The Holy Ghost and the Christian Family

by Father Meschler, S.J., 1903

We must now study some aspects of Christian life to see how the Holy Ghost penetrates and sanctifies every state of it.

First, we must consider the Christian family and see how:

(1) in its nature; (2) in its constituent elements; and (3) in its duties, it is entirely the work of the Holy Ghost.

What is the Family and What is Its Nature?

It is a society, that is to say, it is a union of individuals for one common end. Man does not live as an isolated entity; he is essentially social. He owes his existence, as well as his education, to society; and all throughout his course he lives and works in the society of his fellows. All around him, in narrower or wider circles, he finds societies from the influence of which he cannot escape. The first of these societies is the family.

Another name for the family is domestic society, and it consists in an association of individuals whose end is to further not only their own welfare but also the increase of the human species; so that not only does it improve and maintain existence but gives it.

Its principal and legitimate form is matrimony, the contract of which has always been regarded as a religious act, and is now a sacrament by which man and wife, being indissolubly bound together, are the principle and condition of the propagation of the human species. The children and servants of the family expand this conjugal union into a domestic union, wherein the various members, being subordinate to one another under one common head, strive for one end.

The Author of this society is God. It was, as we saw farther back, founded by Him in paradise between Adam and Eve, and their union was the beginning of the whole human race and of every kind of natural society.

Such is the nature of the family. The Holy Ghost takes an important part in it. As we have already seen, society is His work, because society is a superior and more perfect condition of existence, and because it cannot subsist at all without reciprocal love. It is said, and rightly, that the Holy Ghost is the Principle of all love and perfection among creatures because He is love and perfection in the interior life of the Godhead.

If He is this towards all creatures, He must be still more so as regards the family, because its end is higher and more divine, for not only does it ennoble and perfect the existence of men, but it is the principle of existence itself.

We have already considered the great part taken by the Holy Ghost in the creation of man; but His relation to the family is perfected by the sacramental nature of Christian matrimony. As St. Paul says: “This (marriage) is a great sacrament, but I speak in Christ and in the Church.” As Christ and the Church cannot be conceived without the living indwelling of the Holy Ghost, so neither can the Christian family and marriage — as a figure of Christ and the Church — exist without this union with the Holy Ghost by the sacrament.

If the sacrament is the necessary and essential foundation of the Christian family, then is the Holy Ghost Himself its Founder. All the sacraments are instruments of the grace and love of the Holy Ghost, and of a living union with Him; and where they are there is the Holy Ghost. Domestic society is, therefore, founded on the Holy Ghost and rests on Him so long as it remains Christian.

What are the constituent elements of the family, and who are its chief representatives?

The father, mother, children; and all these have an especial relation to the Holy Ghost. The father is the founder and head of the family. He it is who has the right to govern and conduct it; He has a twofold power to perpetuate it: first, in temporal matters by his testament, whereby he secures his material possessions for the future use of his family, and secondly, in spiritual matters by his benediction which assures to it the assistance of God.

What a great, what a priestly being is the father of a family! However, in all his dignities he acts only as the representative of the Holy Ghost, from whom proceeds the priestly authority to command and to bless.

Often, when a father’s hand has been raised to bless, and his dying benediction has been given, his words have been the expression of great mysteries and prophecies destined by the Holy Ghost to renew the world. To recognize the truth of this we have merely to recall the blessings of Isaac and of Jacob. What the priest is to the Church that is the father to his family, namely, the visible representative of the Holy Ghost.

Then there is the woman — the wife and mother — so noble in her origin from the side of man, so noble in her vocation as his companion and helpmate in the foundation and government of the family, so honorable and touching in her mission of love, self-sacrifice, solicitude, and suffering. What a beautiful image is she of the Holy Ghost, an image which finds its perfect realization both in the Church and in the sorrowful Mother standing at the foot of the Cross.

Then there is the child born of her, with its glorious future before it, with its capabilities and position in the family, which it completes, stamps with its mark, and fills with joy and delight. It is a beautiful and lovable revelation of the life of the Holy Ghost in the bosom of the Godhead.

The Duties of the Family

The duties of the family are reciprocal help and reciprocal services which enable all to attain together the end of this earthly life. This end consists, primarily, in a fitting measure of temporal prosperity, and, further, the service of God and the attainment of salvation. Such is the duty of the family, and for this, it must be united so that its members may strive to obtain by union what would be impossible to the individual.

Each member is bound to offer what help he can to the others and supply to them what they have not got. The father and mother should, therefore, support and stand by each other and utilize his or her faculties to make the other happy in time and eternity.

The first thing that has to be considered is the temporal and material condition of the family as the basis of its existence. This duty is fulfilled by prudent care of possessions and by work in a reasonable measure. Then follows the care of the spiritual possessions of the family: unity, love, sociability, kindness, and a general exercise of solid piety, for without these the family cannot attain its end. Even from a natural point of view, domestic life without these spiritual possessions would be a state of torment and misery.

