The Divine Lamp

Unfortunately, I cannot reproduce the formating on this blog, so I’ve posted it on my other site.  People who are linked to this site are asked to update their link.  Everything on this site, and more besides, can be found there.  Here is a link to the specific post on Notre Dame.

I’m in the midst of doing a series of daily posts on Our Lady for the month of May, but I’ve also decided to do a series of post preparing for Pentecost.  My First Post is a sermon from St Thomas Aquinas.  If you are only acquainted with Aquinas the Theologian/Metaphysician you may think this sermon will be rather dry and difficult, but you’d be wrong.  Do check it out on my other site, and be sure to check out the links I’ve included in the short introduction I wrote.

A notice to infrequent readers of this blog: this is no longer my primary site, but I will continue to post at least some of the content from my new site on this one.

I am unable to post the document directly on this site so i have posted it on my other blog.

Wednesday Vespers

Before the Office is begun, it is commendable to say the following Prayer, the singular number being used throughout; for which Pope Pius XI granted an indulgence of 3 years (S. Ap., November 17, 1933).

Prayer

OPEN my mouth, O Lord, to bless thy holy name: cleanse also my heart from all vain, evil and distracting thoughts; enlighten my understanding, inflame my will, that I may worthily recite this Office with attention and devotion, and deserve to be heard in the presence of thy divine Majesty. Through Christ our Lord. R. Amen.

O Lord, in union with that divine intention with which thou didst praise God on earth, I offer to thee this Hour.

OUR Father, Who art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy Name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil. Amen.

HAIL, Mary, full of grace; The Lord is with thee: blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, JESUS. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

V. O God, come to my assistance.

R. O Lord, make haste to help me.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

¶ Alleluia is thus said at all the Hours, except from Compline of the Saturday before Septuagesima Sunday until Compline of Wednesday in Holy Week inclusive; for then there is said:

Praise be to Thee, O Lord, King of eternal glory.

Ant. 1 Blessed are all they.

Psalm 127

The fear of God is the way to happiness.

[BLESSED are all they] that fear the Lord: that walk in his ways.

For thou shalt eat the labours of thy hands: blessed art thou, and it shall be well with thee.

Thy wife as a fruitful vine, on the sides of thy house.

Thy children as olive plants, round about thy table.

Behold, thus shall the man be blessed that feareth the Lord.

May the Lord bless thee out of Sion: and mayst thou see the good things of Jerusalem all the days of thy life.

And mayst thou see thy children’s children, peace upon Israel.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost.

As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Ant. Blessed are all they that fear the Lord.

Ant. 2 Let them all be confounded.

Psalm 128

The church of God is invincible: her persecutors come to nothing.

OFTEN have they fought against me from my youth, let Israel now say.

Often have they fought against me from my youth: but they could not prevail over me.

The wicked have wrought upon my back: they have lengthened their iniquity.

The Lord who is just will cut the necks of sinners: let them all be confounded and turned back that hate Sion.

Let them be as grass upon the tops of houses: which withereth before it be plucked up:

Wherewith the mower filleth not his hand: nor he that gathereth sheaves his bosom.

And they that passed by have not said: The blessing of the Lord be upon you: we have blessed you in the name of the Lord.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost.

As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Ant. Let them all be confounded who hate Sion.

Ant. 3 Out of the depths.

Psalm 129

A prayer of a sinner, trusting in the mercies of God.

The sixth penitential psalm.

[OUT of the depths] I have cried to thee, O Lord: Lord, hear my voice.

Let thy ears be attentive to the voice of my supplication.

If thou, O Lord, wilt mark iniquities: Lord, who shall stand it.

For with thee there is merciful forgiveness: and by reason of thy law, I have waited for thee, O Lord.

My soul hath relied on his word: my soul hath hoped in the Lord.

From the morning watch even until night, let Israel hope in the Lord.

Because with the Lord there is mercy: and with him plentiful redemption.

And he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost.

As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Ant. Out of the depths I have cried to thee, O Lord.

Ant. 4 Lord.

Psalm 130

The prophet’s humility.

[LORD,] my heart is not exalted: nor are my eyes lofty.

Neither have I walked in great matters, nor in wonderful things above me.

If I was not humbly minded, but exalted my soul:

As a child that is weaned is towards his mother, so reward in my soul.

