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Holy Spirit  Gift of God

Br. Francis Thrse Krautter

June 9, 2010
Contents

Holy Spirit:
Gift of God 2
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Gift and Giving
in the Old and New Testaments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
God's Gifts in the Old Testament:
Victory, Land, Inheritance, Wisdom, Understanding, Knowl-
edge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
The Gift of God
in the New Testament: The Spirit . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
The Names of the Holy Spirit
in The Summa Theologica of St. Thomas . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
The Holy Spirit: Love . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
What is in a Name? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Gift as the Name of a Divine Person . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Holy Spirit: Gift . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

1
Holy Spirit:

Gift of God

Introduction

One of the more striking features of Trinitarian Theology is the meditation


on the names of the Holy Spirit. These names are not revealed as such, but
correspond to the person of the Holy Spirit when considered in His eternal
procession. The two names of the Holy Spirit treated by Saint Thomas in the
Summa are Love and Gift. We could of course ask ourselves if these are the
only two names that could be attributed to the Holy Spirit. In the Charasmatic
Renewel, we often hear other names used to refer to the Holy Spirit: Fire, Holy
Fire, Water, Living Water, Healer, Consoler, etc. Tradition has called the Holy
Spirit the Sanctier, the Holy Scriptures in the Gospel of St. John refer to the
Holy Spirit as Paraclete, or Advocate/Counselor. If it is true that gift giving
and the gift of self are the basis for all our human gestures of love, it will be
very interesting to look at how the divine person who is Love is also Gift, and
that the two are his proper personal names. No greater love has a man than
to lay down (hand over/give) his life for(/to) his friends.
1 Couldn't we say
that the commandment of love is the commandment of gift? Isn't the greatest
commandment the one that gives us the ounce of courage or strength that allows
us to give beyond our measure? Is not the practice of the New Commandment
based on the gift of self ? The Incarnation of the Word of God culminates in his
oering of Himself on the Cross. This gesture of love opened the way for the
Holy Spirit into the hearts of the disciples. This gift of the Word of God begins
the ow of divine Love in the human heart. Whereas the Commandments of
the rst covenant were given to add weight to the inner conviction of man's
heart, All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, the commandment
of the New Covenant blazes a trail through the heart of man, transforming and
divinizing his love from within. So, this places in very clear light the Law of
God planted in the hearts of the redeemed  this law is the Holy Spirit himself,
Love and Gift.
1 Jn. 14

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GIFT AND GIVING HOLY SPIRIT:

IN THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS GIFT OF GOD

Gift and Giving

in the Old and New Testaments

God's Gifts in the Old Testament:


Victory, Land, Inheritance, Wisdom, Understanding, Knowl-
edge

Before jumping into St. Thomas, what do the Scriptures say about giving and
gifts? The writings of the Old Testament do not refer to the Spirit as a gift,
nor do they mention spiritual gifts. This being said, there is mention of wisdom
being given as a gift, But I perceived that I would not possess wisdom unless
God gave her to me  and it was a mark of insight to know whose gift she
was,
2 and in Sirach, She dwells with all esh according to his gift, and he
supplied her to those who love him.
3 Another place where the gift of God
is made explicit in the Old Testament is in the Book of Numbers, where the
Levitical priesthood is seen as a gift from God to Israel as well as the priests
themselves being a gift to the Lord, And behold, I have taken your brethren
the Levites from among the people of Israel; they are a gift to you, given to the
LORD, to do the service of the tent of meeting. And you and your sons with
you shall attend to your priesthood for all that concerns the altar and that is
within the veil; and you shall serve. I give your priesthood as a gift, and any
one else who comes near shall be put to death.
4 The Lord also makes explicit
his gift to the priests of a portion of the oerings:

Then the LORD said to Aaron, And behold, I have given you
whatever is kept of the oerings made to me, all the consecrated
things of the people of Israel; I have given them to you as a portion,
and to your sons as a perpetual due. This also is yours, the oering
of their gift, all the wave oerings of the people of Israel; I have
given them to you, and to your sons and daughters with you, as a
perpetual due; every one who is clean in your house may eat of it.
All the best of the oil, and all the best of the wine and of the grain,
the rst fruits of what they give to the LORD, I give to you.
5

