Posted on 06/09/2025 4:41:12 AM PDT by annalex
Pentecost ![]() shrine to the memory of St. Jacques Berthieu in Ambiatibe, Madagascar Readings at MassLiturgical Colour: Red. Year: C(I). These readings are for the extended-form Vigil Mass on the evening before the feast. These readings are for the simple-form Vigil Mass on the evening before the feast. These readings are for the day of the feast itself. These readings are for the extended-form Vigil Mass on the evening before the feast.
The tower of BabelThroughout the earth men spoke the same language, with the same vocabulary. Now as they moved eastwards they found a plain in the land of Shinar where they settled. They said to one another, ‘Come, let us make bricks and bake them in the fire.’ (For stone they used bricks, and for mortar they used bitumen). ‘Come,’ they said ‘let us build ourselves a town and a tower with its top reaching heaven. Let us make a name for ourselves, so that we may not be scattered about the whole earth.’ Now the Lord came down to see the town and the tower that the sons of man had built. ‘So they are all a single people with a single language!’ said the Lord. ‘This is but the start of their undertakings! There will be nothing too hard for them to do. Come, let us go down and confuse their language on the spot so that they can no longer understand one another.’ The Lord scattered them thence over the whole face of the earth, and they stopped building the town. It was named Babel therefore, because there the Lord confused the language of the whole earth. It was from there that the Lord scattered them over the whole face of the earth.
Happy the people the Lord has chosen as his own. He frustrates the designs of the nations, he defeats the plans of the peoples. His own designs shall stand for ever, the plans of his heart from age to age. Happy the people the Lord has chosen as his own. They are happy, whose God is the Lord, the people he has chosen as his own. From the heavens the Lord looks forth, he sees all the children of men. Happy the people the Lord has chosen as his own. From the place where he dwells he gazes on all the dwellers on the earth; he who shapes the hearts of them all; and considers all their deeds. Happy the people the Lord has chosen as his own.
Moses led the people out of the camp to meet GodMoses went up to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain, saying, ‘Say this to the House of Jacob, declare this to the sons of Israel: ‘“You yourselves have seen what I did with the Egyptians, how I carried you on eagle’s wings and brought you to myself. From this you know that now, if you obey my voice and hold fast to my covenant, you of all the nations shall be my very own, for all the earth is mine. I will count you a kingdom of priests, a consecrated nation.” ‘Those are the words you are to speak to the sons of Israel.’ So Moses went and summoned the elders of the people, putting before them all that the Lord had bidden him. Then all the people answered as one, ‘All that the Lord has said, we will do.’ Now at daybreak on the third day there were peals of thunder on the mountain and lightning flashes, a dense cloud, and a loud trumpet blast, and inside the camp all the people trembled. Then Moses led the people out of the camp to meet God; and they stood at the bottom of the mountain. The mountain of Sinai was entirely wrapped in smoke, because the Lord had descended on it in the form of fire. Like smoke from a furnace the smoke went up, and the whole mountain shook violently. Louder and louder grew the sound of the trumpet. Moses spoke, and God answered him with peals of thunder. The Lord came down on the mountain of Sinai, on the mountain top, and the Lord called Moses to the top of the mountain.
To you glory and praise for evermore. You are blest, Lord God of our fathers. To you glory and praise for evermore. Blest your glorious holy name. To you glory and praise for evermore. You are blest in the temple of your glory. To you glory and praise for evermore. You are blest on the throne of your kingdom. To you glory and praise for evermore. You are blest who gaze into the depths. To you glory and praise for evermore. You are blest in the firmament of heaven. To you glory and praise for evermore.
