The Holy Spirit by Luis M. Martínez

(Providence: Cluny, 1957/2025), 296

True devotion to the Holy Spirit is not something distinct from the Christian life; it is the Christian life thoroughly understood, seriously practiced, and deeply enjoyed. (40)

In his book on the Jubilee year, Dr. Bergsma speaks of the Holy Spirit as the "agent of the Jubilee" and encourages drawing closer to the Holy Spirit during the jubilee year.¹ At the tail end of the jubilee year, then, I was grateful to be sent Luis M. Martínez's book on the Holy Spirit re-published by Cluny.

It has taken a couple of months to work through the first part of the book on devotion to the Holy Spirit—it is a book to be read slowly and prayerfully, and revisited over time. Martinez's writing is so rich and stirring, and it is fortunate that each chapter is short to allow for one to take small bites. The remaining parts on the gifts and fruits of the Spirit as well as the Beatitudes will make for fruitful lenten reading.

Martinez situates his discussion of the Holy Spirit within a Christian piety that encourages devotion to the two artisans of Christ, the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary.

The Holy Spirit is the Artist who unites in a kiss of love the Father and the transformed soul. (36)

The Holy Spirit is the most sweet Guest of the soul, and our devotion to Him is a matter of welcoming this guest with docility. The Holy Spirit is also the true Director of the soul, and His purpose is to form Jesus in our souls and lead us to the bosom of the heavenly Father. The Holy Spirit helps us to do the Father's will, and to lovingly offer our lives in sacrifice as we join them to Christ's sacrifice on Calvary.

One theme that really resonates with me is the idea that the Holy Spirit is the key to being joyful. Martinez explains: "It is in our power to enjoy that happiness which we carry within our souls whenever we wish to, for what is ours is ours to dispose of...Heaven itself is a natural consequence of this love...But the root of both joys, that of heaven and that of earth, is the same. It is the Gift of love" (20-21). We can choose the mutual possession the Holy Spirit offers in our souls, and thereby to enter into the joy and love of God.

The book itself is beautiful, especially the dust jacket and art inside the covers. It has great paper, but I do wish it had a sewn binding. Separately, I have recently enjoyed reading some other beautiful Cluny books to my children. We started with Ten Saints and the Black Fox of Lorne, and they especially love the beautiful artwork.

Notes

Contents

Part One: True Devotion to the Holy Spirit
Part Two: The Gifts
Part Three: The Fruits
Part Four: The Beatitudes

Part One: True Devotion to the Holy Spirit

Chapter 1: Introduction

Summary: Christian piety should encourage devotion to the two artisans of Christ, the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary.

Chapter 2: The Soul's Delightful Guest

Summary: The Holy Spirit is the most sweet Guest of the soul.

The Holy Spirit is the Artist of Souls. Sanctity is the supreme art (sanctification and possession are the same act). The ideal is Jesus.(7)
The Holy Spirit is the delightful Guest of souls, dulcis Hospes animae (8)
The Scriptures attribute, in a special manner, this indwelling of the Holy Spirit (8, cf. 1 Cor-03, Rom-08, Rom-05, Rom-08, Jn-14-17)
God is in our souls in a most particular manner because He loves us...Loving us and giving us the Holy Spirit is the same thing. (9)
The Holy Spirit leads us to the Word, and through the Word we go to the Father. (11)

Chapter 3: The Supreme Director

Summary: The Holy Spirit is the personal and true Director of the soul.

The Holy Spirit lives in the center of the soul as the Director of the supernatural life. (12)
The Holy Spirit is our Director by means of his gifts, pour out into:
- the intelligence: wisdom, understanding, counsel, and knowledge
- the will: piety
- the sensible appetites: fortitude and fear of God
Sanctity is impossible with the direction of the Holy Spirit. (13)
The perfection of the soul is measured by its docility to the movement of the Spirit, by the promptitude and fidelity with which its strings produce the divine notes of the song of love. A would is perfectly holy when the Spirit of love has taken full possession of it. (15)
The inspirations of the Holy Spirit are the vital, perfect impulse of the spiritual life. (15)
The Holy Spirit brings to our souls the fruitfulness of the Father and binds us lovingly to the Son. (16)

Chapter 4: The Gift of God

Summary: The Holy Spirit is the first Gift of God.

