Sermons & Tracts 2 part 18/18

but, 'In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God': and again, 'There was,' he says, 'the true light, which illuminates every man coming into this world' (John 1:1, 9); and the Apostle says, 'For He is before all things, and by Him all things consist' (Col. 1:17). But one of the disciples, Thomas, not yet enriched with the blessing of this gift, when in the body now glorified, in the body now heavenly, he sought God through the wounds of the flesh, and needed for believing the incorruptible divinity the testimonies of the nail-pierced places and the scars: 'Unless I see,' he says, 'in His hands the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe' (John 20:25).

But another, now filled with the instruction of the Holy Spirit, confidently exclaims: 'That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; and we announce to you eternal life, which was with the Father, and has appeared to us' (1 John 1:1-2). And again in another place the Apostle Paul, enriched by the inflowing of so great a majesty, faithfully declares: 'Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him so no more' (2 Cor. 5:16).

Blessed Peter, with the Lord's passion now near at hand, not yet grounded by the divine inspiration of the Paraclete, unwilling that Christ should be separated from him bodily, draws his sword against the betrayer and the swordsmen, and judges that force must be repelled by force. But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, no longer seeks Christ upon the earth, but with heaven opened saw the glory of God: nor does he now think of vengeance, but prays and entreats for his persecutors: 'Lord, lay not this sin to their charge' (Acts 7:60). But before the coming of the Holy Spirit, at the very time of the Lord's cross, some of the disciples are put to flight, others are terrified by the voice of a single maidservant, and, with fear penetrating their trembling hearts, are compelled to deny their Lord.

But after the illumination and confirmation of the Holy Spirit, tormented in prisons, afflicted with stripes, they went rejoicing, because they were counted worthy to suffer reproach for the name of Christ: and those who before had denied Him with an oath, saying, 'For we know not this man'; now for His sake they glory in torments, and, with the Holy Spirit working in them, they count it a small thing that they suffer for the love of Christ. And those who before were frightened by words, are now strengthened by pains and torments, and confess Christ the Lord no longer with their voices, but with their deaths, and testify to the greatness of their love by the shedding of their blood:

and amid these things, warmed and kindled with the pure wine of the Lord's charity, they exclaim, 'The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us' (Rom. 8:18). Therefore the blessed Apostles, fervent with that fire of faith, of which the Lord Himself says, 'I am come to send fire upon the earth, and what will I, but that it be kindled?' (Luke 12:49), were thought by the ungodly multitude to be drunk and full of new wine: and they said to one another, 'For these men are full of new wine' (Acts 2:13). But in truth they were filled with new wine; because they had now been renewed by the Holy Spirit, and there appeared in them what the Lord Himself had said, 'New wine must be put into new wineskins' (Matt. 9:17). Not the Apostles alone were inebriated with the new wine of the Holy Spirit;

with this they glowed who pursue the perfect life; the martyrs also glowed with it. Let us not suppose that the Apostles alone then received this new wine. With this new wine the hearts of the faithful also are inflamed, and with this glorious cup the souls of the converted are daily made drunk. This we frequently see happen, when for the desire of their salvation they flee from their kinsfolk and their fatherland; they go out from their land and from their kindred with none compelling them, and, dead to this world, they seek others spiritually as parents of souls. And children come under the yoke, and those a little before renowned and exalted aspire to lowly things, disdain proud things, and desire to be what they before despised, and begin to hate what they had been:

guests of the present, seekers of things to come, they sigh for that eternal fatherland, the falsity of temporal things being despised. With this new wine, therefore, spiritual souls, inebriated and utterly transformed, set abstinence before delicacies, vigils before sweet sleep, poverty before riches: they reckon the arduous toil against vile things to be the most pleasant pleasure. Vile things grow sweet to them; and what before had been precious grows worthless. They love their enemies, and do good to those who hate them: they are not overcome by those who are indignant, they are not provoked by insults, they are not broken by injuries; in short, they feel none of these things because of the fervor of the Holy Spirit and because of the eternal recompense.

