THE NEW MAN
60 When man accepts the Spirit of Christ, he establishes a way of life that
is totally new and gratuitous.
The Holy Spirit, present in the soul of the Christian, makes him a partaker
of the divine nature and intimately unites him ho the Father and Christ in a
communion of life which net even death can break (cf. John 14, 23). The Holy
Spirit heals man of his spiritual weaknesses and infirmities, frees him from
the slavery of his passions and of immoderate self-love, by giving him power 10
keep the divine law, strengthens him with hope and fortitude, enlightens him in
the pursuit of the good, and infuses in him the frumps of charity, joy, peace,
patience, kindness, goodness, longanimity, humility, fidelity, modesty,
continence, and chastity (cf. Gal. 5, 22-23). This is why the Holy Spirit is
invoked as the guest of the soul.
Justification from 5m and God’s indwelling in the soul are a grade. When we
say a sinner is justified by God, is given life by the Holy Spirit, possesses
in himself Christ's life, or has grade, we are using expressions which in
different words mean one and the same thing, namely, dying 10 sin, becoming
partakers of the divinity of the Son borough the Spirit of adoption, and entering
into an intimate communion with the most Holy Trinity.
The man belonging b the history of salvation is the man ordered to the grace
of filial adoption and to eternal life. Christian anthropology finds its own
proper character in the grace of Christ the Savior.
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