Love must possess, as well as be possessed. (17)
It is characteristic of love to give gifts, but the first gift, the gift par excellence, is love itself. The Holy Spirit is the Love of God; therefore He is the Gift of God. (17)
We possess the Father and the Son because we possess the Holy Spirit, who is the first Gift of God. (19)
The Holy Spirit is ours. We can enjoy Him and use His effects. It is in our power to use Him; we can enjoy Him when we wish. Each one of these truths deserves to be extensively and lovingly meditated upon. (20)
It is in our power to enjoy that happiness which we carry within our souls whenever we wish to, for what is ours is ours to dispose of...Heaven itself is a natural consequence of this love...But the root of both joys, that of heaven and that of earth, is the same. It is the Gift of love. (20-21)
- → The Holy Spirit is the key to being joyful!
To enjoy God is to know HIm and to love Him. To enjoy the Holy Spirit is to love; to enjoy the Word is to know. (21)
The spiritual life is the mutual possession of God and the soul, because it is essentially their mutual love. When the Holy Spirit possess a soul completely, and the soul attains the full possession of the Gift of God, this is union, perfection, sanctity. (22)

Chapter 5: The Divine Cycle

Summary: The Holy Spirit is the source of all other gifts and the first link in the royal chain that terminates in perfection.

The cycle of love is completed in the Father, for all things find their full perfection when they return to their origin. (24)
Only the voice of Jesus can intone perfect praise, so it is necessary for the voices of souls to be united to the voice of Jesus that they may ascend to the Father. (25)
The divine cycle is this: nobody can go to the Father except through Jesus; nobody can go to Jesus except through the Holy Spirit. (28)

Chapter 6: The Motion of the holy Spirit Through the Gifts

Summary: The sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit is to form Jesus in souls, thus producing in them the ideal of the Father.

Both the Master and the disciple have their own instruments of work. For the disciple, they are the virtues; for the Master, the seven gifts. (32)
The Holy Spirit is the Artist who unites in a kiss of love the Father and the transformed soul. (36)

Chapter 7: The Soul's Response

Summary: The action of the Holy Spirit requires the cooperation of the soul, which is the basis of devotion to him.

His ideal is to produce Jesus in us, and through Jesus and with Jesus, to take us o the bosom of the Trinity and glorify the Father with the supreme glorification of Jesus. (38)
Devotion to the Holy Spirit is a loving and constant cooperation with His divine influence, His sanctifying work. To be devoted to the Holy Spirit is to open our soul for Him to dwell there, dilate our heart that He may anoint it with His divine charity, deliver our whole being up to Him that He may possess it with His gifts, give Him our life that He may transform it into a divine one, put into His hands the shapeless block of our imperfection that He may mold it to the divine image of Jesus. (38)
We were consecrated temples of the Holy Spirit on the day of our baptism...Every Christian is a temple of the Holy Spirit; every Christian is consecrated to Him; and nothing else may be done in that temple in which God dwells except that which will give glory to Him. (40)
True devotion to the Holy Spirit is not something distinct from the Christian life; it is the Christian life thoroughly understood, seriously practiced, and deeply enjoyed. To be a devotee of the Holy Spirit is to comprehend the august dignity of the Christian, his holy mission, and his arduous duties that are sweetened by love. It is to establish oneself in truth, to be faithful to the sacred promises of baptism, to be what one ought to be, and then to strive for that perfection to which every Christian should aspire. (40)
Our consecration to the Holy Spirit must be total. (41)

Chapter 8: Detachment and Loving Attention

Summary: All earthly affections must be rooted out so that we can offer solitude of heart to the Holy Spirit.

Our duty toward a guest is to remain with him while he is in our house...Our duty is to live with the Holy Spirit, to live always in His presence. (42)
Happy the soul that is emptied of all affection for created things, and that lets itself be invaded by the divine obsession of love. (44)

Chapter 9: The Exercise of the Theological Virtues: Faith

Summary: Faith reveals the Holy Spirit to us.

When God wishes to fill a heart with His greatness, all that is created must go out of it. This emptiness is demanded by the Holy Spirit, who aspires to fullness of possession." (45)
The essence of the intimacy of the soul with God is in the exercise of the theological virtues and especially in the exercise of charity...The foundation of prayer, the root of recollection, the essence of the interior life, is the exercise of the theological virtues. (46)
For communicating with the Beloved in solitude, the theological virtues are necessary. The eyes of faith contemplate Him among the shadows; the arms of hope reach Him beyond time in the triumph of eternity; the heart of charity loves Him with a created love made to the image and likeness of live uncreated. (47)
Our devotion to the Holy Spirit must be founded on faith. (48)

Chapter 10: The Exercise of the Theological Virtues: Hope

Summary: Hope puts us in touch with the Holy Spirit's divine strength, communicated through His goodness.

Aquinas: In this life it is better to love God than to know him. (49)
Through the theological virtue of hope we tend toward God, our end, our good, our happiness. (49)
The Holy Spirit is the pledge of our inheritance. (49 cf. Eph-01-14)
Faith gives us light, hope imparts confidence...The most common and dangerous obstacle in the way of perfection is discouragement resulting from the faults, temptations, and aridities found in every spiritual life. (50)
The Holy Spirit is our strength. (50)

Chapter 11: The Exercise of the Theological Virtues: Charity

Summary: Charity, the highest Gift of the Spirit, binds us intimately to him.