Let Israel hope in the Lord, from henceforth now and for ever.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost.

As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Ant. Lord, my heart is not exalted.

Ant. 5 The Lord hath chosen.

Psalm 131

A prayer to the fulfilling of the promise made to David.

O LORD, remember David, and all his meekness.

How he swore to the Lord, he vowed a vow to the God of Jacob:

If I shall enter into the tabernacle of my house: if I shall go up into the bed wherein I lie:

If I shall give sleep to my eyes, or slumber to my eyelids,

Or rest to my temples: until I find out a place for the Lord, a tabernacle for the God of Jacob.

Behold we have heard of it in Ephrata: we have found it in the fields of the wood.

We will go into his tabernacle: we will adore in the place where his feet stood.

Arise, O Lord, into thy resting place: thou and the ark, which thou hast sanctified.

Let thy priests be clothed with justice: and let thy saints rejoice.

For thy servant David’s sake, turn not away the face of thy anointed.

The Lord hath sworn truth to David, and he will not make it void: of the fruit of thy womb I will set upon thy throne.

If thy children will keep my covenant, and these my testimonies which I shall teach them:

Their children also for evermore shall sit upon thy throne.

For the Lord hath chosen Sion: he hath chosen it for his dwelling.

This is my rest for ever and ever: here will I dwell, for I have chosen it.

Blessing I will bless her widow: I will satisfy her poor with bread.

I will clothe her priests with salvation: and her saints shall rejoice with exceeding great joy.

There will I bring forth a horn to David: I have prepared a lamp for my anointed.

His enemies I will clothe with confusion: but upon him shall my sanctification flourish.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost.

As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Ant. The Lord hath chosen Sion for his dwelling.

Little Chapter, 2 Cor. 1, 3-4

BLESSED be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort. Who comforteth us in all our afflictions. R. Thanks be to God.

Hymn

O GOD, whose hand hath spread the sky

And all its shining hosts on high,

And, painting it with fiery light,

Made it so beauteous and so bright:

Thou, when the fourth day was begun,

Didst frame the circle of the sun,

And set the moon for ordered change,

And planets for their wider range:

To night and day, by certain line,

Their varying bounds thou didst assign;

And gav’st a signal, known and meet,

For months begun and months complete.

Enlighten thou the hearts of men,

Polluted souls make pure again:

Unloose the bands of guilt within,

Remove the burden of our sin.

Grant this, O Father, ever One

With Christ, thy sole-begotten Son,

Whom, with the Spirit we adore,

One God, both now and evermore.

Amen.

V. Let my prayer be directed, O Lord.

R. As incense in thy sight.

At the Magnificat Ant. (Common of Feasts of the Blessed Virgin Mary) All generations.

Canticle of the Blessed Virgin

Luke 1, 46-55

MY soul doth magnify the Lord;

And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior,

Because he hath regarded the humility of his handmaid: for behold from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed,

Because he that is mighty hath done great things to me, and holy is his name,

And his mercy is from generation unto generation to those that fear him.

He hath showed might in his arm; he hath scattered the proud in the conceit of their heart.

He hath put down the mighty from their seat, and hath exalted the humble.

He hath filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he hath sent away empty.

He hath received Israel, his servant, being mindful of his mercy,

As he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his seed forever.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Ant. All generations shall call me blessed, for God hath regarded his lowly handmaid.

V. The Lord be with you.

R. And with thy spirit.

Let us pray.

Prayer

(Common of Feasts of the Blessed Virgin Mary)

GRANT, we beseech thee, O Lord God, to us thy servants, that we may evermore enjoy health of mind and body: and by the glorious intercession of blessed Mary, ever a Virgin, may be delivered from present sorrows, and enjoy everlasting gladness. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. R. Amen.

Suffrage of All the Saints

(if it be said)

Ant. May the Blessed Virgin Mary Mother of God, and all the Saints intercede for us with the Lord.

V. The Lord hath made his Saints wonderful.

R. And he heard them when they called upon him.

Prayer

Let us pray.

DEFEND us, we beseech thee, O Lord, from all dangers of mind and body: and through the intercession of the blessed and glorious Mary, ever Virgin, Mother of God, of St. Joseph, of thy holy apostles Peter and Paul, and of all the Saints, in thy loving-kindness grant us safety and peace; that, all adversities and errors being overcome, thy Church may serve thee in security and freedom. Through Our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. R. Amen.

