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Catholic Carnival 155 is up and running!
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Baptism by the Holy Spirit is the experiential way to know God. Have I really experienced God?
A commentary by:
Saint Nicholas Cabasilas (c.1320-1363), Greek lay theologian
Life in Christ, II, 75f. (cf. SC 355, p.203)
“The Bridegroom is with them”
We have two ways of knowing an object: the knowledge we can get through hearsay but also that which we can acquire for ourselves. By the first means, we do not make contact with the object itself but grasp it through words, as in an image…; having direct experience of an object, on the other hand, means encountering it at first hand. In this second sort of knowledge, the form of the object seizes the soul and awakens its desire...
This is how the New Covenant differs from the Old: formerly it was a word that taught men; today it is Christ in person who, in an inexpressible way, prepares and forms men’s souls. If the teaching of the Law had been sufficient to lead man to his destination, such extraordinary acts as that of a God become man, who was crucified and died, would not have been necessary. The same thing is true of the apostles, our forefathers in the faith. They had listened to the Saviour’s teaching, the words from his mouth; they had seen his miracles and all that he bore for mankind’s sake; they had seen him die, rise again and return to heaven. They knew all about these things and yet they manifested nothing new or generous or truly spiritual until they had been baptised by the Holy Spirit… Only then was a true desire for Christ kindled within them and, through them, in others.
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This is how the New Covenant differs from the Old: formerly it was a word that taught men; today it is Christ in person who, in an inexpressible way, prepares and forms men’s souls. If the teaching of the Law had been sufficient to lead man to his destination, such extraordinary acts as that of a God become man, who was crucified and died, would not have been necessary. The same thing is true of the apostles, our forefathers in the faith. They had listened to the Saviour’s teaching, the words from his mouth; they had seen his miracles and all that he bore for mankind’s sake; they had seen him die, rise again and return to heaven. They knew all about these things and yet they manifested nothing new or generous or truly spiritual until they had been baptised by the Holy Spirit… Only then was a true desire for Christ kindled within them and, through them, in others.
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