Ecclesiastes includes eating, drinking, and taking pleasure in one's toil as the gift
of God,
6 and goes on to say, Every man also to whom God has given wealth and
possessions and power to enjoy them, and to accept his lot and nd enjoyment
in his toil  this is the gift of God. For he will not much remember the days of
his life because God keeps him occupied with joy in his heart.
7 Sirach makes a
comparaison between gift and word, arming that word is better than gift, but
that both are found in a gracious man, My son, do not mix reproach with your
good deeds, nor cause grief by your words when you present a gift. Does not
the dew assuage the scorching heat? So a word is better than a gift. Indeed,
does not a word surpass a good gift? Both are to be found in a gracious man.
A fool is ungracious and abusive, and the gift of a grudging man makes the

2 Wisdom 8:21.
3 Sirach 1:8.
4 Numbers 18:67.
5 Numbers 18:89,1112.
6 Eccl. 3:13.
7 Eccl. 5:1920.

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GIFT AND GIVING HOLY SPIRIT:

IN THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS GIFT OF GOD

eyes dim.
8 Finally, a passage that is somewhat mysterious from Sirach states,
The gift of the Lord endures for those who are godly, and what he approves
will have lasting success.
9  just what does he mean by the gift of the Lord?
The passage immediately preceding it says that all things, good and bad, life
and death, poverty and wealth, come from the Lord?
What can we say about the Old Testament's Theology of gift? Perhaps the
most important notions that surface are the value of the gifts that God gives,
and the fact that only God can give them. The Israelites could never boast
of their victories in battle, because victory comes from the Lord. Wisdom, the
highest insight a man can attain, can only come from God  and keen judgment,
already certain knowledge and fear of the Lord, is needed to recognize that fact.
This hints at what St. Thomas will develop when he reects on the essence of
gift. A gift is only truly a gift when it is totally possessed by the one giving it,
when it is truly theirs to give. And a gift is only truly a gift when it is freely
given, when it is given out of love. So there are two main points: rst, that
which God gives to Israel (ie, land, victory, dominium, power) fully belongs to
Him; second, that which God gives to Israel He gives out of love, a preferential
choice. Both of points are also made at a more personal level when it comes to
wisdom, knowledge, understanding, which is something we notice being given by
God to persons rather than to a people. Indeed, those who seek the Lord, who
prefer wisdom, are graced with a more personal understanding of His preferential
choice. God prefers a people so that the hearts of persons might seek Him.
Finally, as concerns the Old Testament, I cannot resist meditating upon the
words of Sirach as he compares gift and word. Both Gift and Word are personal
names in God, and I wonder if there is not something to be gleaned from the
comparison made.
10 Indeed
Does not the dew assuage the scorching heat?
the word of the Lord is compared to dew and rain, as in the words of Moses,
11
and the manna is itself like dew,
12 and the prophet Isaiah prophesied, I will
be as the dew to Israel; . . . 
13 It is the intention of the the one giving which
surpasses the gift itself - and the intention is not revealed in the gesture, but by
the words that precede, accompany, or follow.

The Gift of God


in the New Testament: The Spirit

What is prophesied by the prophet Ezekiel, And I will give them one heart,
and put a new spirit within them; I will take the stony heart out of their esh
and give them a heart of esh,
14 comes to pass in the New Covenant. And
in the Book of Acts it is clear that the Holy Spirit is the gift of God: And
Peter said to them, "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name

8 Sirach 18:1518.
9 Sirach 11:17.
10 Sir. 18:16.
11 May my teaching drop as the rain, my speech distil as the dew, as the gentle rain upon
the tender grass, and as the showers upon the herb. (Dt. 32:2).
12 In the evening quails came up and covered the camp; and in the morning dew lay round
about the camp. And when the dew had gone up, there was on the face of the wilderness a
ne, ake-like thing, ne as hoarfrost on the ground. (Ex. 16:13-14). When the dew fell
upon the camp in the night, the manna fell with it. (Num. 11:9).
13 Hosea 14:5.
14 Ezekiel 11:19.