With this spiritual wine the martyrs glowed, when, casting off and hurling behind them all the allurements of the world, they went to their sufferings, forgetting their fortunes and affections, their patrimonies and their marriages; and overcoming the natural affection armed against them by the weeping of their little ones, though their parents cried aloud, casting dust upon their heads, and their mothers tore their faces with plucked-out hair. But they, as though drunk, saw none of these things, nor did they recognize their own: because, with the Holy Spirit poured into their inmost hearts, they hastened to pains, to torments, as though to consolations and to rewards. How the Holy Spirit is daily to be invited among us.

Therefore we do indeed celebrate the anniversary day of the coming of the Holy Spirit: but let us so act that we may daily invite Him to us with chaste works and chaste hearts. For thus we ought to be pure and cleansed in our senses and thoughts: thus it behoves us to keep a guard over mouth and heart, that we may make ourselves always worthy of His visitation and illumination, and may seem to be free from all uncleanness of thoughts; because, as I have said, 'Perverse thoughts separate from God' (Wisd. 1:3). Let us be zealous to be free from all detraction and all malice; because 'into a malevolent soul wisdom does not enter, nor will it dwell in a body subject to sins' (Wisd. 1:4).

Through anger and pride, the souls of the negligent are stripped of the guardianship and protection of the Holy Spirit. Let us not, therefore, grieve the Holy Spirit through such passions; but rather let us summon Him to the seat of our heart through the grace of humility and the gentleness of peace, and let us gladden Him with our works and advances: because He Himself says, 'Upon whom shall I rest, but upon the humble and quiet, and the one who trembles at My words?' (Isa. 66:2). If, therefore, we desire to merit the entrance of so great a Visitor, let us first cleanse the house of our soul from the unworthy passions of carnal concupiscence, from pride, from abomination, from the stench of vainglory, from the horror of lukewarmness, of which the Lord Himself says, 'I would that you were cold or hot;

but now, because you are lukewarm, I will begin to spew you out of My mouth' (Rev. 3:15-16); that is, to spit you out from the innermost bowels of My heart. Let us therefore prepare this house daily for the coming of the holy King, and let us adorn it with the diverse flowers of praiseworthy manners. Let us fill it with the delightful and precious odors of chastity, with the incense of faith and compunction, with the balm of benevolence, and with the frankincense of charity: that, with our vices cut away and virtues implanted, and the dwelling of the devil destroyed within us, we may be changed into the temple of God; so that such a blessed Guest, delighted by a bright lodging, may make in us a stable and perpetual abode. For it was for this that He descended to us, that we might be able to ascend to Him,

to whom is glory with the Father and the Holy Spirit unto the ages of ages. Amen. SERMON 183. On Pentecost, II. Introduction. Most dear brethren, on this present day the anniversary solemnity is celebrated, the day on which our Lord Jesus Christ sent the Holy Spirit, whom He had before promised to His disciples. For He had said, 'He cannot come, unless I go away' (John 16:7). On the fortieth day, therefore, after His resurrection, whose solemnity we celebrated ten days ago, He ascended into heaven; and, not unmindful of His promise, today He sent the Holy Spirit, with whom were first filled the hundred and twenty who had been gathered together, and were faithfully awaiting the same promise of the Lord.

For it is written, 'Suddenly there was a sound made from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind: and there appeared to them divided tongues as of fire, which also settled upon each one of them; and they began to speak with all tongues, according as the Holy Spirit gave them to utter' (Acts 2:2-4). That wind cleansed the hearts from the chaff of the flesh; that fire consumed the hay of the old concupiscence. For thus indeed it then pleased God to signify the presence of His Holy Spirit, that those who had received Him should speak with all tongues. Why the Spirit could not come, unless Christ departed. Let us therefore first briefly see why He said, when He promised Him, 'He cannot come, unless I go away.'

For neither is the Holy Spirit separable from the Son of God, nor was He unable to come while co-present, from whom He can in no way depart. But because the Lord was still displaying to the yet weak disciples the form of a servant, in which the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us: and the flesh indeed of the Lord even carnal men could behold; but the form of God, in which He thought it not robbery to be equal with God, cannot be conceived by spiritual men: therefore He said, 'He cannot come, unless I go away'; as though He said, 'As long as your carnal affection is occupied about My flesh, so long does your spiritual gaze not receive My divinity.'

