Third Sermon for the Feast of Pentecost: On the Different Ways in Which the Holy Ghost Is Communicated
“ Create a clean heart in me, O God, and renew the Right Spirit within my bowels.
“ Cast me not away from Thy face, and take not Thy Holy Spirit from me.
“ Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation, and strengthen me with the Principal Spirit.” —Ps. l. 12-14.
The Holy Spirit of God, Whose feast, Whose great feast we are celebrating to-day—and would I might say, with great devotion !—He knows well how gladly I share with you, dearest brethren, whatever lights His Sovereign Majesty condescends to impart to me. He it is Who makes you dwell in peace together, not in one city, but in the same house (Ps. lxvii. 7), so that He may repose upon the reposeful and rest upon the humble and them that tremble at His words (Is. lxvi. 2). It is He also Who of old overshadowed Mary (Luke i. 35), tempering the force of the descending Godhead to the weakness of her virginal frame ; and Who fortified the apostles, “‘enduing them with power from on high ” (Luke xxiv. 49), that is to say, with the most fervent charity. For charity it was which the holy apostles put on, as a giant his breastplate, “ to execute vengeance upon the nations, chastisements among the people; to bind their kings with fetters, and their nobles with manacles of iron” (Ps. cxlix. 7, 8). Having been sent into the house of the “ strong man ” to bind 306
~
WAYS HOLY GHOST IS COMMUNICATED 307 him fast and to despoil him of his goods (Mark iii. 27), it was necessary for them to bearmed with superior strength. How indeed could they have triumphed over death, how was it possible that the gates of hell should not prevail against them (Matt. xvi. 18), if they had not dwelling in them that which alone could conquer in them: the love that is “ strong as death,” the zeal that is “hard as hell” (Cant. viii. 6)? It was with this holy zeal they were really intoxicated when the Jews declared them to be drunk with wine. It may be granted, however, that they were drunk with wine, yet not with that wine which the incredulous imagined. Yes, I allow that they were intoxicated, but with “new wine” (Acts ii. 13), which the old bottles were not worthy to receive nor strong enough to contain (Mark ii. 22). For this wine has been poured down from heaven by Christ, the true Vine (John xv. 5). It is the wine which “cheereth the heart of man ” (Ps. ciii. 15), instead of subverting his reason; the wine which “ causeth virgins to spring forth ” (Zach. ix. 17), not that which ‘‘maketh wise men to fall off’’ (Ecclus. xix. 2). It is new wine, I say, but only to us who dwell upon the earth. For in heaven there has always been a superabundance of it, although it is not there kept either in bottles or in earthen vessels, but in spiritual wine-cellars and store-rooms (Cant. ii. 4). It has been always flowing through the streets and ways of the city of God, that wine wherein is joy of spirit, not luxury of the flesh (Ephes. v. 18). But the “ earthborn and the sons of men ” (Ps. xlviii. 3) had no knowledge of this kind of wine until the day of Pentecost.
Thus the citizens of heaven possessed a species of wine proper to themselves and unknown as yet to the inhabitants of earth. The earth, however, was not without its own consolation, since it could boast of the Humanity of Christ, for the joy of Whose presence all in heaven were thirsting. Why, then, should not there be a most just and most friendly commerce between heaven and earth, between the angels and the apostles, the wine of the Spirit being exchanged for the Body of Christ, so that heaven might become the home of the Lord’s Humanity and earth the dwelling place of the Holy Ghost, and that thus all things might henceforth be common to all? “If I go not,” said the Saviour to His disciples, “ the Paraclete will not come to you” (John xvi. 7). That is to say, ‘‘ Unless you relinquish what you love you shall not get what you desire. ‘It is expedient to you, therefore, that I go’ (ibid.). And you yourselves also I purpose to translate from earth to heaven, from the flesh to the spirit.” For the Son is a Spirit, and the Father is a Spirit, and the Holy Ghost is a Spirit. Of the Son the Prophet says, “A Spirit before our face is Christ the Lord’’ (Lam. iv. 20). The Father too, is a Spirit, and because He is a Spirit, He seeketh such as shall “adore Him in spirit and in truth” (John iv. 23). But the Holy Ghost is called a Spirit as it were in a particular sense, because He proceeds by way of spiration from the Father and Son, being the most secure and indissoluble Bond of the Blessed Trinity; and He is called holy also by appropriation, because He is the Gift of the other two Persons, by Whom holiness is produced in every creature. Nevertheless, the Father is equally a Spirit and equally holy, and the Son is equally a Spirit and equally holy: the one all-holy and Divine Spirit “ of Whom and by Whom and in
WAYS HOLY GHOST IS COMMUNICATED 309
Whom are all things,” as the Apostle speaks (Rom. Ee Opt
My brethren, there are three questions which we ought to ponder with regard to the things which compose the great world about us: what they are? how they are disposed? and for what purpose have they been made? The existing universe speaks to our minds of the incomprehensible power. which could produce things so many, so great, so multiform, and so magnificent. In the disposition of its parts there is revealed to us an incomparable wisdom whereby some bodies are placed above, others below, others in the centre, in a most orderly collocation. But if you reflect on the end for which the world was made, you will discover such beneficent kindness, such kind beneficence as ought to overwhelm with gratitude even the most ungrateful by reason of the multitude and the magnitude of its useful effects. Thus the Creator has manifested the infinitude of His power in producing ail things from nothing, He has manifested the infinitude of His wisdom in disposing all things in beautiful order, and the infinitude of His goodness in ordaining all things to our profit. Nevertheless, we know that there have been many from the beginning, and we see there are many still amongst the children of men, who, immersed in the sensual enjoyment of the inferior goods of this visible world, devote all their attention to the things that are made, neglecting to consider in what order they have been made or for what end. Do not such persons deserve to becalled carnally-minded ? On the other hand, we learn from history that there were some in
*Ciot. Thomas, p 1. qd- XXXVL a. I, and q. xxXVill. a. I; also A Lapide on this verse.
