HAT does it mean, “for your incorruptible Spirit is in everything, therefore those who fall astray you reproach little by little”? (Sap. Sal. 12.1-2). If he speaks about the Holy Spirit, how [is it that] in a foolish heart wisdom shall not come nor inhabit in a body full of sins? I noticed this, because it says universally [the Spirit is] “in everything”.

Answer.

The Holy Spirit is present in all creatures and most of all in those who have participated in any way to reason. Because He is who holds and unites the knowledge of all creatures, since He is God and God's Spirit, going into everything according to the potentiality that He foresees, and He enlivens and moves the natural reason of all, this way leading him, who senses and has his will ready to receive the correct and natural thoughts, to feel those of his acts that don't comply completely with the customs of nature.

τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον οὐδενὸς ἄπεστι τῶν ὄντων

Τί ἐστι τὸ γὰρ ἄφθαρτόν σου πνεῦμά ἐστιν ἐν πᾶσι· διὸ τοὺς παραπίπτοντας κατὰ μικρὸν ἐλέγχεις; Εἰ περὶ τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος λέγει͵ πῶς εἰς ἀσύνετον καρδίαν σοφία οὐκ εἰσελεύσεται οὐδὲ κατοικήσει ἐν σώματι καταχρέῳ ἁμαρτίαις; Ἐσημειωσάμην δὲ τοῦτο διὰ τὸ ἁπλῶς εἰπεῖν ἐν πᾶσιν.

Ἀπόκρισις.

Τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον οὐδενὸς ἄπεστι τῶν ὄντων καὶ μάλιστα τῶν λόγου καθοτιοῦν μετειληφότων. Συνεκτικὸν γὰρ ὑπάρχει τῆς ἑκάστου γνώσεως͵ ὅτι θεὸς καὶ θεοῦ πνεῦμα κατὰ δύναμιν προνοητικῶς διὰ πάντων χωροῦν καὶ τὸν ἐν ἑκάστῳ κατὰ φύσιν λόγον ἀνακινοῦν καὶ δι΄ αὐτοῦ πρὸς συναίσθησιν τῶν πλημμελῶς παρὰ τὸν θεσμὸν τῆς φύσεως πεπραγμένων ἄγον τὸν αἰσθανόμενον καὶ τὴν προαίρεσιν εὔεικτον ἔχοντα πρὸς ὑποδοχὴν τῶν ἐκ φύσεως ὀρθῶν λογισμῶν.