The Spirit changes without changing

Sacrificial love is the gift of the Spirit, and that changes characters. If the Spirit of Christ possesses a soul, regardless of who it is, there’s a new creature. An English writer named [Alfred] Noyes described a visit that he made to the home of Swinburne, the atheistic poet. Swinburne took him into the library and the poet boasted: “This is where I wrote my atheistic poetry. Glory to Man in the highest for Man is the Master of all!” Then Noyes said he began to spit out venom against the Church. Years passed, Swinburne died and went to meet his God. Years later Noyes went back to Bonchurch, where Swinburne had grown up. He saw a procession of children clothed in white, dropping flowers as they walked. He followed the procession. It went into the library of the old Swinburne home, which was now a chapel of the Sacred Heart. At the moment of Benediction, Noyes raised his eyes and noticed again the great window at the end of the library wall, with the initials of the poet’s mother unchanged: I.H.S. It is thus that the Spirit changes without changing.