For by the gift of the Holy Spirit He had promised that they would be led into all truth, as it is written, 'Purifying their hearts by faith' (Acts 15:9). 'But blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God' (Matt. 5:8). Therefore the bodily presence of the Lord departed from their bodily eyes; that through the Holy Spirit the divinity of the Lord might be instilled into their hearts. The gift of tongues, a sign of the presence of the Holy Spirit. Charity gathered the Church. How now each faithful one may speak with tongues. Now next let us see why then this was a sign of the presence of the Holy Spirit, that those who had received Him should speak with all tongues. For neither now, when the Holy Spirit is given, do those who receive Him speak

with all tongues, by which evident miracle He showed Himself at that time. Here it is to be understood, most dear brethren, that this is the Holy Spirit by whom the charity of God is poured forth in our hearts (Rom. 5:5). And because charity was to gather the Church of God throughout the whole world, what then even one man could do—that, receiving the Holy Spirit, he should speak with all tongues—now the very unity of the Church, gathered by the Holy Spirit, speaks with all tongues. Accordingly, if anyone should say to one of us, 'You have received the Holy Spirit; why do you not speak with all tongues?' he ought to answer, 'I do indeed speak with all tongues; because I am in that body of Christ, that is, in the Church, which speaks with all tongues.'

For what else did God then signify, but that His Church, by the presence of the Holy Spirit, would speak with all tongues? Therefore was fulfilled what the Lord had promised, 'No man puts new wine into old wineskins; but new wine he puts into new wineskins, that both may be preserved' (Matt. 9:17). Rightly, then, when they were heard to speak with all tongues, some said, 'These men are full of new wine' (Acts 2:13). For they had been made new wineskins, renewed by the grace of holiness, that, filled with new wine, that is, with the grace of the Holy Spirit, they might glow in speaking with all tongues, and might, by that most evident miracle, prefigure the catholic Church that was to be through the tongues of all nations:

and through this, heretics are rightly believed not to have the Holy Spirit, who are divided from the Body, which through all nations has been counted worthy to resound with all tongues. Who should celebrate this day spiritually. This day, therefore, most beloved, celebrate holily as members of the unity of the body of Christ. For you do not celebrate in vain, if you are that which you celebrate—cleaving to that Church which the Lord, filling it with the Holy Spirit, knows to be His own as it grows throughout the whole world, and which is acknowledged by His own as the Bridegroom by the Bride; He does not lose His own, because no one substitutes another's.

For to you, established among all nations, that is, to the Church of Christ, the members of Christ, the body of Christ, the Bride of Christ, the Apostle says, 'Forbearing one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace' (Eph. 4:2-3). See that where he enjoined that we should bear with one another, there he placed love: where he named the Spirit of unity, there he showed the bond of peace. This is the house of God, built of living stones, in which such a Father of the household delights to dwell, whose eyes the ruin of division ought not to offend. SERMON 184. On Pentecost, III. The Lord promises the Holy Spirit to His Apostles.

About to depart from this world and to ascend into heaven, our Lord and Saviour, most dear brethren, promised His Apostles that He would send the Holy Spirit to them, when He Himself had returned to God the Father. For thus, as you have now heard, He spoke to His disciples, saying: 'But when the Comforter shall come, whom I will send you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, He shall bear witness of Me' (John 15:26). The promise of the Saviour has been fulfilled, most dear ones. The Lord Jesus Christ ascended; the Holy Spirit descended. It remains that both of these be fulfilled in us, that is, that we may have the Holy Spirit who descended, and by a good life may follow Christ who ascended.

Therefore the Saviour sent us the Holy Spirit, just as He Himself promised to His disciples, saying: 'It is expedient for you that I go: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come to you; but if I go away, I will send Him to you' (John 16:7). As to what He said, 'I will send Him'; lest perhaps any of you should think that He said 'I will send' as of an inferior: or, as the heretics say, that the Holy Spirit, as though subject and serving God, obeys the One who commands. Far be this suspicion from you. For in the Trinity there is nothing less or greater: because if anything less is said to be in God, an imperfect divinity is charged. One God is to be believed in the Trinity.