A vision of Israel's death and resurrectionThe hand of the Lord was laid on me, and he carried me away by the spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of a valley, a valley full of bones. He made me walk up and down among them. There were vast quantities of these bones on the ground the whole length of the valley; and they were quite dried up. He said to me, ‘Son of man, can these bones live?’ I said, ‘You know, Lord.’ He said, ‘Prophesy over these bones. Say, “Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. The Lord says this to these bones: I am now going to make the breath enter you, and you will live. I shall put sinews on you, I shall make flesh grow on you, I shall cover you with skin and give you breath, and you will live; and you will learn that I am the Lord.”’ I prophesied as I had been ordered. While I was prophesying, there was a noise, a sound of clattering; and the bones joined together. I looked, and saw that they were covered with sinews; flesh was growing on them and skin was covering them, but there was no breath in them. He said to me, ‘Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man. Say to the breath, “The Lord says this: Come from the four winds, breath; breathe on these dead; let them live!”’ I prophesied as he had ordered me, and the breath entered them; they came to life again and stood up on their feet, a great, an immense army. Then he said, ‘Son of man, these bones are the whole House of Israel. They keep saying, “Our bones are dried up, our hope has gone; we are as good as dead.” So prophesy. Say to them, “The Lord says this: I am now going to open your graves; I mean to raise you from your graves, my people, and lead you back to the soil of Israel. And you will know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and raise you from your graves, my people. And I shall put my spirit in you, and you will live, and I shall resettle you on your own soil; and you will know that I, the Lord, have said and done this – it is the Lord who speaks.”’
O give thanks to the Lord for he is good, for his love has no end. or Alleluia! Let them say this, the Lord’s redeemed, whom he redeemed from the hand of the foe and gathered from far-off lands, from east and west, north and south. O give thanks to the Lord for he is good, for his love has no end. or Alleluia! Some wandered in the desert, in the wilderness, finding no way to a city they could dwell in. Hungry they were and thirsty; their soul was fainting within them. O give thanks to the Lord for he is good, for his love has no end. or Alleluia! Then they cried to the Lord in their need and he rescued them from their distress and he led them along the right way, to reach a city they could dwell in. O give thanks to the Lord for he is good, for his love has no end. or Alleluia! Let them thank the Lord for his love, for the wonders he does for men: for he satisfies the thirsty soul; he fills the hungry with good things. O give thanks to the Lord for he is good, for his love has no end. or Alleluia!
I will pour out my spirit on all mankindThus says the Lord: ‘I will pour out my spirit on all mankind. Your sons and daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men see visions. Even on the slaves, men and women, will I pour out my spirit in those days. I will display portents in heaven and on earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke.’ The sun will be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the day of the Lord dawns, that great and terrible day. All who call on the name of the Lord will be saved, for on Mount Zion there will be some who have escaped, as the Lord has said, and in Jerusalem some survivors whom the Lord will call.
Send forth your spirit, O Lord, and renew the face of the earth. or Alleluia! Bless the Lord, my soul! Lord God, how great you are, clothed in majesty and glory, wrapped in light as in a robe! Send forth your spirit, O Lord, and renew the face of the earth. or Alleluia! How many are your works, O Lord! In wisdom you have made them all. The earth is full of your riches. Bless the Lord, my soul. Send forth your spirit, O Lord, and renew the face of the earth. or Alleluia! All of these look to you to give them their food in due season. You give it, they gather it up: you open your hand, they have their fill. Send forth your spirit, O Lord, and renew the face of the earth. or Alleluia! You take back your spirit, they die, returning to the dust from which they came. You send forth your spirit, they are created; and you renew the face of the earth. Send forth your spirit, O Lord, and renew the face of the earth. or Alleluia!
The Spirit himself expresses our plea in a way that could never be put into wordsFrom the beginning till now the entire creation, as we know, has been groaning in one great act of giving birth; and not only creation, but all of us who possess the first-fruits of the Spirit, we too groan inwardly as we wait for our bodies to be set free. For we must be content to hope that we shall be saved – our salvation is not in sight, we should not have to be hoping for it if it were – but, as I say, we must hope to be saved since we are not saved yet – it is something we must wait for with patience. The Spirit too comes to help us in our weakness. For when we cannot choose words in order to pray properly, the Spirit himself expresses our plea in a way that could never be put into words, and God who knows everything in our hearts knows perfectly well what he means, and that the pleas of the saints expressed by the Spirit are according to the mind of God.
Alleluia, alleluia. Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love. Alleluia.