V. The Lord be with you. R. And with thy spirit.

V. Let us bless the Lord. R. Thanks be to God.

V. May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. R. Amen.

OUR Father, Who art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy Name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil. Amen.

This was taken from the iGoogle gadget Breviarium Romanum developed by Doug at THE HERESY OF PROGRESS Blog.  It can be downloaded to your iGoogle home page or to your blog (not all blogs accept it).  The text for the home page is available in either Latin or English, the text setting for the blog appears to allow only Latin.

I posted this on my other site as well.  Everything found on this site-and more besides!-can be found there.  Some of the
things found there which you wont find here are videos (theological, biblical, musical, humorous, ect), documents in
the iPaper format (my own and others), and certain posts which, due to the format, I am unable to post here.

The Presence of God in All Creatures as Their 
Active Principle or Efficient Cause 

Before broaching the interesting yet difficult question 
of the indwelling of the Holy Ghost in the souls of 
the just, and of the mysterious union He thus effects 
with them; before going into the proofs of the presence 
both substantial and extraordinary of the three Divine 
persons in the just soul which thus becomes a living 
temple wherein the adorable Trinity finds delight, it 
will be useful, and, to a certain extent, even necessary, 
to grasp a few preliminary notions on the ordinary 
way in which God is present in all things. Nothing, indeed,
could be more unreasonable than to expound the 
doctrine of the extraordinary or special presence of God 
in the souls of the just, before we know quite clearly 
what is His ordinary presence in all creation. 

To be in a fit position to speak in precise terms of 
these two kinds of presence, and to distinguish one
from the other, we must first of all become acquainted 
with their respective characteristics, and see in what 
they agree and in what they differ. This may be 
achieved by carefully examining, defining and comparing
their natures. Were we to follow a different course 
of action, plunging at once into a more or less scientific 
explanation of the indwelling of God in the soul by the 
life of grace, without having, at the outset, firmly established
and clearly explained that such an indwelling is 
to be found nowhere else in nature, we should be in 
danger of imparting very incomplete notions, and of 
leaving the reader in a state of vagueness that could not 
but be regrettable. On the other hand, it will not be 
necessary to dwell at length on the proofs for the divine 
omnipresence, since all Catholics believe in it; we shall, 
however, insist on the way in which it is to be understood
in order to convey an exact idea of God's immensity,
and so to prepare the way for a clear understanding
of the special presence of God in the souls of the just. 

It is a dogma of faith, as well as a truth of reason, 
that God is everywhere — in heaven, on earth, in all 
things and in all places: that He is present in a very 
intimate manner in everything created. This truth is 
known to all, not only to the philosopher and theologian, 
but even to the little child whose intelligence is 
but awakening; it is one of the first lessons it receives 
at its mother's knee — one of the first truths it learns 
from any Christian teacher. 

This doctrine, which the simplest Christian holds at 
the beginning of his moral life, and which he continues 
to hold without always understanding its full bearing, 
nor suspecting what deep truths it expresses, was
preached long ago by the Apostle St. Paul, before the 
most illustrious audience in the world. He was addressing,
not an ignorant populace, but the official representatives
of human wisdom, the members of the Areopagus of Athens,
when, referring to the existence of God in every creature,
the Apostle exclaimed : "That they should seek God, if
haply they may feel after Him or find Him, although
He be not far from every one of us; for in Him we live,
and move, and are."  

Centuries before, the Psalmist had made this same 
divine omnipresence the theme of his song: "Behold, 
Lord, Thou hast known all things, the latest and 
those of old; Thou hast formed me, and hast laid Thy 
hand upon me. Thy knowledge has become wonderful 
to me; it is high, and I cannot reach to it. Whither 
shall I go from Thy spirit? or whither shall I fly from 
Thy face? If I ascend into heaven. Thou art there; if 
I descend into hell, Thou art present. If I take my 
wings early in the morning, and dwell in the uttermost 
parts of the sea, even there also shall Thy hand lead 
me, and Thy right hand shall hold me."  