former times—I believe they have very few successors, if any at all, in our own day—whose all-engrossing occupation and only care it was to investigate the laws and disposition of natural objects, so that for the most part they not merely disdained to inquire about the utility of things for human ends, but magnanimously despised them under this aspect, using only the vilest of them for food, and in the scantiest measure. These men called themselves philosophers; but in my opinion, they should rather becalled the slaves of curiosity and pride.
To both of these classes of men there has succeeded another more prudent than either, the class of those, namely, who, without troubling themselves overmuch to find out what things have been made, or in what order, give all their attention to the task of discovering the purpose of these things. Nor has it escaped such inquirers that the “Lord hath made all things for Himself” (Prov. xvi. 4), and all things also for His elect (x Cor. iii. 22). Not in the same sense, however, did He make them for His own sake and for ours. For when it is said that He made all things for Himself, we have commended to us the first origin and source of all things; but when we are told He made all things for His elect, we are reminded of the fruit to ourselves from the works of His hand. He hath made all things for His own sake, because all have proceeded from His own gratuitous goodness ; and He hath made all things for His elect, because all are destined for their utility ; so that the divine goodness is the efficient cause, and man’s profit the final.* They of this third class are spiritual men who “use this world as if they used it not” (x Cor.
WAYS HOLY GHOST IS COMMUNICATED 311 vii. 31) and “seek God in simplicity of heart” (Wisdom i. 1), with but little curiosity to know about the revolution of the spheres.* Such persons are filled with divine truth, as those of the first class are filled with pleasure and those of the second with vanity.
.I rejoice to know, dearest brethren, that you belong to this third school, the school of the Holy Ghost, where you are being taught “‘ goodness and discipline and knowledge” (Ps. cxviii. 66), so that each one of you can say with the Psalmist, “ I have understood more than all my teachers” (ibid. 99). Wherefore, O my brother, dost thou make such a boast? Is it because thou art clothed with purple and fine linen and feastest more sumptuously than any one else? (Luke xvi. 19). Or perhaps it is because thou hast understood or hast endeavoured to understand the reasonings of Plato and the subtleties of Aristotle? ‘God forbid!” thou answerest, ‘‘ It is because I have sought Thy commandments, O Lord” (Ps. cxviii. 100). Happy the man who reposes in this nuptial couch of the Holy Ghost so that he may be able to understand that threefold Spirit of Whom the same servant of the Lord, “ wise above the ancients” (ibid.), exclaimed and sang, “Cast me not away from Thy face, and take not Thy Holy Spirit from me ” (Ps.1. 13), “ Create a clean heart in me, O God, and renew the Right Spirit within my bowels” (ibid. 12), “ Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation, and strengthen me with the Principal Spirit ” (ibid. 14). By the Holy Spirit we must understand Him Who is properly and personally designated by this title. The Prophet, therefore, prayed that he might not be cast away from the presence of the Holy Ghost as something unclean, because the Spirit of God abhors filthiness and will not “ dwell in a body subject to sins” (Wisdom i. 4). For as it is proper to Him to banish sin, so also is it proper to Him to hate sin: neither can infinite Purity and the foulness of corruption dwell together in the same abode. Accordingly, when one has received the Holy Ghost through the grace of sanctity, “without which no man shall see God ” (Heb. xii. 14), may one now presume to appear before His face, as being washed and cleansed, in so far forth that he now abstains from every kind of evil conduct, and is able to confine his actions, if not his involuntary thoughts, within the limits appointed by reason ? No, dearest brethren, but inasmuch as evil and “ perverse thoughts separate us from God” (Wisdom i. 3), I must implore Him to “create a clean heart in me,” which He will do by “ renewing the Right Spirit within my bowels.” In my judgment, this “ Right Spirit’ may be taken not improperly to mean the Son of God, Who, stripping us of the old man, has clothed us in the new (Ephes. iv. 22-24 ; Col. iii. 9, 10), Who has renewed us in the spirit of our mind (Ephes. iv. 23), as it were in our bowels, to the end that we may think what is right, and may walk in the “ newness of the Spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter”? (Rom. vii. 6). For Christ brought the pattern of all righteousness with Him from heaven and left it behind upon earth, where He mingled and combined rectitude and sweetness in every one of His works as the Psalmist foretold of Him when he said, “ The Lord is sweet and righteous, therefore He will give a law to sinners in the way ” (Ps. xxiv. 8). Having therefore chastened my body by holiness of action and cleansed or rather renewed my heart by rectitude of thought, I shall have restored to me now
WAYS HOLY GHOST IS COMMUNICATED 313 the joy of God’s salvation, so that I may begin to “ walk in the light of His countenance and to exult in His name all the day long ” (Ps. lxxxviii. 17).