'If any man is thirsty, let him come to me!'On the last day and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood there and cried out: ‘If any man is thirsty, let him come to me! Let the man come and drink who believes in me!’ As scripture says: From his breast shall flow fountains of living water. He was speaking of the Spirit which those who believed in him were to receive; for there was no Spirit as yet because Jesus had not yet been glorified. These readings are for the simple-form Vigil Mass on the evening before the feast.
The tower of BabelThroughout the earth men spoke the same language, with the same vocabulary. Now as they moved eastwards they found a plain in the land of Shinar where they settled. They said to one another, ‘Come, let us make bricks and bake them in the fire.’ (For stone they used bricks, and for mortar they used bitumen). ‘Come,’ they said ‘let us build ourselves a town and a tower with its top reaching heaven. Let us make a name for ourselves, so that we may not be scattered about the whole earth.’ Now the Lord came down to see the town and the tower that the sons of man had built. ‘So they are all a single people with a single language!’ said the Lord. ‘This is but the start of their undertakings! There will be nothing too hard for them to do. Come, let us go down and confuse their language on the spot so that they can no longer understand one another.’ The Lord scattered them thence over the whole face of the earth, and they stopped building the town. It was named Babel therefore, because there the Lord confused the language of the whole earth. It was from there that the Lord scattered them over the whole face of the earth.
Send forth your spirit, O Lord, and renew the face of the earth. or Alleluia! Bless the Lord, my soul! Lord God, how great you are, clothed in majesty and glory, wrapped in light as in a robe! Send forth your spirit, O Lord, and renew the face of the earth. or Alleluia! How many are your works, O Lord! In wisdom you have made them all. The earth is full of your riches. Bless the Lord, my soul. Send forth your spirit, O Lord, and renew the face of the earth. or Alleluia! All of these look to you to give them their food in due season. You give it, they gather it up: you open your hand, they have their fill. Send forth your spirit, O Lord, and renew the face of the earth. or Alleluia! You take back your spirit, they die, returning to the dust from which they came. You send forth your spirit, they are created; and you renew the face of the earth. Send forth your spirit, O Lord, and renew the face of the earth. or Alleluia!
The Spirit himself expresses our plea in a way that could never be put into wordsFrom the beginning till now the entire creation, as we know, has been groaning in one great act of giving birth; and not only creation, but all of us who possess the first-fruits of the Spirit, we too groan inwardly as we wait for our bodies to be set free. For we must be content to hope that we shall be saved – our salvation is not in sight, we should not have to be hoping for it if it were – but, as I say, we must hope to be saved since we are not saved yet – it is something we must wait for with patience. The Spirit too comes to help us in our weakness. For when we cannot choose words in order to pray properly, the Spirit himself expresses our plea in a way that could never be put into words, and God who knows everything in our hearts knows perfectly well what he means, and that the pleas of the saints expressed by the Spirit are according to the mind of God.
Alleluia, alleluia. Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love. Alleluia.
'If any man is thirsty, let him come to me!'On the last day and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood there and cried out: ‘If any man is thirsty, let him come to me! Let the man come and drink who believes in me!’ As scripture says: From his breast shall flow fountains of living water. He was speaking of the Spirit which those who believed in him were to receive; for there was no Spirit as yet because Jesus had not yet been glorified. These readings are for the day of the feast itself.
They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speakWhen Pentecost day came round, they had all met in one room, when suddenly they heard what sounded like a powerful wind from heaven, the noise of which filled the entire house in which they were sitting; and something appeared to them that seemed like tongues of fire; these separated and came to rest on the head of each of them. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak foreign languages as the Spirit gave them the gift of speech. Now there were devout men living in Jerusalem from every nation under heaven, and at this sound they all assembled, each one bewildered to hear these men speaking his own language. They were amazed and astonished. ‘Surely’ they said ‘all these men speaking are Galileans? How does it happen that each of us hears them in his own native language? Parthians, Medes and Elamites; people from Mesopotamia, Judaea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya round Cyrene; as well as visitors from Rome – Jews and proselytes alike – Cretans and Arabs; we hear them preaching in our own language about the marvels of God.’