Finally, in order fully to convince us that we cannot 
escape His ever-vigilant eye, God Himself, using our 
weak human language, with infinite condescension, says 
to us through the mouth of His prophet : "Shall a man 
be hid in secret places, and I not see him, saith the 
Lord? Do not I fill heaven and earth, saith the Lord?"  

It is not necessary to cite other testimonies in proof 
of a point of doctrine admitted by all who believe in the 
existence of an infinite Being, the Author of all things; 
yet, on account of its extreme importance, we should 
like to set down here the philosophical proof of the 
omnipresence of God, given by St. Thomas. God, he 
says, "is present in all things, not as part of their essence,
or as an accidental element, but as the active
principle is present to the thing on which it acts;
for it is essential that the efficient cause be united with 
the object upon which it exercises an immediate activity, 
and that it comes into contact with this object, if 
not bodily, then, at least, by the exercise of its power 
and energies." 

We may compare God's action with that of the sun. 
Although vastly distant from our planet, it still comes 
into contact with it through its rays, else how could it 
give light and heat to the earth? But God works in 
every created thing, not only through the medium of 
secondary causes as the sun acts upon the earth, but also 
in a direct and immediate way, by Himself bringing into 
existence and preserving in things that which is most 
intimate and deep-rooted in them, namely, their very 
being. For, as the characteristic effect of fire is to burn, 
so the characteristic effect of God, Who is Being itself, 
is to cause the being of creatures. "And so God is intimately 
present to all things as their efficient cause — as 
causing the being of all things."  

God, then, is not present to the world like the artisan 
or the artist; he is external to his work, and does not 
often touch it in a direct way, but rather through his 
instruments, or is present to his work when he produces it, 
but later on withdraws from it without endangering its existence. 
God is so intimately united to the works of His hands that if,
after calling a created thing into being. He should withdraw from it and cease 
to sustain it, it would immediately fall into the nothingness out of which it was made. 

And if you question the Angelic Doctor as to how 
God, an immaterial, unextended and indivisible substance,
can be present in all places, and in the inner 
depths of beings occupying material space, he will answer 
you with a comparison borrowed from nature and 
already employed by the Fathers, namely: He is present
in three ways: "By His power, by His presence, and by 
His essence. By His power, because all things are subject to 
His sovereign command: He is present everywhere 
like a king who, while residing in his palace, is 
by a fiction deemed present in all the parts of his kingdom 
where he exercises authority. By His presence, 
that is to say most intimately, because He knows all 
things and sees all things; and nothing, however hidden 
it may be, can escape His attention; all things are present 
to Him as objects are said to be in our presence, although
they may be situated at a slight distance from 
our person. Finally by His essence, for He is as really 
and in His very substance present to all created things 
as a monarch is present in person to the throne on 
which he is seated." 

The reason for this substantial presence of God in 
His creatures is that not one of them could dispense 
with the divine action preserving its existence and actuating
its operations; and since substance and action are 
not really distinct in God, it follows that "He is substantially — in His
actual reality — present wherever He 
works, I. e., in all things and in all places." 

In his commentary on Peter Lombard's first book of 
Sentences, St. Thomas explains this threefold presence 
in slightly different words. Not that it excludes the 
explanation we have just given, nor that it is in contradiction with it, 
but it brings out better the thought of 
the Angelic Doctor relative to the substantial presence 
of God in His capacity of efficient cause. Here are his 
words: "God is in created things by His presence, inasmuch
as He is there in action, for the worker must in 
some manner be present with his work; and, furthermore, 
because the Divine operation cannot be separated 
from the active force from which it flows, it must be 
held that God is present in all things by His power; 
finally, since the force or the power of God is identical 
with His essence, it follows that God is in all things by 
His essence." » These words are highly significant.
There are some theologians who explain the divine 
omnipresence by saying that God is present everywhere 
by His essence, because the divine substance, being 
infinite, fills the heavens and the earth. To them, the 
immensity of God is a property by which the divine 
essence is, so to speak, distributed ad infinitum in all 
existing and possible spaces; that is to say, God's omni- 
presence is the actual diffusion of the divine being, penetrating
all real things and places without blending with 
them. According to this opinion, the divine immensity 
might be compared to a sea without shores, capable of 
containing an infinite number of beings of every nature 
and dimension. Within this sea is a sponge which the 
waters interpenetrate and then flow over on all sides: a 
figure of this world, that God's immensity pervades and 
then flows over on all sides; with this difference, however, 
that God is wholly in the world and wholly in each 
of its parts, whereas each portion of the water of the sea 
occupies a distinct place. 

