Page:The Great Encyclical Letters of Pope Leo XIII.djvu/431



THE HOLY SPIRIT. 425

And even the Feast of Pentecost was instituted in the earhest times, not simply to honor the Holy Ghost in Him- self, but to commemorate His coming, or His external mission. And all this has been wisely ordained, lest from distinguishing the persons men should be led to distinguish the divine essence. Moreover the Church, in order to pre- serve in her children the purity of faith, instituted the Feast of the Most Holy Trinity, which Jolin XXII. afterwards extended to the Universal Church. He also permitted altars and churches to be dedicated to the Blessed Trinity, and with the divine approval, sanctioned the Order for the Ransom of Captives, which is specially devoted to the Blessed Trinity and bears its name. Many facts confirm its truths. The worsh ip paid to the saints and angels, to the Mother of God, and to Christ Himself, finally redounds to the honor of the Blessed Trinity, In prayers addressed to one person, there is also mention of the others; in the litanies, after the individual persons have been separately invoked, a common invocation of all is added; all psalms and hymns conclude with the doxology to the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; blessings, sacred rites, and sacra- ments are either accompanied or concluded by the invoca- tion of the Blessed Trinity. This was already foreshadowed by the Apostle in those words: For of Him, and by Him, and in Him, are all things: to Him be glory forever,"- thereby signifying both the trinity of persons and the unity of nature: for as this is one and the same in each of the per- sons, so to each is equally owing supreme glory, as to one and the same God. St. Augustine commenting upon this testimony wTites: "The words of the Apostle, of Him, and by Him, and in Him, are not to be taken indiscriminately; of Him refers to the Father, by Him to the Son, in Him to the Holy Ghost. "^ The Church is accustomed most fittingly to attribute to the Father those works of the divinity in which power excels, to the Son those in which wisdom excels, and those in which love excels to the Holy Ghost.

Â» Rom. xi 36. * De Trin. L vi., c. 10 j L L, c. 6.