Send forth your spirit, O Lord, and renew the face of the earth. or Alleluia! Bless the Lord, my soul! Lord God, how great you are, How many are your works, O Lord! The earth is full of your riches. Send forth your spirit, O Lord, and renew the face of the earth. or Alleluia! You take back your spirit, they die, returning to the dust from which they came. You send forth your spirit, they are created; and you renew the face of the earth. Send forth your spirit, O Lord, and renew the face of the earth. or Alleluia! May the glory of the Lord last for ever! May the Lord rejoice in his works! May my thoughts be pleasing to him. I find my joy in the Lord. Send forth your spirit, O Lord, and renew the face of the earth. or Alleluia!
Everyone moved by the Spirit is a son of GodPeople who are interested only in unspiritual things can never be pleasing to God. Your interests, however, are not in the unspiritual, but in the spiritual, since the Spirit of God has made his home in you. In fact, unless you possessed the Spirit of Christ you would not belong to him. Though your body may be dead it is because of sin, but if Christ is in you then your spirit is life itself because you have been justified; and if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, then he who raised Jesus from the dead will give life to your own mortal bodies through his Spirit living in you. So then, my brothers, there is no necessity for us to obey our unspiritual selves or to live unspiritual lives. If you do live in that way, you are doomed to die; but if by the Spirit you put an end to the misdeeds of the body you will live. Everyone moved by the Spirit is a son of God. The spirit you received is not the spirit of slaves bringing fear into your lives again; it is the spirit of sons, and it makes us cry out, ‘Abba, Father!’ The Spirit himself and our spirit bear united witness that we are children of God. And if we are children we are heirs as well: heirs of God and coheirs with Christ, sharing his sufferings so as to share his glory.
Veni, sancte SpiritusHoly Spirit, Lord of Light, From the clear celestial height Thy pure beaming radiance give. Come, thou Father of the poor, Come with treasures which endure; Come, thou light of all that live! Thou, of all consolers best, Thou, the soul’s delightful guest, Dost refreshing peace bestow. Thou in toil art comfort sweet; Pleasant coolness in the heat; Solace in the midst of woe. Light immortal, light divine, Visit thou these hearts of thine, And our inmost being fill: If thou take thy grace away, Nothing pure in man will ;All his good is turned to ill. Heal our wounds, our strength renew; On our dryness pour thy dew; Wash the stains of guilt away: Bend the stubborn heart and will; Melt the frozen, warm the chill; Guide the steps that go astray. Thou, on us who evermore Thee confess and thee adore, With thy sevenfold gifts descend: Give us comfort when we die, Give us life with thee on high; Give us joys that never end.
Alleluia, alleluia. Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love. Alleluia.
The Holy Spirit will teach you everythingJesus said to his disciples: ‘If you love me you will keep my commandments. I shall ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you for ever. ‘If anyone loves me he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we shall come to him and make our home with him. Those who do not love me do not keep my words. And my word is not my own: it is the word of the one who sent me. I have said these things to you while still with you; but the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and remind you of all I have said to you. The readings on this page are from the Jerusalem Bible, which is used at Mass in most of the English-speaking world. The New American Bible readings, which are used at Mass in the United States, are available in the Universalis apps, programs and downloads. |
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John | |||
English: Douay-Rheims | Latin: Vulgata Clementina | Greek NT: Byzantine/Majority Text (2000) | |
John 7 | |||
37. | And on the last, and great day of the festivity, Jesus stood and cried, saying: If any man thirst, let him come to me, and drink. | In novissimo autem die magno festivitatis stabat Jesus, et clamabat dicens : Si quis sitit, veniat ad me et bibat. | εν δε τη εσχατη ημερα τη μεγαλη της εορτης ειστηκει ο ιησους και εκραξεν λεγων εαν τις διψα ερχεσθω προς με και πινετω |
38. | He that believeth in me, as the scripture saith, Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. | Qui credit in me, sicut dicit Scriptura, flumina de ventre ejus fluent aquæ vivæ. | ο πιστευων εις εμε καθως ειπεν η γραφη ποταμοι εκ της κοιλιας αυτου ρευσουσιν υδατος ζωντος |
39. | Now this he said of the Spirit which they should receive, who believed in him: for as yet the Spirit was not given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. | Hoc autem dixit de Spiritu, quem accepturi erant credentes in eum : nondum enim erat Spiritus datus, quia Jesus nondum erat glorificatus. | τουτο δε ειπεν περι του πνευματος ου εμελλον λαμβανειν οι πιστευοντες εις αυτον ουπω γαρ ην πνευμα αγιον οτι ιησους ουδεπω εδοξασθη |