St. Augustine conceived a similar picture of the divine 
immensity in his early days before his conversion: "So 
also I thought of Thee, O God, O Life of my life," he 
says in his Confessions, "so also I thought of Thee, as 
stretched out through infinite spaces, interpenetrating 
the whole mass of the world, reaching out beyond in all 
directions to immensity without end, so that sea, sky, 
all things are full of Thee, limited in Thee, while Thou 
art not limited at all. As the body of the air above the 
earth does not bar the passage of the light of the sun,
but the light penetrates the air, not bursting or dividing 
it, but filling it — in the same way, I thought, the body of 
heaven, and air, and sea, and even of earth was all 
pervious to Thee, penetrable in all its parts great or 
small, so that it can admit the hidden interjection of 
Thy presence, which from within or from without 
orders all things that Thou hast created. This was my 
fancy, for I could shape no other; yet it was false. For 
in that way a greater part of the earth would contain a 
greater part of Thee, a less part a less. All things would 
be full of Thee in such a sense that there would be more 
of thee in the elephant than in the sparrow, inasmuch 
as one is larger than the other, and fills a wider space. 
And thus Thou wouldst unite Thy limbs piecemeal with 
the limbs of the world, the great with the great, the 
small with the small. This is not Thy nature, but as 
yet Thou hadst not lightened my darkness."  

Further on, speaking on the same subject, he adds: 
"I marshaled before the sight of my spirit all creation, 
all that we see, earth, and sea, and air, and stars, and 
trees, and animals; all that we do not see, the firmament 
of the sky above, and all angels, and all spiritual things; 
for these also, as if they were bodies, did my imagination 
arrange in this place or in that. I pictured to myself 
Thy creation as one vast mass, composed of various 
kinds of bodies, some real bodies, some those which I 
imagined in place of spirits. I pictured this mass as 
vast, not indeed in its true dimensions, for these I could 
not know, but as large as I chose to think, only finite on 
every side. And Thee, O Lord, I conceived as lapping it 
round and interpenetrating it everywhere, but as being 
infinite in every direction; as if there were sea everywhere, 
and everywhere through measureless space nothing 
but illimitable sea, and within this a sponge, huge, 
but yet finite; the sponge would be pervaded through all
its particles by the infinite sea. In this way, I pictured 
Thy finite creation, as filled with Thy infinity." 

After his conversion and accession to the episcopal 
see of Hippo, Augustine's language is entirely different: 
"When we say that God is everywhere we must withdraw 
from our mind every grossness of thought, and 
disengage ourselves from sensible images, lest we should 
imagine God as diffused everywhere, like some greatness 
spreading itself in space, as does the earth, the sea, 
the air or light; for all such things are less in one of 
their parts than in the whole; but we rather should 
conceive God's greatness as we think of great wisdom 
in a man who happens to be of small stature." 

The notion of the diffusion and expansion of God's 
being, was entirely disapproved by St. Augustine, and 
dealt with by him as a carnal conception to be rejected. 
The advocates of such a theory do not, it is true, fall 
into Augustine's error whilst he was a Manichean, of 
supposing that a greater part of the earth can contain 
a greater part of the divine substance; for they know 
and teach that a pure spirit being indivisible and without 
parts does not occupy space like earthly bodies, but 
can be wholly in the whole being and wholly in each and 
every part of that being. They do, however, seem to 
share the ideas of Augustine's pre-conversion days, but 
which he reformed later, in the general trend of their 
argument and in the manner in which they conceive of 
the divine ubiquity. 

Far more spiritual, and therefore much more in accordance
with the divine nature, is the notion of God's 
immensity given by St. Thomas. Instead of admitting, 
with the advocates of the theory we are now refuting, a 
kind of diffusion of the divine substance, so that God 
would still he in His most real substance present to 
created things scattered through space, even though by 
an impossibility His action exercised no influence upon 
them, the Angelic Doctor teaches that the formal reason 
of God's presence in all created things is none other than 
His infinite activity and operation, just as the reason of 
His immensity is His omnipotence. 

