Sermon 272B augm

Sermon 272/B augmented

Sermon of Saint Augustine on Pentecost

Christ renewed the disciples by the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Today I believe that your love knows to celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit of the Lord to the Church: for the Lord promised to send the Holy Spirit to his apostles, and according to his most faithful promise he certainly fulfilled what he promised. For just as the resurrection of the Lord confirmed his divinity to men in faith, who for our sake was deemed worthy to become man, so much more the ascent into heaven, and more fully and perfectly by the gift of the Holy Spirit which he sent and filled his disciples, now made new wineskins, so they could receive new wine - therefore when they spoke with tongues, they were said to be drunk and full of must. The voice of those hearing was a testimony to the Lord’s Scripture: for no one puts new wine into old wineskins, the Lord had said. Thus he was preparing new wine for new wineskins. For they were old wineskins as long as they thought carnally about Christ. For the saying of the apostle Peter belonged to the old wineskin, when the Lord said to him who feared that Christ might die and perish in the same way as other men: Get behind me, Satan; you are a scandal to me. This wavering of Peter belonged to the old wineskin. But when the Lord rose again, and showed himself to them, and they touched what they had mourned hanging on the cross; they saw living limbs, which they had mourned as dead and buried; they were confirmed in faith and believed in him. He ascended into heaven, and commands them to gather together in one place and there wait until he should send his promise. Therefore, gathered together in one place, praying and desiring the promise, they shed the old self and put on the new self. Thus made now capable, they received the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. And it is not without reason that we celebrate this great and most evident sacrament today. Let your holiness consider how the old and new Scriptures agree: for there grace is promised, here it is given; there it is prefigured, here it is perfected. As if some craftsman of molded things from metal, bronze, or silver first composes the forms he is to cast in wax, and the first shadowing foreshadows the future solid form - for he makes the very forms which he will fill -, so also the Lord outlined and shaped all things in the old people with figures, but in the new people he filled them with the most perfect outpouring. What, then, is that form and what is this fulfillment on the day of Pentecost, let your holiness consider more attentively: it is worth the effort of your attention; it is learned with great profit, when what is said is heard more attentively. Surely, you too are new wineskins, so that through our ministry you can receive the wine.

Jews and Christians celebrate the day of Pentecost.

We are often asked: "If we celebrate the day of Pentecost because of the coming of the Holy Spirit, why do the Jews celebrate Pentecost?" For they too have Pentecost. You heard this morning, those of you who were attentive, when the reading from Tobit was read in memory of the blessed Theogenes, that on the day of Pentecost he prepared a meal, intending to invite some of his own who were worthy to share the table with him, because of their fear of the Lord. He says, "On the day of Pentecost, which is holy from the weeks." For seven times seven make forty-nine: one is added here for unity, so that we return to the head, because unity confirms all multitude, and multitude, unless bound by unity, is contentious and quarrelsome; but a multitude that consorts makes one soul, just as those who received the Holy Spirit, as Scripture says, had one soul and one heart towards God. Therefore, fifty are made, which is the sacrament of Pentecost. Why then do the Jews celebrate it, unless because it was a figure there? Pay attention: you know - and there is no Christian at all who is ignorant of what I am going to say - that the lamb is killed among the Jews and the Passover is celebrated as a figure of the future passion of the Lord. For this was also commanded to them, to seek a lamb from goats and sheep. Where can a lamb be found from goats and sheep? But what was commanded there as impossible was announcing the future possibility of the Lord: for a lamb was found from goats and sheep, because our Lord Jesus Christ, according to the flesh born from the seed of David, has his origin from sinners and the just. You find in the origin of the Lord, according to the generations that the evangelists recount, both many sinners and the just: therefore, he also called such, that is, sinners, because he came through such. For he gathers his Church from the just and sinners, intending to send the just to the kingdom of heaven and to separate sinners who persist in sins and iniquity; yet he came to bear our sins so that he would not disdain to accept the origin of sinners. And there are many sacraments there, in those very generations, which God will provide a time to explain to your holiness. But now let us return to what we had begun.

"The law reveals the guilty, grace frees."