Wherefore I beseech you, most dear ones, that with whole faith you believe one God in Trinity, and the Trinity in unity; lest the feet of your senses limp, or your eyes see little, or your hands become withered. For everyone who does not rightly follow the catholic faith has weak feet; he who does not see the light of truth suffers a darkness of the eyes; he who does not have the fruit of mercy is dried up with a withering of the hands. This, therefore, do; at this labor, that no portion of your members be corrupted by this weakness, that neither gluttony bristle in you, nor avarice displease, nor unbelief languish: that, thoroughly cleansed and purified, you may become the habitation of God, and the Holy Spirit who is read to have descended today.

...to be always in you... through our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns forever and ever. Amen. SERMON 185. On Pentecost, IV. 1. The opinion of certain persons concerning the Lord's Ascension on the day of Pentecost. Why he remained here for forty days after the resurrection. To your holiness, dearly beloved, the festival of our vows ought by now to be well known. For what we are to observe, and by what reason, we learn from the annual celebration itself. For when a past solemnity is rolled round again into its own tracks, we are made more instructed, as we celebrate the same feast more often. Pentecost, therefore, is observed today, that is, the fiftieth day from the Lord's resurrection: not because on this day, as very many suppose, the Savior ascended to the heavens.

For after the resurrection, having conversed with the Apostles, on the fortieth day he returned to the right hand of God the Father, as Luke the evangelist says: To whom also he showed himself alive after his passion, by many proofs, for forty days appearing to them (Acts 1:3). Throughout the course of forty days, therefore, the Savior displayed his fellowship to the disciples; namely, that we might rejoice at the grace of his resurrection by as great a number of days as we had wept over the injuries of his passion; and that for the same span of days we might be refreshed by his presence, as we had fasted in his absence. Not today, therefore, did Christ ascend to heaven; but the Spirit of Christ descended from heaven, as the Lord himself promising said:

But when I shall have ascended to the Father, I will send you the Paraclete, the Spirit of truth; and he shall teach you all things (John 16:7). A great grace indeed, a twofold joy: that we neither lost Christ as he departed, and we possess the Spirit as he comes. For we retain the one by the merit of faith, the other by the access of sanctification. 2. The coming of the Spirit establishes that Christ reigns. What the Holy Spirit teaches. He is of one substance with Christ. — When I shall have gone, he says, to the Father, I will send you the Paraclete. We believe, therefore, that the Son has reached the Father, when we see the Paraclete has descended to the Apostles. We believe, I say, that he reigns in the heavens, whom we behold bestowing gifts on the earth; as it is written through the Prophet:

Ascending on high, he led captivity captive, he gave gifts to men (Ps. 67:19). The victor assuredly bestows rewards, the victor grants gifts. Hence the Savior too, as victor, after the triumph over the devil, enriched with blessing those whom he had freed from captivity. Now he freed us when, by his own rising, he opened hell to us that we might rise again; he enriched us when, for our reigning, he unlocked the heavenly things to us through the Paraclete. For by certain steps, as it were, of advancement we then learned to return from death to life: but now we are taught to ascend from earth to the heavens, as it is written, He shall teach you all things. What does the Holy Spirit teach? Assuredly he knows how to teach what is holy. What does the Paraclete teach us?

That very thing, assuredly, which the Savior said: I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now: when that Spirit of truth shall come, he shall teach you all things (John 16:12-13). The Paraclete, therefore, is a good teacher, who teaches what Christ reserved to be said. For this the Holy Spirit teaches, which the Lord said he had yet to say. A good teacher indeed, who is the executor of the Savior's precepts. It is necessary, therefore, that he be of one substance with Christ, whom we see to be of one doctrine with Christ. 3. An exhortation. And therefore, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of the flesh, that we may be able to merit and receive the Holy Spirit.

If we forsake this world, we shall receive a Paraclete like that of the Apostles, that is, the Spirit of truth whom the Father will send us: for there is no respect of persons with God the Father; rather the things promised to the Apostles profit us, if we perform the works and desires and deeds which the Apostles did. But if by fulfilling his commandments we accomplish the undefiled law of the Lord that converts souls, we commit ourselves as heirs of the Lord and joint-heirs with Christ unto an everlasting inheritance, and unto a dwelling among the Angels with the grace of Christ: which may he himself deign to grant, who lives and reigns forever and ever. Amen. SERMON 186. On Pentecost, V. 1. This day is solemn for every age.