7:37–39
37. In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.
38. He that believeth on me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
39. (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)
CHRYSOSTOM. (Hom. l. 1) The feast being over, and the people about to return home, our Lord gives them provisions for the way: In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink.
AUGUSTINE. (Tract. xxxii. 1) The feast was then going on, which is called scenopegia, i. e. building of tents.
CHRYSOSTOM. Which lasted seven days. The first and last days were the most important; In the last day, that great day of the feast, says the Evangelist. Those between were given chiefly to amusements. He did not then make the offer on the first day, or the second, or the third, lest amidst the excitements that were going on, people should let it slip from their minds, He cried out, on account of the great multitude of people present.
THEOPHYLACT. To make Himself audible, inspire confidence in others, and shew an absence of all fear in Himself.
CHRYSOSTOM. (Hom. li. 1) If any thirsteth: as if to say, I use no compulsion or violence: but if any have the desire strong enough, let him come.
AUGUSTINE. (Tract. xxxii. 2.) For there is an inner thirst, because there is an inner man: and the inner man of a certainty loves more than the outer. So then if we thirst, let us go not on our feet, but on our affections, not by change of place, but by love.
CHRYSOSTOM. (Hom. li. 1) He is speaking of spiritual drink, as His next words shew: He that believeth on Me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. But where does the Scripture say this? No where. What then? We should read, He that believeth in Me, as saith the Scripture, putting the stop here; and then, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water: the meaning being, that that was a right kind of belief, which was formed on the evidence of Scripture, not of miracles. Search the Scriptures, He had said before.
JEROME. (Hierom. in prolog. Gen.) Or this testimony is taken from the Proverbs, where it is said, Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad, and rivers of waters in the streets. (Prov. 5:16)
AUGUSTINE. (Tract. xxxii. 4) The belly of the inner man, is the heart’s conscience. Let him drink from that water, and his conscience is quickened and purified; he drinks in the whole fountain, nay, becomes the very fountain itself. But what is that fountain, and what is that river, which flows from the belly of the inner man? The love of his neighbour. If any one, who drinks of the water, thinks that it is meant to satisfy himself alone, out of his belly there doth not flow living water. But if he does good to his neighbour, the stream is not dried up, but flows.
GREGORY. (super Ezech. Hom. x.) When sacred preaching floweth from the soul of the faithful, rivers of living water, as it were, run down from the bellies of believers. For what are the entrails of the belly but the inner part of the mind; i. e. a right intention, a holy desire, humility towards God, mercy toward man.
CHRYSOSTOM. (Hom. li. 1) He says, rivers, not river, to shew the copious and overflowing power of grace: and living water, i. e. always moving; for when the grace of the Spirit has entered into and settled in the mind, it flows freer than any fountain, and neither fails, nor empties, nor stagnates. The wisdom of Stephen, the tongue of Peter, the strength of Paul, are evidences of this. Nothing hindered them; but, like impetuous torrents, they went on, carrying every thing along with them.
AUGUSTINE. (Tract. xxxii 5) What kind of drink it was, to which our Lord invited them, the Evangelist next explains; But this He spake of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him should receive. Whom does the Spirit mean, but the Holy Spirit? For every man has within him his own spirit.
ALCUIN. He promised the Holy Spirit to the Apostles before the Ascension; He gave it to them in fiery tongues, after the Ascension. The Evangelist’s words, Which they that believe on Him should receive, refer to this.
