Dear Claire:

Those instances you mention are all post-birth. All of us can and should be filled with the Holy Spirit. The problem is that we usually cannot maintain it because of concupiscence and thus we lose the filling, but can regain it later, lose it again, regain it, etc.

John the Baptist was sanctified in the womb. He was conceived with original sin (Mary was not), but was sanctified in the womb and thus had original sin removed from him while in the womb. He was born sinless.

The Navarre Bible Commentary state:

Although he was conceived in sin -- original sin -- like other men, St. John the Baptist was born sinless because he was sanctified in this mother's womb by the presence of Jesus Christ (then in Mary's womb) and of the Blessed Virgin. On receiving this grace of God St. John rejoices by leaping with joy in his mother's womb -- thereby fulfilling the archangel's prophecy (c.f. Luke 1:15).

St. John Chrysostom comments on this scene of the Gospel: "See how new and how wonderful this mystery is. He has not yet left the womb but he speaks by leaping; he has not yet seen the light but he points out the Sun; he has not yet been born and he is keen to act as Precursor. The Lord is present, so he cannot contain himself or wait for nature to run its course: he wants to break out of the prison of his mother's womb and he makes sure he witnesses to the fact that the Savior is about to come" (Sermo apud Metaphr., mense Julio)

We too are born sinless at the re-birth of Baptism. Baptism removes original sin from us. The consequences of original sin which is suffering and death remain -- even for our Blessed Mother.

The other consequence of original sin is concupiscence (the inclination toward sin). Our Blessed Mother was preserved even from concupiscence which is how she was able to be sinless. John the Baptist was not preserved from this, but he was filled with the Holy Spirit permanently to enable him to live sinless all his life.

His filling in the Spirit was not temporary. The Angel tells us in Luke 1:15: "...for he will be great before the Lord, and he shall drink no wine nor strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother's womb." The angel tells Zechariah one of the reasons to rejoice over the birth of this child: because he will have exceptional holiness.

The angel's words are not words that indicate something temporary. John was to be sanctified and filled with the Spirit in the womb and thus born without sin to enable him to live a holy and sinless life. The filling was permanent.

Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich spoke of John the Baptist, based on her visions from God.

"He sees, he knows, he speaks only Jesus…. In the desert, blameless and pure as a babe in the mother's womb, he comes forth from his solitude innocent and spotless as a child at the mother's breast. 'He is pure as an angel,' I heard the Lord say to the Apostles. 'Never has impurity entered into his mouth, still less has an untruth or any other sin issued from it.' "

The Catechism states:

717 "There was a man sent from God, whose name was John." John was "filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother's womb" by Christ himself, whom the Virgin Mary had just conceived by the Holy Spirit. Mary's visitation to Elizabeth thus became a visit from God to his people.

The Catechism repeats the Archangel: "filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother's womb." The "even from his mother's womb" is language that indicates a permanent, not a temporary filling.

Another way to put this is that John is filled with the Holy Spirit now and has been since before his birth, while still in his mother's womb."

This is utterly different that a temporary filling of the Spirit at a given moment.

You are correct that this is not defined dogma. Doctrine only becomes defined dogma when there is a need to define it formally to stave off disputes. There is no need to do that in this case as this teaching is accepted without dispute.

While not defined dogma, it is the teaching of the Church and of the saints.

God Bless,
Bro. Ignatius Mary