It excels the rest by reason of its sacred mysteries. The adornment of a perpetual gift shone forth today, when the holy congregation of the disciples was made worthy to receive the Holy Spirit. About ten days ago we celebrated the holy ascension of Christ the Lord: today the fiftieth day of the Lord's resurrection has dawned, on which day the Spirit of God shone forth with kindled charity. All the Patriarchs and Prophets accounted the solemnity of these festal days worthy of holy veneration: but this day above all they celebrated solemnly. In this number of the fiftieth reckoning there are many mysteries of holiness: which year is called the year of Remission, offering to servants the gifts of liberty.

The blessed Paul hastened to celebrate this day at Jerusalem, knowing that above all days it stands out for its wondrous sacraments. On this day, in the times already mentioned, Moses received the Law on Mount Sinai, and made known the commandments of God to the people. There God descended upon the mountain; here the Holy Spirit, shown forth in fiery tongues, came upon them. There thunders and voices; here the Fishermen flash forth aflame with diverse tongues. As the divine page just now was saying, When the days of Pentecost were being fulfilled, it says (Acts 2:1ff.), and so forth. 2. The Apostles are rightly said to be full of new wine. How beautiful, brethren, is that bond of charity, which ever presents a heart prepared to God! The concord of charity found them;

and the overflowing richness of the Godhead illumined them. The divine fire came, not burning but enlightening; not consuming but shining. It found the pure receptacles of their hearts, and freely bestowed the gifts of graces. It saw the most pure bosom of the holy vessels, and deigned to pour in new wine. Their vessels began to belch forth wine as it boiled, and to resound with the tongues of all nations. But how could those now have knowledge of the tongues of all peoples, who received within themselves the mystery of the Holy Spirit and the sacrament of the fire of grace? While many marveled at so great a secret, others deriding said, Because they are full of new wine (Acts 2:13). They spoke well indeed, though not knowing it:

for new wine, as it boils, casts out all its dregs, so as both to keep its fragrance and to store up its sweetness. New wineskins received the new wine, that they might both preserve the wine unspoiled, and themselves walk in the newness of the Holy Spirit. Concerning this Holy Spirit the prophet said, Send forth your Spirit, and they shall be created; and you shall renew the face of the earth (Ps. 103:30). Truly the face of the earth was renewed, made new for the better, when the tongue full of grace chanted the praises of the heavenly power, and sounded the songs of the Godhead. Concerning this Holy Spirit the same prophet said, By the word of the Lord the heavens were established, and by the Spirit of his mouth all their power (Ps. 32:6). He set the heavens aflame, who had made the heavens:

he sent the divine flame, and prepared his instruments for singing. Therefore, brethren, let us celebrate this day with the fear of God, since we have merited to receive the indulgence of the Holy Spirit. SERMON 187. On Pentecost, VI. The written law and the law of grace. In the upper rooms of the supper-chamber he found the Apostles, and wrote the Law in their minds, he who on the other mountain had written the Law on tablets: on tablets of stone because of the hardness of the heart of the Jews; but now in the minds of the Apostles: because there was terror, and here love. There he wrote the Law with a gleaming brightness; here he instructed the apostolic tongues in a refreshing fire. From that mountain the peoples fled, lest they should hear the voice of God speaking terribly;

here all the nations from the whole world do not flee, but gather to hear the Holy Spirit speaking through their instruments. You have heard named the Parthians, Medes, Indians and Persians, Cretans and Arabians (Acts 2:9), and the rest whom the reading of the Acts of the Apostles named: the whole world was there, the fortieth day of the Lord's ascension had gathered them: because the number of the ten commandments embraces the whole authority of the Scriptures throughout the world. Therefore four tens make forty; there remains another denarius, which is the denarius of eternal life, that the Fishermen might receive their wage from the pledge of the Holy Spirit. It has been found; that which was promised has been fulfilled. The precious tithe of the denarius, the earnest of the sacrament, has been given;

there remains the promised grace of the fifty days, and perfect gladness. The Passover season is concluded, the Alleluia falls silent, yet not with sadness; because we have received the precious pledge of the Holy Spirit: so that daily we may have comfort by his indwelling, that we may live with Christ, and through him may come again unharmed to the Passover of the age to come.