AUGUSTINE. (Tract. xxxii. 6) The Spirit of God was, i. e. was with God, before now; but was not yet given to those who believed on Jesus; for our Lord had determined not to give them the Spirit, till He was risen again: The Holy Ghost was not yet given, because that Jesus was not yet glorified.
CHRYSOSTOM. (Hom. li. 1) The Apostles indeed cast out devils by the Spirit before, but only by the power which they had from Christ. For when He sent them, it is not said, He gave them the Holy Spirit, but, He gave unto them power. With respect to the Prophets, however, all agree that the Holy Spirit was given to them: but this grace had been withdrawn from the world.
AUGUSTINE. (iv. de Trin. c. xx) Yet we read of John the Baptist, He shall be filled with the Holy Ghost even from his mother’s womb. (Luke 1:15) And Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost, and prophesied. Mary was filled with the Holy Ghost, and prophesied of our Lord. And so were Simeon and Anna, that they might acknowledge the greatness of the infant Christ. We are to understand then that the giving of the Holy Spirit was to be certain, after Christ’s exaltation, in a way in which it never was before. It was to have a peculiarity at His coming, which it had not before. For we no where read of men under the influence of the Holy Spirit, speaking with tongues which they had never known, as then took place, when it was necessary to evidence His coming by sensible miracles.
AUGUSTINE. If the Holy Spirit then is received now, why is there no one who speaks the tongues of all nations? Because now the Church herself speaks the tongues of all nations. Whoso is not in her, neither doth he now receive the Holy Spirit. But if only thou lovest unity, whoever hath any thing in her, hath it for thee. Put away envy, and that which I have is thine. Envy separateth, love unites: have it, and thou hast all things: whereas without it nothing that thou canst have, will profit thee. The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which is given to us. (Rom. 5:9) But why did our Lord give the Holy Spirit after His resurrection? That the flame of love might mount upwards to our own resurrection: separating us from the world, and devoting us wholly to God. He who said, He that believeth in Me, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water, hath promised life eternal, free from all fear, and change, and death. Such then being the gifts which He promised to those in whom the Holy Spirit kindled the flame of love, He would not give that Spirit till He was glorified: in order that in His own person He might shew us that life, which we hope to attain to in the resurrection.
AUGUSTINE. (cont. Faust. l. xxxii. c. 17) If this then is the cause why the Holy Spirit was not yet given; viz. because Jesus was not yet glorified; doubtless, the glorification of Jesus when it took place, was the cause immediately of its being given. The Cataphryges, however, said that they first received the promised Paraclete, and thus strayed from the Catholic faith. The Manichæans too apply all the promises made respecting the Holy Spirit to Manichæus, as if there were no Holy Spirit given before.
CHRYSOSTOM. (Hom. li. 2) Or thus; By the glory of Christ, He means the cross. For, whereas we were enemies, and gifts are not made to enemies, but to friends, it was necessary that the victim should be first offered up, and the enmity of the flesh removed; that, being made friends of God, we might be capable of receiving the gift.
Catena Aurea John 7
John | |||
English: Douay-Rheims | Latin: Vulgata Clementina | Greek NT: Byzantine/Majority Text (2000) | |
John 14 | |||
15. | If you love me, keep my commandments. | Si diligitis me, mandata mea servate : | εαν αγαπατε με τας εντολας τας εμας τηρησατε |
16. | And I will ask the Father, and he shall give you another Paraclete, that he may abide with you for ever. | et ego rogabo Patrem, et alium Paraclitum dabit vobis, ut maneat vobiscum in æternum, | και εγω ερωτησω τον πατερα και αλλον παρακλητον δωσει υμιν ινα μενη μεθ υμων εις τον αιωνα |
[...] | |||
23. | Jesus answered, and said to him: If any one love me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him, and will make our abode with him. | Respondit Jesus, et dixit ei : Si quis diligit me, sermonem meum servabit, et Pater meus diliget eum, et ad eum veniemus, et mansionem apud eum faciemus ; | απεκριθη ιησους και ειπεν αυτω εαν τις αγαπα με τον λογον μου τηρησει και ο πατηρ μου αγαπησει αυτον και προς αυτον ελευσομεθα και μονην παρ αυτω ποιησομεν |
24. | He that loveth me not, keepeth not my words. And the word which you have heard, is not mine; but the Father's who sent me. | qui non diligit me, sermones meos non servat. Et sermonem, quem audistis, non est meus : sed ejus qui misit me, Patris. | ο μη αγαπων με τους λογους μου ου τηρει και ο λογος ον ακουετε ουκ εστιν εμος αλλα του πεμψαντος με πατρος |
25. | These things have I spoken to you, abiding with you. | Hæc locutus sum vobis apud vos manens. | ταυτα λελαληκα υμιν παρ υμιν μενων |
26. | But the Paraclete, the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and bring all things to your mind, whatsoever I shall have said to you. | Paraclitus autem Spiritus Sanctus, quem mittet Pater in nomine meo, ille vos docebit omnia, et suggeret vobis omnia quæcumque dixero vobis. | ο δε παρακλητος το πνευμα το αγιον ο πεμψει ο πατηρ εν τω ονοματι μου εκεινος υμας διδαξει παντα και υπομνησει υμας παντα α ειπον υμιν |
