He does not speak of
a temple of the Father, or a temple of the Son, as he does of a
temple of the Holy Spirit, writing thus in his first epistle to the
Corinthians: "But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit."
(I Cor. vi, 17). And again: "What? know ye not that your body is
the temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you, which ye have of
God, and ye are not your own?" (ib. 19).
Who is there who does not know that the sacraments of God's
blessings pertaining to the Church are particularly ascribed to the
operation of divine grace, by which is meant the Holy Spirit?
Forsooth we are born again of water and of the Holy Spirit in
baptism, and thus from the very beginning is the body made, as it
were, a special temple of God. In the successive sacraments,
moreover, the seven-fold grace of the Spirit is added, whereby
this same temple of God is made beautiful and is consecrated. What
wonder is it, then, if to that Person to Whom the apostle assigned
a spiritual temple we should dedicate a material one? Or to what
Person can a church be more rightly said to belong than to Him to
Whom all the blessings which the church administers are
particularly ascribed? It was not, however, with the thought of
dedicating my oratory to one Person that I first called it the
Paraclete, but for the reason I have already told, that in this
spot I found consolation.
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