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GIFT AND GIVING HOLY SPIRIT:

IN THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS GIFT OF GOD

of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the gift
of the Holy Spirit.
15 Then they laid their hands on them and they received
the Holy Spirit. Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the
laying on of the apostle's hands, he oered them money, saying, `Give me also
this power, that any one on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.'
But Peter said to him, `Your silver perish with you, because you thought you
could obtain the gift of God with money! '
16 And the believers from among
the circumcised who came with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Holy
Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles.
17 And I remembered the
word of the Lord, how he said, `John baptized with water, but you shall be
baptized with the Holy Spirit.' If then God gave the same gift to them as he
gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could
withstand God?
18 In the writings of Paul, the gift of God is grace, and the
spiritual gifts are enumerated in a certain multiplicity an have to do with the
manifestation of the Spirit. For Paul, the Spirit is seen more as the Giver than
as the Gift itself:

Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there
are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties
of working, but it is the same God who inspires them all in every
one. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common
good. To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom,
and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same
Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing
by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another
prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to
another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of
tongues. All these are inspired by one and the same Spirit, who
apportions to each one individually as he wills.
19

The Gospel writers also seem to emphasize more the Holy Spirit as the gift of
God.
20 All of the references I have mentioned so far, however, consider the
relationship between man and God. St. Thomas is looking at the Holy Spirit
within the Trinity itself. Calling the Holy Spirit Gift does not simply refer to
his being given to believers, because the Son is also given. Considering the Holy
Spirit as Gift also implies something divinely personal. Let us then meditate
with St. Thomas on the Holy Spirit as the Gift of God in the heart of the
Trinity.

15 Acts 2:38.
16 Acts 8:1720.
17 Acts 10:45.
18 Acts 11:1617.
19 1Corinthians 12:411.
20 Jesus answered her, `If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you,
Give me a drink, you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water. '
(Jn. 4:10).  `If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how
much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him! ' (Lk. 11:13).

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THE NAMES OF THE HOLY SPIRIT HOLY SPIRIT:

IN THE SUMMA THEOLOGICA OF ST. THOMAS GIFT OF GOD

The Names of the Holy Spirit

in The Summa Theologica of St. Thomas

Questions 37 and 38 of the First Part of the Summa deal with the proper names
of the Holy Spirit. Q. 37 deals with how the name Love applies to the Holy
Spirit, and Q. 38 deals with how the name Gift applies to the Holy Spirit. This
clearly shows an order between the names: the Holy Spirit is Love, and because
he is Love, He is Gift. The rst and second articles of Q. 37 look at whether
the Holy Spirit is called Love in a way which distinguishes Him from the other
persons of the Trinity, and whether that Love describes the bond between the
Father and the Son. The rst and second articles of Q. 38 take a closer look
at using the word gift as a proper name, and how that name applies to the
Holy Spirit. These two questions are situated towards the middle of the Treatise
on the Most Holy Trinity, which begins with the revealed processions in God,
continues with what we mean by divine person in general and then in particular,
and nishes with the missions of the divine persons. And the Treatise on the
Most Holy Trinity is directly preceded by the De Deo Uno, and followed by the
Treatise on Creation.
What is interesting about this order is the fact that the Trinity comes be-
tween God and Creation. According to the natural order, it is the One God that
we discover as our Creator. In the order of Theological Wisdom presented by
St. Thomas, the Trinity is directly involved in Creation  and this reveals the
fruitfulness of God. The why of Creation nds a deeper answer through the
Trinitarian action involved than simply bonum diusium sui. And in order
to highlight the dynamic and uniquely personal role of the divine persons, St.
Thomas looks at the names given to each. First he looks at the Father, the
Principle and Unbegotten, then he looks at the Son, the Word and the Image,
and nally he turns to look at the Holy Spirit: Love and Gift.