Love is the foundation of devotion the Holy Spirit because the Holy Spirit is the infinite and personal Love of God. (52)
All other things either pave the way for the full reign of charity, or are its precious consequences...In the heights of the spiritual life the soul does nothing else but love. (53)
It is the practice of charity that specifically develops the gifts of the Holy Spirit. (54)
Frequently souls lack the guidance of a clear ideal, the impulse of a powerful force, in the constant struggles, vicis-situdes, and sacrifices of the spiritual life. They recognize their needs, they know the remedies, they see, imperfectly at least, the path they must follow. But they are so weak, their courage fails at each step, they let time slip by without taking advantage of it; and they sadly behold the years passing with no personal progress in spite of their good desires and holy intentions. What is it they lack? A precise ideal, an impelling force. If they would love, they would have an extraordinary power. Charity, when it unites us to God, our end, fixes our attention on the true ideal of our life; and, because it is love, it communicates the supreme strength, the only strength, one might say, that exists in heaven or on earth. (55)
He does not love us because we are pure or good; rather, if we are pure or good, it is because God loves us. (56)

Chapter 12: Characteristics of the Love of the Spirit: He Possesses Us

Summary: Our love for the Holy Spirit is a love of sweetest docility and perfect abandonment, causing the soul to let itself be possessed and delivered to the action of the divine Director.

Our love for God takes on a particular aspect as directed at each of the divine Persons: (58)
- Our love for the Father is tender and confident like that of children, an intense desire to have his will fulfilled.
- Our love for the Son is toward union with Him and transformation into Him by sharing in His suffering and His Cross.
- Our love for the Holy Spirit is marked by loving docility.
- → Our love for the Father tends to glorify Him; our love for the Son, to transform ourselves into Him; our love for the Holy Spirit, to let ourselves be possessed and moved by Him.
The voice of the Spirit is gentle; His movement is very delicate. To perceive them, the soul needs silence and peace. (60)
To know divine things, the soul has to be pure, and in proportion to its purity it judges spiritual things and penetrates inspirations...It was John, the Apostle of purity and love, who said to Peter: "It is the Lord" (Jn-21). Pure and loving souls have the secret of discovering Jesus in whatever way He shows Himself to them. (60)
Docility requires abnegation, for it will always be true that love and pain are proportionate...The soul abandoned to the Holy Spirit exposes itself to every sacrifice, every immolation. (62)

Chapter 13: Characteristics of the Love of the Spirit: We Possess Him

Summary: Our love for the Holy Spirit demands that we also possess Him, because He is the Gift of God. This is transforming union: by possessing the Holy Spirit, the soul finds its perfection.

No one can let himself be possessed without at the same time possessing...To love the Holy Spirit, then, is both to let oneself be possessed by Him and to possess Him. (63)
Every act of charity proceeds from the habit of that virtue which the Holy Spirit infuses into our hearts. (64)
The soul does not move itself, the Holy Spirit moves it (passive love, 65)

Chapter 14: The Holy Spirit Takes Us to the Word

Summary: Devotion to the Holy Spirit has as a natural consequence a more intimate devotion to the Word of God.

St. Thomas: Souls who are looking for perfection should know in what it consists, so as not to go along aimlessly...Souls must know their ideal, and their directors should help them in this most important matter. Many wish to be saints; but having only a vague and inexact concept of sanctity, they journey on without a realized destination, at the risk of being lost or of straying far from the road. (70)
Each soul must seek to learn in what way God wants it to reproduce his Son...Let no one believe that only great souls have their mission and their particular course to follow; all souls have both these things perfectly determined for them. (71)
The first thing that souls aspiring to perfection should do is fix the ideal and discover the special designs of God in their regard. For this, they need to be instructed and well directed. But, above all, they need to be docile to the intimate direction of the Holy Spirit. (72073)

Chapter 15: The Holy Spirit Takes Us to the Father

Summary: The Holy Spirit takes us to the Word, and through the Word we go to the Father.

Love is not understandable without unity. Eternal love is the ineffable unity that exists between the Father and the Word. Created love is the great aspiration for unity. Therefore charity is perfected when the soul is united to God. (74)
Three stages of divine love (74)
1. The soul is possessed by the Holy Spirit
2. The soul is transformed into the Word made flesh
3. The soul rests in the bosom of the heavenly Father
The principle characteristics of devotion to the Father are adoration, filial love, and the desire to fulfill the Father's will. His will is the supreme norm of our life. (76)

Chapter 16: The Will of The Father

Summary: Devotion to the Father (through the Holy Spirit) is characterized by profound adoration, tender filial love, and an intense longing to fulfill the Father's will.