The Divine substance occupies no determined space, 
either great or small; it does not need space to display 
itself, and enters into no relation of proximity or remoteness 
with beings that exist in space. If we speak 
of a relation of the Divine substance with these beings, 
we mean only a relation of power and operation; i. e., 
God is intimately present to all things because He produces 
and preserves the being of all things: "God is not 
determined to space great or small by the necessity of 
His essence, as if He need be present in any place, since 
He is from all eternity before all place; but by the im- 
mensity of His power He reaches into all things which 
are in place, because He is the universal cause of being, 
Thus He is wholly wheresoever He is, because by His 
simple power He reaches into all things." If then God 
is present in all places and in all creatures, it is because 
no actual space and no created being can escape His 
direct and immediate influence, for His power, and consequently
His substance, reaches out to them all. 
Theologians, as we have seen, often explain God's omnipresence 
by saying that He is present everywhere because of His immensity. 
St. Thomas uses a different term. According to him, 
God is present everywhere in the capacity of efficient cause,
per modum causae. Such an expression is profound and full of meaning,
for it banishes from the mind any idea of a diffusion or expansion
of the Divine substance, at the same time marking out the Divine operation
as the basis of the relations existing between God and His creatures.
Yet the expression was not a new one, and St. Thomas is not giving 
a purely personal opinion; here as ever he shows himself to be the
faithful echo of tradition. 

And, as we have already noticed, St. Augustine declared 
that God was in the world as the efficient cause 
of the world, "as the presence of the One by Whom the 
world was created; as the artisan is present to the work 
he handles." If, therefore, God fills the heavens and 
the earth, it is by the presence and exercise of His power 
and not by the necessity of His nature," for God's 
greatness is one of power and not of bulk. St. 
Thomas seems manifestly to have taken his inspiration 
from these different passages. 

St. Fulgentius, a disciple of St. Augustine, speaks in 
much the same terms as his master. Likewise, St. 
Gregory of Nyssa. 

That the basis for the presence of God by very substance 
in all created things is the divine activity, can be 
clearly seen from all these passages, and from many 
others we could easily adduce. An earthly body is 
present in the place it occupies neither by its action nor 
even directly by its substance, but by its dimensions, by 
the contact of its parts with the parts of the body surrounding 
and containing it; since, therefore, it is quantity 
that gives parts and dimensions to a body and enables 
it to come into contact with another body and to 
occupy a determined part of space, such or such a body 
is, properly speaking, present in space by its quantity:
per quantitatem dimensivam. 

Far different is the way in which a spirit is present 
in space. As it is a simple, that is to say, an indivisible 
substance and without parts, it cannot of itself occupy 
any space, either great or small, and does not need space 
to display itself. If, however, a spirit wishes to enter 
into relation with a place or with the things present in 
that place, it can do so by the exercise of its activities 
and its energies. Hence the proposition, looked upon as 
an axiom by all Scholastics : spirits are present in space 
by contact of power — per contactum virtutis. 

What, therefore, quantity is to bodies — i. e., a property 
distinct from their substance and extending it 
through space — active power is to spirits, which it 
places in contact with space and the things situated in 
space.2 

This is why St. Thomas, when asking the question 
whether ubiquity is a property becoming God from all 
eternity, utrum esse ubique conveniat Deo ab aeterno, 
instead of answering, like some theologians, that God 
is not, of course, present from all eternity to things 
which did not as yet exist, but that His substance is, 
nevertheless, really and eternally present in the spaces 
which the different created beings are to occupy in time, 
answers "that the Divinity is present only temporarily 
in created things according as by His creative act He is 
present by His power during their temporary existence." 

And if you question the Fathers as to where God was 
before the creation of the world, instead of answering 
that He was in these incommensurable spaces occupied 
by the present universe, spaces which thousands of
other worlds far greater than ours could not fill, they 
will answer you differently, saying through the mouth 
of St. Bernard: "We need not trouble to ask where He 
was, for besides Him nothing existed, and He was then 
in Himself alone."  

Hence, to summarize, in the mind of St. Thomas and 
the Fathers of the Church, the basic reason, the true 
ground, the definitive "why" of the presence of God in 
creatures is the divine operation, formally immanent, 
since it neither issues forth from, nor is even distinct 
from, the principle whence it emanates, yet producing 
outward created effects and, therefore, called "virtually 
transitive," virtualiter transiens.~excerpted from THE INDWELLING
OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IN THE SOULS OF THE JUST ACCORDING TO THE TEACHING OF ST THOMAS AQUINAS.