The Holy Spirit: Love

The rst question we could ask ourselves, is how does the Holy Spirit come to be
known as Love? The texts of the New Testament that make a direct correlation
between the Holy Spirit and the Love of God are scant if anything.
21 On the
other hand, references that pair the Spirit with the truth of God are much more
clear.
22 In Q. 27 of the Summa, St. Thomas tries to account for the processions

21 Here are the clearest references I could nd: The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and
the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. (2Corinthians 13:14)
 . . . for God did not give us a spirit of timidity but a spirit of power and love and self-control.
(2Timothy 1:7)  . . . and has made known to us your love in the Spirit. (Colossians 1:8)
 . . . But the fruit of the Spirit is love, . . . (Galatians 5:22) So if there is any encouragement
in Christ, any incentive of love, any participation in the Spirit, any aection and sympathy,
complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of
one mind. (Philippians 2:12) I appeal to you, brethren, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by
the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in your prayers to God on my behalf, . . . 
(Romans 15:30)
22 And the Spirit is the witness, because the Spirit is the truth. (1John 5:7)  . . . even the
Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him; you
know him, for he dwells with you, and will be in you. (John 14:17) But when the Counselor
comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from
the Father, he will bear witness to me; . . .  (John 15:26) When the Spirit of truth comes, he
will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he

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THE NAMES OF THE HOLY SPIRIT HOLY SPIRIT:

IN THE SUMMA THEOLOGICA OF ST. THOMAS GIFT OF GOD

in God. Since both processions have been revealed, all that's left is to try to
understand the nature of these processions. The procession of the Word (Logos)
is clearly an intellectual kind
23 of procession: the interior word is the fruit of
the activity of the intellect. This is just a similitude of course, but it seems
tting, since God is Spirit, to look at the other procession as having to do with
the will and therefore with love. This other kind of procession, being one of
love, is not one of generation, but rather a kind of impulse or movement.
24
The Son is Begotten of the Father, the true image of the Father, but the Holy
Spirit proceedes from both of them
25  the Holy Spirit is their mutual impulse
towards one another.
26
So if it is clear that the Holy Spirit is one of three in God, the name of
this person who proceedes from the other two ought to reect something about
what is common between them. St. Thomas illustrates the ttingness of the
name of the Holy Spirit clearly and simply in Q. 36 a. 1 by citing St. Augustine
and using the etymology of the words holy and spirit.
27 The Father and the
Son are both holy, and both spirit. Spirit, as we indicated in the previous
paragraph, implies a kind of vital impulse or movement and originally included
the notion of wind, air, or breath. Holy, means being ordered to God. The
Holy Spirit, as His name suggests, is the vital movement or impulse towards
God in God of God, and is Himself God. Sometimes the Latin could help us
better appreciate the thought of St. Thomas, and this is perhaps one of the key
moments. St. Thomas uses the verb, spiration to talk about the impulse or
movement proper to the Holy Spirit, and that allows him to make some very
precise and enlightening statements about the Trinity.
28 The spiration of the
Holy Spirit is the name St. Thomas uses for the procession revealed in the New
Testament, so where do we get the name of Love for the Holy Spirit?

hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. (John 16:13)
23 See the Prologue of St. John. (Jn. 1)
24 Thus the procession of the intellect is by way of similitude, and is called generation,
because every generator begets its own like; whereas the procession of the will is not by way
of similitude, but rather by way of impulse and movement towards an object. (Summa
Theologica I Qu.27 a.4)
25 The Holy Ghost proceeds from the Father (Jn 15,26); and He is distinct from the Son,
according to the words, "I will ask My Father, and He will give you another Paraclete" (Jn
14,16). Therefore in God another procession exists besides the procession of the Word.
(Summa Theologica I Qu.27 a.3)
26 So what proceeds in God by way of love, does not proceed as begotten, or as son,
but proceeds rather as spirit; which name expresses a certain vital movement and impulse,
accordingly as anyone is described as moved or impelled by love to perform an action. (ibid.)
27 The appropriateness of this name may be shown in two ways. Firstly, from the fact that
the person who is called `Holy Ghost' has something in common with the other Persons. For,
as Augustine says (De Trin. xv, 17; v, 11), `Because the Holy Ghost is common to both, He
Himself is called that properly which both are called in common. For the Father also is a
spirit, and the Son is a spirit; and the Father is holy, and the Son is holy.' Secondly, from
the proper signication of the name. For the name spirit in things corporeal seems to signify
impulse and motion; for we call the breath and the wind by the term spirit. Now it is a
property of love to move and impel the will of the lover towards the object loved. Further,
holiness is attributed to whatever is ordered to God. Therefore because the divine person
proceeds by way of the love whereby God is loved, that person is most properly named `The
Holy Ghost. ' (Summa Theologica I Qu.36 a.1)
28 For example: Filius autem est verbum, non qualecumque, sed spirans amorem, . . . 
(Prima Pars Qu.43 a.5)

