but even after his dream he continued to work in the church with passion until the day he died, it’s so admirable that even Newman so old and so weak still had that urge to continued his work of being a priest. And the book is well written with words not too complicated with very enjoyable texts and well illustrated pictures. I highly recommend this book for a 5th grader.  

Purchase Book


What is a Classical Liberal Arts Education? Why is it so important for the development of a person?

Fr. Juan R. Vélez answers these and more questions you might have about University Education in the 21st century. This book is aimed for parents, prospective University students, and educators. It will help you discern why adding Liberal Arts electives to your education will help it form it better, and help the student learn to reason, and not just learn.

He also explains how many Universities have changed the true meaning of Liberal Arts, and the subjects, and gives advise on how to choose College Campus, Subjects, and Teachers.

A wonderful book that every parent should also read way before your children are College bound. A Liberal Arts education can start earlier in life, even from home.

Purchase Book


Endorsement by Christopher Moellering (Goodreads, September 14, 2019)
In Passion for Truth Fr. Vélez gave us an outstanding biography of Cardinal Newman. In this work, he provides a concise overview of his thought and his devotion. This is a great work for someone who, perhaps hearing of Newman for the first time because of his beatification 13 October, 2019, wants to know more about this English saint.Vélez is a wonderful writer in his own right, and the frequent quotations from Newman round out the work nicely. I especially appreciated the frequent citing of Newman’s Meditations and Devotions, which show a different side of his spirituality than his more well-known works, Development of Christian Doctrine and the Grammar of Assent.

Purchase Book


Review by Gregory J. Sullivan (Amazon, May 25, 2012)

Purchase Book


Take Five: Meditations with John Henry Newman, endorsement by Illow M. Roque (Amazon, September 3, 2010)
“There is a time to put direct inquiry on hold and give ourselves to prayer and practical duties.” Sound advice from one of the earlier, thought-provoking reminders in this sparkling gem of a book: Take Five | Meditations with John Henry Newman, written by Mike Aquilina and Fr. Juan R. Vélez and published by Our Sunday Visitor. This particular paragraph, referenced above, which begins with a direct quote from soon-to-be canonized priest, cardinal and poet, John Henry Newman: “Study is good, but it gets us only so far . . .” is actually the 15th in a series of 76 concise, logically organized meditations moving from the elementary to the sublime. Each meditation–one per page–is built upon the great man’s writings and remarkably rich spirituality. Whether taken whole in one reading or in part page-by-page over a course of weeks and months, these wonderfully insightful meditations will open up, even to the busiest reader in the midst of the world, a unique pathway into prayer and contemplation. My advice to spiritual inquirers at all levels, from the novice to the spiritually adept, is to follow the authors’ recommendation to use this book as a guide for daily prayer and meditation. The structure of the book itself is ideal: first, the authors introduce us to Cardinal Newman, the man, where we are given the opportunity to get to know him through a brief sketch of his life and spirituality at the beginning of the book. This is something readers will likely find themselves referring to again and again, prompting many, I suspect, to even wider explorations of this most gifted Christian leader. Then comes the meditations, consisting of a short summary of Newman’s thoughts on subjects taken, as the authors explain, from various salient points for which Newman is justly remembered: The pursuit of objective religious truth; Teaching on the Virtues; Defense of the Catholic Church; A devout spiritual and moral life; and Generosity and loyalty in his friendships, which sets the topic and tone for each meditation to follow. Each meditation consists of an excerpt taken from Newman’s thirty-plus volumes of writings and diaries. Next comes three brief and extremely useful sections entitled: “Think About It,” which establishes a prayerfully resonant tone throughout the book; “Just Imagine,” which provides a vivid, prayerful experience of the Scriptures that tie in, and finally, “Remember,” a pithy summation which the authors suggest may be used as a daily aspiration. Each meditation is given its own page, which makes it ideal for daily reflection for readers on the go. This book is a must have for every serious Catholic who wants to take their faith to the next level, which is to respond appropriately to the universal call to holiness and seek interior union with God.
Load More