We were speaking about the day of Pentecost, why the Jews celebrate that very day. They kill a lamb, the killing of the paschal lamb: thus we also celebrate Passover, where a lamb without blemish, truly a lamb, was slain, to whom John bore witness saying: Behold the Lamb of God, behold him who takes away the sins of the world; we celebrate Passover with his suffering. The law was given to the Jews in fear; the Holy Spirit was given to Christians in grace. They could not fulfill the law through fear, and through that same law they were found guilty. The law has five books; five colonnades surrounded Solomon's pool, but they carried the sick, and could heal none of them. The five colonnades carried the sick, where they lay, just as in the books no one was healed. Why no one? Because of pride. For when they think they can fulfill what is commanded by their own strength, they did not fulfill what was commanded. And the law was against them, in which they are found guilty, until they cry out, as we said to your holiness this morning: Wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death? The grace of God through Jesus Christ our Lord. The law therefore shows the guilty, grace liberates from guilt; the law threatens, grace soothes; the law intends punishment, grace promises forgiveness. Yet the same things are commanded in the law and in grace; and therefore that law is said to be written by the finger of God. So we have written.

The finger of God is the Holy Spirit.

But let us inquire what the finger of God is in the Gospel, and we will find out. What does the finger of God mean? For God does not truly have such a bodily form as we have. Does He see from one part and not see from another? Or is the figure of His members limited, who is whole everywhere and present in all things? What, then, is the finger of God? The Holy Spirit. Pay attention: how do we prove this? From the Gospel. For sometimes what one evangelist says figuratively, another says more explicitly in the same passage. There is a certain place in the Gospel where the Jews said concerning the Lord that He casts out demons in the name of Beelzebub. But the Lord answered: "If I cast out demons by the finger of God, then surely the kingdom of God has come upon you." Another evangelist explains the same passage saying: "If I cast out demons by the Holy Spirit, then the kingdom of God has come upon you." Therefore, when one evangelist says the finger of God, the other explains it to show us that the Holy Spirit is the finger of God. Let us not seek the fingers of flesh in God, but let us understand why the Holy Spirit is called the finger. Because the apostles received the distribution of the gifts by the Holy Spirit, and in the fingers the division of the hand appears: there is calculation and distribution. Why then do the Jews celebrate Pentecost? A great mystery, brothers, and wholly marvelous: if you consider, on the day of Pentecost they received the law written by the finger of God, and on the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit came.

The law was written by the finger of God.

But it is necessary to prove this about the law given, which the Jews received on stone tablets - however, it signified the hardness of their hearts -, yet written by the finger of God, because all that is written there is also commanded for Christians, but already, as the Apostle says, not on stone tablets but on tablets of fleshly hearts. This, therefore, is the difference, because it was written in their hard hearts and not fulfilled, the same law is given into believing hearts and is easy and eternal for Christians. Therefore, that was stone; but the hearts of Christians were fertile soil, which can bear fruit. Therefore, the Lord in the Gospel, when that woman was brought to Him who had been found in adultery - and they wanted to stone her according to the law, but the Lord wanted her to sin no more, being ready to forgive her sin -, said to those who wanted to stone her, since they themselves were stony-hearted: If any of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her. And when He said this, He bowed down and began to write on the ground with His finger; but they, realizing their own consciences, went away one by one, from the oldest to the youngest, and the woman was left alone. The Lord then lifted up His head and said to her: Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you? She said: No one, Lord. And the Lord said: Neither do I condemn you. Go now and sin no more. What did this indulgence signify? Grace. What did that hardness signify? The law given on stones. Hence the Lord was writing with His finger, but now on the ground, from which fruit can be received. Whatever is sown on stone, however, does not come forth because it cannot put forth a root. The finger of God, and the finger of God: the law was written by the finger of God; the finger of God, the Holy Spirit.

"On the day of Pentecost, the Jews received the law."