The most important duty in the family is the education of the children; for the meaning of education is the forming of man and the development of his capabilities for his immediate end, his life on earth, and his remote end, eternal life. In a word, to educate a man means to make him ready for the end for which he was placed on earth.

The right to educate belongs exclusively to parents. Only they and the Church have the right to educate, and they alone can do it, because they alone possess the necessary means, namely, authority and the love which is indispensable for the forming of a child; for he, being free and master of his own powers, is, at the same time, corrupted by original sin and requires to be guided by efficient authority and to be treated with the greatest consideration, affection and patience.

Only the heart of a father or mother is equal to this. God, the Father of the child, shares with them both His divine authority as Creator and His divine compassion. He who educates a child accomplishes a truly divine work and deserves the thanks of his country, of the Church, nay more, of God Himself.

This will be sufficient to show us how indispensable the help of the Holy Ghost is to the family for the attainment of its end. This applies even to the management of his temporal affairs, for, as we have already seen, prudence, counsel and capacity for business come from the Holy Ghost. To comprehend this we have but to remember the story of Joseph in Egypt who, as Scripture tells us, was full of the Spirit of God, and was a prosperous man in all things.

As Concerns the Virtues

It is evident that they are the fruit of the spiritual life, which is essentially the school of the Holy Ghost. For this purpose did He raise matrimony into a sacrament that it might be a means of special grace and strength for the fulfillment of the duties of family life. The blessings of the sacrament extend through all the circumstances and occurrences of family life, and shed graces upon them which smooth the way before them and direct them towards their final end.

Who can fail to see that education is a function peculiar to the Holy Ghost? He guides and governs the Church, which was instituted for the education of all mankind. He has created man with the most splendid faculties, which He is forever developing and perfecting.

This applies more especially to the supernatural life. His grace effects everything in us; and without His interior voice and inspirations, nothing that parents or teachers can do for a child will be of any avail.

By faith He infuses supernatural principles, by the help of His grace He tames passions, uproots evil habits and implants virtues. Above all He infuses love into the hearts of parents and teachers, which gives them patience with the child; and, on the other hand, He infuses into the heart of the child a spirit of dependence on his parents, and docility and humility towards them.

Without the Holy Ghost no spiritual education would be possible. As years pass and a man’s faculties are formed, it is the Holy Ghost who assigns to him his vocation and the field in which he is to work for human society.

Thus we see how the Holy Ghost pervades domestic life. He is there by rightful possession, and reveals His activity in the most efficacious manner, because of the supreme importance of the family for society, for State and for Church, and even for heaven. To it the State owes its heroes, and to it the Church and heaven owe their saints.

If Jacob’s ladder was a figure of struggling and glorified humanity sanctified by the Church, the family may well be called the stone on which it rested. This stone is anointed with the blessings of the promise; and on the top of the ladder is the throne of God Himself.

The Holy Ghost is the Founder, Leader and Perfecter of the Christian family. His eye rests with complacency on this beautiful creation, from each member of which there shines a ray of His own beauty. The Holy Ghost loves the family. It is a touching revelation of His divine nature, and whoever attacks it is an enemy of the Holy Ghost.

It is, therefore, most fitting that the Holy Ghost should be known, loved and honored in the family as its Head and Soul. There is no member of the family, whether father, mother, child or servant, who has not some special reason for confidence in Him.

Those especially to whom is entrusted the divine work of education are given a sacred opportunity of honoring the Holy Ghost. No one can fulfil this office worthily unless he be illuminated by Him and respond to His inspirations. Therefore, parents and teachers should have a special devotion to Him, and should not let a day pass without commending their charges to Him.

Happy the family whom the Holy Ghost governs! How happy and peaceful is its life. We can see this illustrated in the Holy Family of Nazareth and also in the family of the Church. A truly Christian family is an image of that most sublime type of all societies, the Blessed Trinity.

How different would it be with some families were its members to practice devotion to the Holy Ghost instead of subjecting themselves to other spirits — the spirit of the world, the spirit of self-love, and, above all, the spirit of Satan, who is ever seeking to drive the Spirit of God from His home, to the great injury of that domestic society founded by God, and of all human society.

Do not be deceived by beautiful sentiments and by appearances. You will never see any one become a saint who does not pray. -St. Peter Julian Eymard

Beautiful Blessed Mother Wire Wrapped Rosaries! Lovely, Durable. ~ Available here.

April Flash Sale!

Books for the Soul ~ Available here.

For the month of April, TAN BOOKS is offering a sale on some of their most popular TAN titles! At $5, $10, and $20, you can find books on prayer, the saints, Church teaching, the Mass, deluxe books, and more!  Included in this sale are some of your favorite TAN Books. Get Saint Louis de Montfort’s, Total Consecration to Jesus Through Mary  for just $10! For only $5, you can purchase faith-filled children’s books like Oremus. Share the sale with your friends and family by forwarding this email and spreading the word! Supplies will go quickly–check out these books for the soul today! 

This post contains affiliate links. Thank you for your support.