Sermon 267

SERMO 267

ON THE DAY OF PENTECOST

The solemnity of the coming of the Holy Spirit.

Today's solemnity, of the Lord God great and of great grace, which has been poured out upon us, makes us remember. For the solemnity is celebrated so that what happened once may not be erased from memory. For the solemnity derives its name from that which is customary in the year: just as the perennial nature of a river is named because it does not dry up in summer, but flows throughout the year; therefore it is called perennial, that is, throughout the year; so too solemn, which is customary to be celebrated annually. Today we celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit. For the Lord sent the Holy Spirit from heaven, whom he promised on earth. And because he had promised to send it from heaven: He cannot come, he said, unless I go away; but when I go, I will send him to you; he suffered, died, rose again, ascended: it remained that he should fulfill what he had promised. His disciples, one hundred and twenty souls as it is written, awaited this, a tenfold number of Apostles; for he chose twelve, and sent the Spirit upon one hundred and twenty: therefore, while waiting for this promise, they were in one house, praying: for they were already desiring by that faith, by that prayer, by that spiritual desire; they were new wineskins, new wine from heaven was awaited, and it came. For already that great bunch had been crushed and glorified. For we read in the Gospel: For the Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus had not yet been glorified.

The gift of tongues.

You have already heard what he answered, a great miracle. All who were present had learned one language. The Holy Spirit came; they were filled, they began to speak in various languages of all nations, which they had not known, nor had they learned: but He who had come was teaching; He entered, they were filled, He poured out. And then this was the sign, whoever received the Holy Spirit, suddenly filled with the Spirit, spoke in all tongues; not only those one hundred and twenty. The Scriptures themselves teach us, afterward the people believed, they were baptized, they received the Holy Spirit, and spoke in the languages of all nations. Those who were present were amazed, some admiring, others mocking: so that they said, These men are drunk, they are full of new wine. They laughed, and they said something true. For they were filled like wineskins with new wine. You have heard when the Gospel was read: No one puts new wine into old wineskins: the carnal does not comprehend the spiritual. Carnality is oldness, grace is newness. The more a man is renewed for the better, the more he receives, which truly tastes. The new wine was bubbling, and with the new wine bubbling, the tongues of nations were flowing.

Now is fulfilled what was then promised.

Is the Holy Spirit not given now, brothers? Anyone who thinks this is not worthy to receive it. He is given even now. Why then does no one speak in the languages of all nations as those who were filled with the Holy Spirit did back then? Why? Because what that signified has been fulfilled. What is that? When we celebrated Lent, recall that we commended to you that the Lord Jesus Christ commended His church and ascended. The disciples were asking, "When will the end of the age be?" And He said: "It is not for you to know the times or moments which the Father has placed in His own power." He was still promising what He fulfilled today: "You will receive power from the Holy Spirit coming upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." The church was then in one house; it received the Holy Spirit: it was in a few people, it was in the languages of the whole world. Behold what was signified then. For that small church spoke in the languages of all nations, what is it, except that this great church now speaks in the languages of all nations from the rising of the sun to its setting? What was then promised is now fulfilled. We have heard, we see. Hear, daughter, and see: it was said to the queen herself: Hear, daughter, and see; hear the promise, see it fulfilled. Your God has not deceived you, your bridegroom has not deceived you, He who endowed you with His blood has not deceived you: He has not deceived you who made you beautiful from foul, a virgin from unclean. You were promised to yourself: but promised in few, fulfilled in many.

The Holy Spirit is the soul of the body of the Church.

Let no one, therefore, say: I have received the Holy Spirit; why do I not speak in the tongues of all nations? If you want to have the Holy Spirit, pay attention, my brethren: our spirit by which every man lives is called the soul; our spirit by which each individual man lives is called the soul: and you see what the soul does in the body. It enlivens all the members; it sees through the eyes, hears through the ears, smells through the nostrils, speaks through the tongue, works through the hands, walks through the feet: it is present simultaneously in all the members so that they may live; it gives life to all, functions to each. The eye does not hear, the ear does not see, the tongue does not see, nor does the ear and the eye speak; but yet they live: the ear lives, the tongue lives; the roles are different, the life is common. So it is with the Church of God: in some saints, it performs miracles, in some saints, it speaks the truth, in some saints, it preserves virginity, in some saints, it maintains conjugal chastity, in some this, in some that: each does its own work, but they live equally. Now what the soul is to the body of man, this the Holy Spirit is to the body of Christ, which is the Church: the Holy Spirit does in the whole Church what the soul does in all the members of one body. But see what you must beware of, see what you must observe, see what you must fear. It happens that in the human body, or rather from the body, some member is cut off, a hand, a finger, a foot; does the soul follow what is cut off? When it was in the body, it lived; once cut off, it loses life. So too the Christian man is catholic, as long as he lives in the body; once cut off, he becomes a heretic, a severed member does not have the spirit. Therefore, if you wish to live by the Holy Spirit, hold to love, love the truth, desire unity, so that you may attain to eternity. Amen.