Jesus came to do the will of the father. For Jesus, the will of His Father was the foundation of His relationship with souls and the root of His holy affections. (82)
The will of God is the norm of perfection, the secret of happiness, and the repose of love. (82)
Since love (we refer to the love of benevolence) consists in willing the good of the beloved, and God has only two goods—one essential, which is His infinite full-ness, the other accidental and extrinsic, which is His glory-there-fore our love for Him also has two fundamental acts: complacency in the infinite good and accomplishment of the accidental good by the fulfillment of His most holy will....We find our happiness in the possession of God, in the enjoyment of the infinite good, and in the reflection of the glory of God within us. (83)
The Holy Spirit alone can give us a share of Jesus' hunger to do the will of God.

Chapter 17: The Cross

Summary: True devotion to the Father leads to Calvary.

The greatest revelation of Christianity is the mystery of the Cross. (86)
God accomplished a stupendous prodigy of justice and mercy, of wisdom and love, in the sublime sacrifice of Calvary. (87)
On earth, the supreme donation of love cannot be made except in pain and death...By dying on the Cross for us, Jesus showed to what lengths God would go in His love for man; by dying for the glory of the Father, He expressed the depth of the love of man for God. (88)

Chapter 18: The Consummation

Summary: The very essence of the devotion of Jesus to the Father was the Cross, as it should be for us.

If the Cross was for Jesus the center of devotion to the Father, it should hold the same place for us...Once this supreme sacrifice was accomplished, there remained nothing more for Jesus to do but to perpetuate it: in the Eucharist, and in souls. (91)
Each soul must answer the sacrifice of Jesus with his own...Every soul should aspire to martyrdom; the Cross should be the center of its life, the goal of all its aspirations. It is the cross that satisfies the Father completely, and it is His Crucified Son that he longs to behold in each soul. (92)
As souls progress in the spiritual life, the love of sacrifice, the desire to suffer, and the deep appreciation of pain increase in them. (93-94)
Stoicism: Such an attitude is not human, because it opposes all our natural inclinations; nor is it divine, because it does not lift us up from the earth but only plunges us deeper in the abyss of pride. (94)
For sacrifice to have value, it must be the fruit of love. Jesus offered Himself through the Holy Spirit, the personal Love of God. And all the souls who wish to share in the sacrifice of Jesus, all who with so offer themselves to the Father, must offer themselves through the Spirit. (95)

Chapter 19: Summary and Conclusions

Summary: Gives a summary of Part One.

Chapter 1: Christian piety should encourage devotion to the two artisans of Christ, the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary.
Chapter 2: The Holy Spirit is the most sweet Guest of the soul.
Chapter 3: The Holy Spirit is the personal and true Director of the soul.
Chapter 4: The Holy Spirit is the first Gift of God.
Chapter 5: The Holy Spirit is the source of all other gifts and the first link in the royal chain that terminates in perfection.
Chapter 6: The sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit is to form Jesus in souls, thus producing in them the ideal of the Father.
Chapter 7: The action of the Holy Spirit requires the cooperation of the soul, which is the basis of devotion to him.
Chapter 8: All earthly affections must be rooted out so that we can offer solitude of heart to the Holy Spirit.
Chapter 9: Faith reveals the Holy Spirit to us.
Chapter 10: Hope puts us in touch with the Holy Spirit's divine strength, communicated through His goodness.
Chapter 11: Charity, the highest Gift of the Spirit, binds us intimately to him.
Chapter 12: Our love for the Holy Spirit is a love of sweetest docility and perfect abandonment, causing the soul to let itself be possessed and delivered to the action of the divine Director.
Chapter 13: Our love for the Holy Spirit demands that we also possess Him, because He is the Gift of God. This is transforming union: by possessing the Holy Spirit, the soul finds its perfection.
Chapter 14: Devotion to the Holy Spirit has as a natural consequence a more intimate devotion to the Word of God.
Chapter 15: The Holy Spirit takes us to the Word, and through the Word we go to the Father.
Chapter 16: Devotion to the Father (through the Holy Spirit) is characterized by profound adoration, tender filial love, and an intense longing to fulfill the Father's will.
Chapter 17: True devotion to the Father leads to Calvary.
Chapter 18: The very essence of the devotion of Jesus to the Father was the Cross, as it should be for us.

Part Two: The Gifts

Part Three: The Fruits

Part Four: The Beatitudes

Topic: The Holy Spirit

Source

Scott at Cluny Publishing

Created: 2025-12-17-Wed
Updated: 2026-02-09-Mon

"All the goals of the jubilee are fulfilled by the gift of the Spirit. The Spirit forgives our sins, grants us freedom from the tyranny of Satan, institutes us as children of God and members of his family, and initiates us into the fullness of God so that we become "partakers of the divine nature" (2 Pt-01). For that reason, the Jubilee 2025 is a highly appropriate time for individuals and communities to enter more deeply into the life of the Holy Spirit." –2025-03-17-Jesus and the Jubilee ↩