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by Michael T. Meaney Ph. D. (Author)
In his justly famous commentary on the Summa Theologiae of St. Thomas, Cardinal Cajetan points out that human beings tend toward the good in three different ways. The first way is that of natural reason, prudence and the acquired virtues. The second way is one in which the human mind and will are illuminated and strengthened by the light of grace, faith and the infused virtues, but are still limited by their own human mode, perspective, zeal, energy and capacity. The third way is one in which human persons are inspired and moved by the Holy Spirit and his gifts so that their way of acting and being acted upon, their perspective and zeal, energy and capacity are raised beyond the limited and imperfect human level to a divine plane. The gifts of the Holy Spirit are divine ways of transcending our humanly inevitable imperfections and difficulties in living a good or virtuous life. Since such obstacles are much more prominent in childhood, adolescence and old age than in maturity, their divine remedies are given (or at least made available) to us above all in these periods of greatest need. By doing everything on our part to welcome these gifts, we can confidently expect the Holy Spirit to overcome the humanly insoluble problems of childhood, adolescence and old age through his gift to us of an otherwise unattainable level of spiritual life.