What more remains except that I be strengthened by the “ Principal Spirit’’* This Principal Spirit I take to be God the Father; not because I think Him greater than the other two Persons, but because He alone is without origin, the Son being generated by Him and the Holy Ghost proceeding from Him and the Son. But in what particularly will the Principal Spirit strengthen me? Doubtless in the virtue of charity. For what other gift would be worthy of the Father ? What other kindness could be so paternal ? Hear how the Apostle cries out, “ Who then shali separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation? or distress? or famine? or nakedness? or danger ? or persecution ? or the sword ? ” (Rom. viii. 35). But be “sure that neither death nor life” nor any of the other things which the Apostle goes on to mention in such number and with such boldness “ shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus” (ibid. 38, 39). Does not every word of this passage prove what I have said about our being strengthened in charity? Knowest thou “how to possess thy vessel in sanctification and honour, not in the passion of lust” (x Thess. iv. 4,2)? If so, thou hast received the Holy Spirit. Hast thou the will to do to other men all things whatsoever thou wouldst that they should do to thee (Matt. vii. 12), and to abstain from doing to another that which thou art unwilling should be done to thyself? If so, be assured that thou hast also received the “ Right Spirit,” given to guide thee in thy intercourse with thy neighbour. For that is the righteousness enjoined as well by the law which God has implanted in our hearts as by that which He has revealed to us through the Holy Scripture. Furthermore, if thou perseverest with constancy in both these graces, viz., holiness of body and rectitude of mind, and in all that appertains to them, thou hast certainly received the “ Principal Spirit,” thou hast the one disposition which God approves: for that which is changeable, which exists now and is now no more, cannot be acceptable to Him Who alone truly is. He Who is eternal cannot take pleasure in what is momentary. Consequently, if thou desirest that God shall choose thee for His own, let it be thy anxious concern to exhibit to His eyes, Who is the true Prince and “‘ Father of Spirits ” (Heb. xii. 9), this “ Principal Spirit,” just as thou must have the Holy Spirit for the sanctification of thy body, and the “ Right Spirit” to regulate thy conduct towards thy neighbour.
Manifold in truth is the Spirit of God (Wisdom vii. 22) Who is so variously communicated to the children of men that “there is no one that can hide himself from His heat” (Ps. xviii. 7). For He is given to provide for our daily needs, He is given for the working of miracles, He is given for our salvation, He is given for our help, He is given for our comfort, He is given to excite us to fervour. With regard to the necessities of our daily life, the Spirit furnishes the common good things in the greatest plenty to both the just and the wicked, to the worthy and the unworthy alike, so that He seems in this matter to observe no
WAYS HOLY GHOST IS COMMUNICATED 315 distinction between friends and enemies. He surely deserves to be considered an ingrate who does not acknowledge the bounty of the Holy Ghost even in such material benefits. The Spirit communicates Himself for the working of miracles in signs and prodigies and other supernatural operations which He effects by the hands of whomsoever He pleases, renewing the wonders of bygone times, so that the events of the present may confirm our belief as to those of the past. But inasmuch as many receive even the gift of miracles without profit to themselves, the Spirit is given us in a third grace unto saivation, when we return with our whole heart to the Lord our God. He is given for. our help when in all our conflicts with the enemies of our salvation He “helpeth our infirmity ” (Rom. viii. 26). And He is communicated for our consolation as often as He “ giveth testimony to our spirit that we are the sons of God” (ibid. 16). He is given finally to fill us with fervour, when breathing with power upon the hearts of the perfect, He enkindles within them a strong fire of charity, so that they now begin not only to “ glory in the hope of the glory of the sons of God” (Rom. v. 2), but to “ glory also in tribulations ” (ibid. 3), counting insult as honour, opprobrium as joy, contempt as exaltation. We have all, I think, received the Spirit unto salvation, but not to all has He been given unto fervour. In fact, only very few appear to be filled with this spirit of fervour, very few show any desire to obtain it. We are content with our own cramped littleness, and make no endeavour to rejoice in or at least to aspire to the liberty of spirit which that spirit confers. Let us pray, dearest brethren, that in us may be accomplished the days of Pentecost, the days of remission, the days of exultation, the days of the true jubilee (Lev. xxv. ro). Let us pray that the Holy Spirit may always find us, as He found the disciples, assembled in the same place, not only by bodily presence, in virtue of our promised stability, but also by the union of hearts resulting from mutual charity, unto the praise and glory of the Bridegroom of the Church, Jesus Christ our Lord, ‘‘ Who is over all things, God blessed for ever. Amen” (Rom. ix. 5).
Footnotes
Chapter 36 of 55