I’ve posted those instructions on my sister site in the iPaper format, which I cannot reproduce here. This document contains brief instructions/explanations of the antiphons, prayers, and readings for the Mass. It also contains a brief Q & A on the Lord’s Prayer; and an excerpt from the Catechism of the Council of Trent on that prayer; and notes on the Gospel reading from St Augustine. Finally, I’ve also included some links to online resources, including the Catechism of Trent, the Catechetical Instructions of St Thomas Aquinas, St Cyprian’s Treatise on the Lord’s Prayer, and a booklet on that prayer by Peter Kreeft.

My Sister sent me this.

Art and nature alike produce their works gradually, and God Himself does the same.  The pencil precedes the brush; the architect’s design maps out the building to come:-there is no chef d’ oeuvre accomplished in the world but goes through its preliminary stages; whilst nature, in the development of her designs, often tries her ‘prentice hand in ways that seem almost like play.

The work in which our Maker most remarkably follows the same plan is that the Incarnation, for the sake of which He declared that He would “move the heaven and earth” (Haggai 2:7):-this being His One Work above all others.  Although its fulfillment was not to be till “the middle of years” Hab 3:2), He nevertheless began it from the beginning of the world.  The natural and the written Law-ceremonies and sacrifices-priesthood and prophets-were all, speaking reverently, merely sketches or outlines of the “perfect Man, Christ Jesus”.  They are called by an ancient writer Christi rudimenta; and the grand work itself was reached only through a succession of images and figures that served as preparatory designs.  But when the time comes close for the Mystery, God plans something yet more excellent than these:-He forms the blessed Mary, that He may represent Jesus Christ to us more naturally than before.  He is about to send Him on earth, and so combines all His most beautiful characteristics in the person of her who is to be His mother.

Tertullian, contemplating and discussing the marvelous interest that God displayed in the act of forming man from “the slime of the earth,” seeks for some explanation of the immense pains that He bestowed on the work.  He declares himself unable to believe that he put forth so much power, to mould so base a material, without some further great end in view: and this end, he finally concludes, is nothing less than Jesus Christ, Who is to be born of the race of man, and Whom God, therefore, chooses to typify to us by His manner of forming the first members of that race.  Quodcumque limus exprimebatur, Christus cogitabatur homo futurus.

If this idea is true:-if God, when He created the first Adam, meant to trace out the second; if He formed our first father so carefully with Jesus our Savior in view, and because His Divine Son was to spring from him after many generations:-surely today, when we see Mary-who was to bear Christ within her womb-come into the world, we may conclude that in creating her God was thinking of our Lord and working for Him alone?  Hence there is no cause for surprise either in His having formed her so carefully or in His endowing her with so many graces as he did: for to make her worthy of His Son He models her upon that Son Himself.  Intending soon to bestow on us His Word Incarnate, on the day of Mary’s nativity He gives us an outline-I might almost say a beginning-of Jesus Christ, in one who, though a creature, is in some sort a living expression of His own perfections.  Thus we may truly apply to such a day the Apostle’s beautiful words: “The night has passed and the day is at hand.”

The Redeemer of mankind, besides being in Himself an inexhaustible Font of Love, must necessarily possess the two qualities of exemption from sin and fullness of Grace.  He must be innocent to purify us from our crimes, and full of grace to enrich our poverty; for these qualities are inseparable from the character and office of the Savior.  When God formed the Blessed Virgin on the pattern of the Sun of Justice, some of the rays by which He was to dispel our darkness were permitted to shine forth in her, though only in a degree that faintly foreshadowed the brilliant light they were to shed over the world when they should stream in their fullness from Jesus Christ Himself; and hence it came that she was endowed with the very qualities that were to form an intrinsic part of her Divine Son’s human nature, especially with these two of innocence and fullness of grace.  We are here to consider shortly both the cause and the manner of Mary’s likeness to her Son in these particular points:-and, first, the special relation of her innocence to His.

Continue at page 42, first full paragraph: “In the whole teaching of the Gospels…“