The law was given on the day of Pentecost, and the Holy Spirit came on the day of Pentecost. But we had said we would prove that the Jews received the law on the fiftieth day from the Passover which we celebrate. They have the command to slaughter a lamb and celebrate the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month. Seventeen days remain in the month since you count the fourteenth day, from which the Passover begins. They arrived at the desert where the law was given, and thus the Scripture says: In the third month, after the people were brought out of Egypt, the Lord spoke to Moses so that those who were to receive the law would purify themselves on the third day, on which the law was to be given. At the beginning of the third month, purification is commanded for the third day, and the Passover begins... Beware that the numbers do not deceive you and obscure your understanding. As much as we are able, we will explain it, with the Lord agreeing. If your intent helps us, you will quickly see what is said; if not, anything I say will be obscure, even if spoken very clearly. Therefore, the Passover is declared on the fourteenth day of the month; and purification is commanded, so that the law would be given on the mountain written by the finger of God - the finger of God is the Holy Spirit: remember, for we have proven this from the Gospel. Purification is declared for the third day of the third month. So, from the first month, subtract thirteen, and there remain seventeen to begin from the fourteenth; add the entire second month: that makes forty-seven days; from the very day of purification to the third day makes fifty days. Nothing is clearer, nothing is more evident, because on the day of Pentecost the Jews received the law.

The grace of the Holy Spirit makes the yoke of Christ gentle.

But it was a burden to the hard, it was a weight to the hard. But the Lord came with grace and cries out: Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will refresh you. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me because I am meek and humble of heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. How is His yoke easy? The Law threatens, He comforts. The Law says: "If you do not do it, I will punish"; Christ says: "Whatever you have done, I forgive; henceforth see that you do not sin." Therefore, His yoke is easy, and His burden is light. But let us become new wineskins, let us expect His grace intently: we will be greatly filled with the Holy Spirit, and through the Holy Spirit, there will be love in us, already heated with new wine and intoxicated with that inebriating and glorious chalice, so that we forget those worldly things that held us, just as the martyrs forgot when they went to their passion - they forgot both children and wives, and parents throwing dust on their heads, and mothers showing their breasts, separating their offspring from milk with reproach; they forgot everything and did not recognize their own. Why are you surprised if someone does not recognize his own? The man is drunk. But from what is he drunk? From love. And from where is love? From the finger of God, from the Holy Spirit, from Him who came at Pentecost.

"Love fulfills the law."

From where do we prove that love is from the Holy Spirit and fulfills the law? The Apostle says: The fullness of the law is love, and in another place: Love of neighbor does no harm. For "you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not kill, you shall not covet," and if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this word: you shall love your neighbor as yourself, because love fulfills the law. But from where do we prove that love is from the Holy Spirit? Hear the Apostle saying that we glory in tribulations. Through tribulations the Jews were compelled to fulfill the law, and they could not; Christians were not separated from the law by tribulations, but rather they ran towards the law. See what I say, brothers. Punishment was placed on the Jews, that anyone who sacrificed to idols would be stoned or crucified; yet because fear oppressed them, not love held them: they did not fear because they were conquered by desire, and they followed after idols, where the cross, where the threat of death and stoning loomed, and they were not recalled by these punishments. Afterwards, because love and fear came, love followed. The Gospel was preached to the nations; when they began to be threatened with fire, crosses, and beasts if they sacrificed to idols, they suffered all those things which the kings threatened and inflicted on them, yet their hearts did not turn to idols. By the same punishments that could not recall those from idols, Christians could not be compelled to idols, because now love was from the Holy Spirit. But also, the Apostle says, we glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation works patience, patience proof— for we wish to prove that love, which fulfills God's law, is from the Holy Spirit— for tribulation works patience, patience proof, proof hope; and hope does not put to shame, because the love of God is poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

The Holy Spirit is like a ring given by Christ to the Church.

Therefore, brothers, we celebrate the anniversary of the coming of the Holy Spirit, but the Holy Spirit ought to be in our hearts every day. Nor should we think that this day alone should be a festivity, but not on other days: let us not celebrate in one day, but at all times, so that we may be found not rejected, but approved on the day of the Lord when He comes, so that those to whom He has given the pledge, He may lead into eternal possession. For Christ has betrothed His Church, He has sent the Holy Spirit to her. This Spirit is given as a ring. He who gave the ring will also grant immortality in rest. Let us love Him, let us hope in Him, let us believe in Him.

Come in the morning hours a little earlier for the hymns of God. Others are intoxicated with the wine of the earthly vine in which there is debauchery, and we should be intoxicated with the songs of God; praising the Lord with saving songs, let us at times forget the earth so that we may deserve to be lifted from earth to heaven, by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ who lives and reigns with God the Father.