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THE NAMES OF THE HOLY SPIRIT HOLY SPIRIT:

IN THE SUMMA THEOLOGICA OF ST. THOMAS GIFT OF GOD

What is in a Name?

Before we delve more into the names of the Holy Spirit, let us take a moment
to understand what is in a name. St. Thomas gives a pretty clear indication of
what a name is, in Q. 5 a. 2 when looking at the goodness of God and what,
between goodness and being, is rst grasped by the intellect. He says that the
ratio or intelligibility that is meant by the name is that which the intellect rst
grasps of the reality and intends by vocalization.
29 Later, in the reply to the
rst objection, St. Thomas cites Dionysius' work on the Divine Names, where
it is said that creatures name God as the cause of certain eects. In Question
13 a. 1, St. Thomas goes on to explain that the spoken word is a sign of
the interior word, the one conceived in our intellect, and the word conceived in
our intellect bears a likeness to the reality itself.
30 This thought is borrowed
from the philosophy of Aristotle, and his work, On Interpretation. St. Thomas
concludes that we can give a name to anything to the extent that we understand
it. Given what we are able to understand of God, and what we are given to
understand by Revelation, we are able to name even the Persons of the Trinity.
While the names of God which refer to the divine essence (De Deo Uno) are
true to the extent that they are puried of the notional limitations imposed by
our human experience (or more precisely, lack thereof ), the names which refer
to the persons of the Trinity are true to the extent that they relate to the divine
processions. The processions are the very life of God, the inner life of the Trinity,
and so they are beyond anything we know by experience or are able to imagine.
A life of faith and contemplation ought to shed light and understanding upon
the mystery of the Trinity, but we are no longer in the realm of analogy: there
is rather a certain similitude at the level of spiritual operations.
Notice, for example, we do not name the Holy Spirit the Will of God, just as
we do not name the Word of God the Intellect of God. Each divine person has
the same intellect and will, there is only one divine nature. However, the life of
each person  who they are  resides more in the operation or exercise than in
the faculty itself. The second person of the Trinity is thus the fruit of the divine
intellect, the light born of light. And the Holy Spirit is the act of the divine
will, the vital movement or impulse towards God
31  a movement we call by
similitude: Love. The Holy Spirit proceedes not only from the Father, as source
of this act, but from the Word who is also source  love always proceeds from
a word, love always proceeds from something that is grasped by the intellect.
32
And to be even more precise, the Word Himself is born in the love He has for
the Father: The Father spirates the Holy Spirit through the Son.
33
But isn't God Love? In other words, isn't God Himself Love?
34 If we already

29 Ratio enim signicata per nomen, est id quod concipit intellectus de re, et signicat
illud per vocem, illud ergo est prius secundum rationem, quod prius cadit in conceptione
intellectus. (Prima Pars Qu.5 a.2)
30  . . . words are signs of ideas, and ideas the similitude of things, (Summa Theologica I
Qu.13 a.1)
31 the will is made actual, not by any similitude of the object willed within it, but by its
having a certain inclination to the thing willed. (Summa Theologica I Qu.27 a.4)
32 Now love must proceed from a word. For we do not love anything unless we apprehend
it by a mental conception. Hence also in this way it is manifest that the Holy Ghost proceeds
from the Son. (Summa Theologica I Qu.36 a.2)
33  . . . pater per lium spirat spiritum sanctum; . . .  (Prima Pars Qu.36 a.3)
34 God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. (1John
4:16)

