Sermon 268
SERMO 268
ON THE DAY OF PENTECOST
The unity of the church [is] in the languages of all nations.
Because of the coming of the Holy Spirit, today is a solemn day for us, the fiftieth from the resurrection of the Lord, multiplied by seven weeks. But if you count seven weeks, you will find forty-nine: one is added, so that unity may be commended to us. What did the coming of the Holy Spirit itself do? How did it teach its presence? How did it show itself? All spoke in the tongues of all nations. But there were one hundred and twenty in one place: the sacred number of the twelve Apostles was multiplied tenfold by mystery. Therefore, what? Did the individual ones upon whom the Holy Spirit came speak in the individual tongues of all nations, one in one tongue, another in another, and as if they divided among themselves the tongues of all nations? Not so: but each person, one person, spoke in the tongues of all nations. One person spoke in the tongues of all nations: the unity of the Church in the tongues of all nations. Behold also here, the unity of the Catholic Church, spread throughout the whole world, is commended.
Outside the Church there is no Holy Spirit.
Whoever, therefore, has the Holy Spirit is in the Church, which speaks in the tongues of all. Whoever is outside this Church does not have the Holy Spirit. For this reason, the Holy Spirit deigned to show Himself in all the tongues of the nations, so that he who is contained in the unity of the Church, which speaks in all tongues, may understand that he has the Holy Spirit. The Apostle Paul says: One body, and one spirit. Consider our members. The body is made up of many members, and one spirit animates all the members. See, with my human spirit, by which I am a human being, I gather all the members: I command the members to move, I direct the eyes to see, the ears to hear, the tongue to speak, the hands to work, the feet to walk. The duties of the members are distributed, but one spirit contains all. Many commands are given, many things are done: one commands, one is served. That is our spirit, that is, our soul, to our members; this is the Holy Spirit to the members of Christ, to the body of Christ, which is the Church. Therefore the Apostle, when he named one body, lest we understand it as a dead body, said, One body. But I ask you, does this body live? It lives. How? From one spirit. And one spirit. Therefore, consider, brothers, in our body and pity those who are cut off from the Church. In our members, as long as we live, when we are healthy, all the members fulfill their duties. If one member suffers from any place, all the members sympathize. Yet, because it is in the body, it can suffer, it cannot expire. For what does it mean "to expire," if not to lose the spirit? But indeed if a member is cut off from the body, does the spirit follow? And yet the member is recognized as what it is; it is a finger, a hand, an arm, an ear: apart from the body it has form, but it does not have life. So also the man separated from the Church. You inquire of him about the sacrament, you find it: you inquire about Baptism, you find it: you inquire about the creed, you find it. There is form: if you are not inwardly animated by the spirit, you boast in vain about the form outside.
Unity commended by God in the beginning of creation.
Beloved, God greatly commends unity. This very thing should move you, that in the beginning of creation, when God established all things, He made the stars in the sky, and on earth the herbs and trees; He said: Let the earth bring forth, and the trees and all greenery were brought forth; He said: Let the waters bring forth swimming creatures and birds, and it was so; Let the earth bring forth the living soul of all cattle and wild beasts, and it was so. Did God make all the other birds from one bird? Did He make all the fish from one fish? From one horse all horses? From one beast all beasts? Did not the earth bring forth many things simultaneously, and filled many with diverse offspring? It came to making man, and one was made; from one, the human race. Nor did He wish to make two separately, male and female: but one, and from one, one. Why so? Why does the human race start from one, if not because unity is commended to the human race? And the Lord Christ is from one, the unity of a virgin; he maintains virginity, preserves incorruption.
The Lord commends the unity of the Church to the Apostles.
The Lord himself commends the unity of the Church to the Apostles: he shows himself, they think they see a spirit: they are frightened, they are confirmed, it is said to them: Why are you troubled, and thoughts arise in your heart? See my hands: touch and see, for a spirit has not bones and flesh, as you see me having. Behold, yet they are troubled with joy, he takes food, not out of necessity, but by power; he takes it before them: he commends the truth of the body against the wicked, he commends the unity of the Church. For what does he say? Are not these the things which I spoke to you, while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses, and the Prophets, and the Psalms concerning me? Then he opened their understanding, the Gospel speaks, so they might understand the Scriptures. And he said to them, Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day. Behold our head; behold the head, where are the members? Behold the bridegroom, where is the bride? Read the matrimonial tables: hear the bridegroom. Do you seek the bride? Hear from him: no one takes his own from him, no one substitutes another: hear from him. Where do you seek Christ? In the fables of men, or in the truth of the Gospels? He suffered, rose the third day, showed himself to his disciples. Now we have him: where do we seek her? Let us ask him: It was necessary for Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day. Behold, it is done, it is seen. Say, O Lord; you say, Lord, lest we err: And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. It began at Jerusalem, and came to us. And it is there, and here. For he did not depart from there that he might come to us: he grew, he did not migrate. This he commended right after his resurrection. He made with them forty days: about to ascend into heaven he again commended the Church itself. The bridegroom about to go commended his bride to his friends: not that they might love any of them; but him as the bridegroom, them as friends of the bridegroom, none of them as the bridegroom. This is what the friends of the bridegroom are zealous for, and do not admit her to be corrupted by illicit love. They hate when she is loved in this way. Observe the zealous friend of the bridegroom: when he saw the bride in a way committing fornication through the friends of the bridegroom, he said: I hear there are divisions among you, and in part I believe it. It has been reported to me about you, brethren, by those who are of Chloe, that there are contentions among you, and each one of you says: I am of Paul; I am of Apollos; I am of Cephas; I am of Christ. Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you, or were you baptized in the name of Paul? O friend! He repels the love of another’s bride from himself. He does not want to be loved as the bridegroom, so he can reign with the bridegroom. Therefore the Church is commended: and when he ascended into heaven, he said to those who were inquiring about the end of the world: Tell us, when will these things happen, and what will be the time of your coming? And he said: It is not for you to know the times or periods which the Father has set by his own authority. Hear what you should know from the teacher, disciple: But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. And it happened: on the fortieth day he ascended into heaven, and behold, on this very day the Holy Spirit coming, filled all who were present, they spoke in the tongues of all nations. Again the same unity is commended through the tongues of all nations. It is commended by the Lord rising, commended by Christ ascending; confirmed by the Holy Spirit coming today.