Page:The Great Encyclical Letters of Pope Leo XIII.djvu/432



426 THE HOLY SPIRIT.

Not that all perfections and external operations are not common to the divine persons; for "the operations of the Trinity are indivisible, even as the essence of the Trinity is indivisible"^ because as the three divine per- sons "are inseparable, so do they act inseparably." ^ But by a certain comparison, and a kind of affinity between the operations and the properties of the persons, these operations are attributed or, as it is said, "appropriated" to one person rather than to the others. "Just as we make use of the traces of similarity or likeness which we find in creatures for the manifestation of the divine per- sons, so do we use their essential attributes; and this manifestation of the persons by their essential attributes is called appropriation." ^ In this manner the Father, who is "the principal of the whole Godhead," * is also the efficient cause of all things, of the Incarnation of the Word, and the sanctification of souls; "of Him are all things," of Him referring to the Father. But the Son^ the Word, the Image of God, is also the exemplary cause, whence all creatures borrow their form and beauty, their order and harmony. He is for us the way, the truth, and the life: the reconciler of man with God. "By Him are all things," by Him referring to the Son. The Holy Ghost is the ultimate cause of all things, since, as the will and all other things finally rest in their end, so He, who is the divine goodness and the mutual love of the Father and Son, completes and perfects, by His strong yet gentle power, the secret work of man's eternal salvation, "In Him are all things," in Him referring to the Holy Ghost.

THE HOLY GHOST AND THE INCARNATION.

Having thus paid the due tribute of faith and worship owing to the Blessed Trinity, and which ought to be more

Â» St. Aug. De Trin., 1. i., cc. 4, 5

!*St. Aug., ib.

'St. Th. la., q. xxxix., a. 7.


 * St. Aug. De Tiin. L iv., c. 2a