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THE NAMES OF THE HOLY SPIRIT HOLY SPIRIT:

IN THE SUMMA THEOLOGICA OF ST. THOMAS GIFT OF GOD

call God love, do we mean anything dierent when talking about the Holy Spirit?
Is the name Love somehow more tting for the Holy Spirit than for the other
persons of the Trinity? According to our experience, love does not describe
a subsistent reality, love is not a substance, love is an act. According to the
35 And what that means
teaching of the Church, the Holy Spirit Himself is Love.
is that the Holy Spirit's proper name as person is Love.
36 So how can we call
the Holy Spirit Love, when all the persons are love. To answer this question,
St. Thomas sends us back to Q. 27 and the theology of processions. When we
use the word love as a personal name in God, we use it in a similar way to
word. In other words, just as the Word of God is the image of God  the fruit
of God's contemplation begotten by the Father  the Holy Spirit is love: the
secret, or aective knowledge shared between the Father and the Son by and in
which they love one another. Using the word love in this sense is dierent from
the habitual manner  St. Thomas attributed this to the poverty of conventual
language when it comes to speaking of interior fruit of love.
37 When we love
someone, we develop an aective knowledge of the person, which allows us to
commune with them, to connect with them. Whenever we experience a breech
of trust, death, or other dramatic severance within a relationship with someone
we love, we experience pain or hurt, which does not happen with people we have
not or do not love. Though this experience is negative, it shows us that there
is something like the presence of the person we love which allows us to conform
our act of love to who they are: when the reality changes too drastically in its
capacity to attract, our heart no longer knows how to love. God's love for God
has a similar fruit  it is that by and in which God loves Himself, that by and
in which the Father and the Son love one another.
38 And this is what is to be
understood by the name of Love given to the Holy Spirit.

Gift as the Name of a Divine Person

Following the question on Love as the personal name of the Holy Spirit, St.
Thomas opens the question on Gift as a personal name. The rst article deals
with something that seems more like a technicality, but it is indeed necessary
for a proper theological understanding of Gift as the personal name of the Holy
Spirit. The problem has to do with the distinction between person and nature
in God, and the meaning of the word gift as applied to the two. God never
gives anything less than the best, He never gives any less than all of Himself.
The gift of self in God is total. So total, in fact, that the entire divine essence is
given. So the question arises, how can gift be the name of only one person in
the Trinity when it is the full divine essence that is given? And what is being

35 Gregory says (Hom. xxx, in Pentecost.): `The Holy Ghost Himself is Love. ' (Summa
Theologica I Qu.37 a.1)
36 The name Love in God can be taken essentially and personally. If taken personally it
is the proper name of the Holy Ghost; as Word is the proper name of the Son. (Summa
Theologica I Qu.37 a.1)
37 And therefore, on account of the poverty of our vocabulary, we express these relations
by the words `love' and `dilection': just as if we were to call the Word `intelligence conceived,'
or `wisdom begotten. ' (Summa Theologica I Qu.37 a.1)
38  . . . on the part of the will, with the exception of the words `dilection' and `love,' which
express the relation of the lover to the object loved, there are no other terms in use, which
express the relation of the impression or aection of the object loved, produced in the lover by
fact that he lovesto the principle of that impression, or `vice versa. ' (Summa Theologica I
Qu.37 a.1)

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THE NAMES OF THE HOLY SPIRIT HOLY SPIRIT:

