On Pentecost, First Sermon

Dearly beloved, the hearts of all catholics know that today’s festival is to be honored as one of the chief feasts. Nor is there any doubt that great reverence is owed to this day, which the Holy Spirit has made holy by the miracle of his most excellent gift. For counting from the day on which the Lord ascended above all the heights of heaven to sit at the right hand of God the Father, this is the tenth day that has dawned, and the fiftieth from his resurrection, and it falls on the very day on which it began. It holds within itself great revelations of mysteries both new and old, by which it is shown most plainly that grace was announced beforehand through the Law, and that the Law was fulfilled through grace. For long ago, when the Hebrew nation had been set free from the Egyptians, the Law was given on Mount Sinai on the fiftieth day after the lamb was sacrificed. In the same way, after the suffering of Christ, in which the true Lamb of God was slain, the Holy Spirit came down on the apostles and on the multitude of believers on the fiftieth day from his resurrection. So the earnest Christian may easily see that the beginnings of the Old Testament prepared the way for the beginnings of the good news, and that the second covenant was founded by the same Spirit who had established the first. [a]

For as the story of the apostles testifies: “While the days of Pentecost were being fulfilled, and all the disciples were together in the same place, suddenly there came from heaven a sound as of a violent wind coming, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them divided tongues as of fire, and it sat on each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak in other tongues, as the Holy Spirit gave them utterance.” Oh, how swift are the words of wisdom! And where God is the teacher, how quickly what is taught is learned! No interpretation is needed in order to understand, no practice in order to use, no time in order to study. But as the Spirit of truth blows where he wills, the languages that belong to each nation become common property on the lips of the church. And so from that day the trumpet of the preaching of the good news has sounded loud. From that day the showers of gracious gifts and the rivers of blessings have watered every desert and all the dry land. For to renew the face of the earth the Spirit of God “moved over the waters,” and to drive away the old darkness flashes of new light shone out, when the blaze of those busy tongues kindled the Lord’s bright word and fervent eloquence. In that eloquence, to rouse the understanding and to burn up sin, there lay both a power to give light and a power to burn. [c]

But although, dearly beloved, the outward form of what happened was exceedingly wonderful, and there is no doubt that the majesty of the Holy Spirit was present in that joyful chorus of every human language, still no one must think that his divine substance appeared in what was seen with bodily eyes. For his nature, which is invisible and shared in common with the Father and the Son, showed the character of his gift and work by the outward sign that pleased him, but kept what is essentially his own within his own Godhead. Human sight can no more see the Holy Spirit than it can see the Father or the Son. For in the divine Trinity nothing is unlike or unequal, and nothing that can be thought about its substance admits any difference, whether in power or in glory or in eternity. And while, in what is proper to each Person, the Father is one, the Son is another, and the Holy Spirit is another, still the Godhead is not separate and different. For while the Son is the only Son of the Father, the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of the Father and the Son. He is not so in the way that every creature is the creature of the Father and the Son, but as living and having power with both, and as eternally subsisting from that which is the Father and the Son. That is why, when the Lord promised his disciples the coming of the Holy Spirit before the day of his passion, he said: “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. But when he, the Spirit of truth, has come, he will guide you into all the truth. For he will not speak from himself, but whatever he has heard he will speak, and he will announce to you things to come. All things that the Father has are mine; that is why I said that he will take of what is mine and will announce it to you.” Accordingly, there are not some things that belong to the Father, others to the Son, and others to the Holy Spirit. Whatever the Father has, the Son also has, and the Holy Spirit also has. Nor was there ever a time when this sharing did not exist, because for them to have all things is to exist forever. Let no one imagine in them any times, any grades, any differences. And if no one can explain what is true about God, let no one dare to assert what is not true. For it is more excusable to give less than a full account of his nature, which is beyond words, than to frame a definition that is actually wrong. So whatever loyal hearts can conceive of the Father’s eternal and unchangeable glory, let them at the same time understand it of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, without any separation or difference. For we confess this blessed Trinity to be one God for this very reason: in these three Persons there is no difference of substance, or of power, or of will, or of working. [e]

So just as we abhor the Arians, who hold that there is a difference between the Father and the Son, so we also abhor the Macedonians. Although they grant that the Father and the Son are equal, they think the Holy Spirit to be of a lower nature. They do not consider that in this way they fall into the blasphemy that will not be forgiven either in the present age or in the judgment to come, as the Lord says: “Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come.” So to persist in this ungodliness is unpardonable, because it cuts a man off from the one through whom he could confess. Nor will he ever reach the pardon that heals, if he has no Advocate to plead for him. For from the Spirit comes our calling on the Father; from him come the tears of penitents; from him come the groans of those who pray. And “no one can call Jesus Lord except in the Holy Spirit.” The apostle proclaims most clearly that the Spirit’s almighty power is equal with the Father and the Son and that his Godhead is one with theirs, when he says: “There are different gifts of grace, but the same Spirit; and different ministries, but the same Lord; and there are different workings, but the same God, who works all things in all.” [f]

By these and countless other proofs, dearly beloved, with which the authority of the divine sayings is ablaze, let us be stirred with one mind to keep Pentecost with reverence, rejoicing in honor of the Holy Spirit. Through him the whole catholic church is made holy and every rational soul is given life. He is the inspirer of the faith, the teacher of knowledge, the fountain of love, the seal of chastity, and the cause of all power. Let the minds of the faithful rejoice that throughout the world one God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, is praised by the confession of every tongue, and that the sign of his presence, which appeared in the likeness of fire, still continues in his work and gift. For the Spirit of truth himself makes the house of his glory shine with the brightness of his light, and he will have nothing dark or lukewarm in his temple. It is also through his help and teaching that the cleansing of fasting and almsgiving has been established among us. For this venerable day is followed by a most wholesome practice, which all the saints have always found most profitable to them. With a shepherd’s care we urge you to keep it diligently, so that if any stain has been contracted through careless neglect in the days just past, it may be atoned for by the discipline of fasting and corrected by devout piety. So let us fast on Wednesday and Friday, and on Saturday, for this very purpose, let us keep vigil with our accustomed devotion, through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns forever and ever. Amen.