IN THE SUMMA THEOLOGICA OF ST. THOMAS GIFT OF GOD

given exactly if each of the divine persons already has the fullness of the divine
nature? Furthermore, it seems like the Holy Spirit is Gift for creatures, and
that since giving a gift implies something temporal, i.e. there is a before the
gift and an after the gift with a change between the two states, this name could
only relate to God essentially and with respect to creation.
St. Thomas bases his reply to the objections on Tradition and the writings of
St. Augustine. Augustine says
39 : `As the body of esh is nothing but esh; so
the gift of the Holy Ghost is nothing but the Holy Ghost.' But the Holy Ghost
is a personal name; so also therefore is `Gift. '
40 He also uses the philosophy
of Aristotle and the few comments he made about what a gift is in a fairly
unrelated passage from Topics. So, in order to understand whether the word
gift can be used as a personal name in God, we have to clarify what we mean
by the word gift. A gift is, quite simply, something that can be given.41 And
when that something is given, it implies that the thing actually belonged to the
giver (it was actually his to give), and that it is given to become the possession
of the one to whom it is given. As an aside, that is why receiving something that
was stolen as a gift is not a true gift. Sometimes you might also have friends who
say, I got something for us, which could actually mean  I got something
for me, but to make myself feel less greedy about it, I'll let you use it too.
That isn't really a gift either, because it is not given with the intention of truly
belonging to the other person. Another interesting literary allegory for what a
gift is comes from The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R Tolken. The ring which rules
all other rings gives power to the one who wears it  invisibility, along with a
major ego boost and some strange form of immortality. But the ring has only
one real master. The ring is won in battle, lost, then found, stolen, then given
as a gift. . . supercially at least, because what we really see in the story is that
the ring has practically a will of its own, and tends to possess rather than to
be possessed by its carrier. All this to say that a true gift is truly one's to
give, truly given, and completely received and possessed by the one it is given
to. Saint Thomas says,  . . . a divine person is said to belong to another, either
by origin, as the Son belongs to the Father; or as possessed by another.
42 He
then goes on to explain that we understand a possession to be that which we
can freely use or enjoy, and that only rational creatures could possibly possess
God in this way. To possess and enjoy the personal life of the Trinity thusly is
impossible by any human eort, so it must be given to us from above, as from
another source. The divine life is shared by the persons of the Trinity, therefore
it can only be given by the persons of the Trinity  and because we are given
to participate in this life we know that a divine person can be given  can be
a gift.
43

39 De Trin. xv, 19
40 Summa Theologica I Qu.38 a.1
41 The word `gift' imports an aptitude for being given. (Summa Theologica I Qu.38 a.1)
42 Summa Theologica I Qu.38 a.1.
43  . . . the rational creature alone can possess the divine person. Nevertheless in order that
it may possess Him in this manner, its own power avails nothing: hence this must be given
it from above; for that is said to be given to us which we have from another source. Thus a
divine person can `be given,' and can be a `gift. ' (Summa Theologica I Qu.38 a.1)

10
THE NAMES OF THE HOLY SPIRIT HOLY SPIRIT:

IN THE SUMMA THEOLOGICA OF ST. THOMAS GIFT OF GOD

Holy Spirit: Gift

Even though it may be clear from the rst article of Question 38, that Gift
can be used as a personal name in God, it is still not obvious that the name
is specic to the Holy Spirit. The Son is also given.
44 The Tradition of the
church, following Saint Augustine arms however, As `to be born' is, for the
Son, to be from the Father, so, for the Holy Ghost, `to be the Gift of God' is
to proceed from Father and Son.
45 In order to explain why this is so, Saint
Thomas looks at What Aristotle says in the Topics about presents within the
genera of grants. Presents specify the grant, because a grant is the generic
act of giving something to someone while a present is a grant that need not
be returned.
46 The only cause of giving a gift freely with no expectations of
a return is love. A gift is, in this sense, a sign that what we give rst is our
love, or ourselves. And St. Thomas concludes that love is the principle gift,
through which all other gifts are given.
47 So since the Holy Spirit proceedes as
love (Question 27) he proceeds as the principle and rst gift.

44 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government will be upon his
shoulder, and his name will be called `Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father,
Prince of Peace. ' (Isaiah 9:6) For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that
whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)
45 De Trin. iv, 20.
46 For a present is of something or to some one, and also a `grant' is of something and to
some one: and `grant' is the genus of `present', for a `present' is a `grant that need not be
returned. ' (Topics - Book 4 Part 4)
47 Unde manifestum est quod amor habet rationem primi doni, per quod omnia dona gra-
tuita donantur. (Prima Pars Qu.38 a.2)

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