15. If ye love me, keep my commandments.
16. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;
17. Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.
CHRYSOSTOM. Our Lord having said, Whatsoever ye shall ask in My name, that I will do; that they might not think simply asking would be enough, He adds, If ye love Me, keep My commandments. And then I will do what ye ask, seems to be His meaning. Or the disciples having heard Him say, I go to the Father, and being troubled at the thought of it, He says, To love Me, is not to be troubled, but to keep My commandments: this is love, to obey and believe in Him who is loved. And as they had been expressing a strong desire for His bodily presence, He assures them that His absence will be supplied to them in another way: And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Comforter.
AUGUSTINE. (Tract. lxxiv. 4) Wherein He shews too that He Himself is the Comforter. Paraclete means advocate, and is applied to Christ: We have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. (1 John 2:1)
ALCUIN. Paraclete, i. e. Comforter. They had then one Comforter, who comforted and elevated them by the sweetness of His miracles, and His preaching.
DIDYMUS. (Didym. De Spiritu Sancto.) But the Holy Ghost was another Comforter: differing not in nature, but in operation. For whereas our Saviour in His office of Mediator, and of Messenger1, and as High Priest, made supplication for our sins; the Holy Ghost is a Comforter in another sense, i. e. as consoling our griefs. But do not infer from the different operations of the Son and the Spirit, a difference of nature. For in other places we find the Holy Spirit performing the office of intercessor2 with the Father, as, The Spirit Himself intercedeth for us. (Rom. 8:26) And the Saviour, on the other hand, pours consolation into those hearts that need it: as in Maccabees, He strengthened those of the people that were brought low. (1 Macc. 14:15)
CHRYSOSTOM. (Hom. lxxiv. 2) He says, I will ask the Father, to make them believe Him: which they could not have done, had He simply said, I will send.
AUGUSTINE. (contra Serm. Arrian. c. xix.) Yet to shew that His works are inseparable from His Father’s, He says below, When I shall go, I will send Him unto you.
CHRYSOSTOM. (Hom. lxxiv) But what had He more than the Apostles, if He could only ask the Father to give others the Spirit? The Apostles did this often even without praying.
ALCUIN. I will ask—He says, as being the inferior in respect of His humanity—My Father, with Whom I am equal and consubstantial in respect of My Divine nature.
CHRYSOSTOM. (Hom. lxxv. 1) That He may abide with you for ever. The Spirit does not depart even at death. He intimates too that the Holy Ghost will not suffer death, or go away, as He has done. But that the mention of the Comforter might not lead them to expect another incarnation, a Comforter to be seen with the eye, He adds, Even the Spirit of truth, Whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him.
AUGUSTINE. (Tract. lxxiv. 1) This is the Holy Ghost in the Trinity, Whom the Catholic faith professes to be consubstantial and coeternal with the Father and the Son.
CHRYSOSTOM. (Hom. lxxv. 1) The Spirit of truth He calls Him, because He unfolds the figures of the Old Testament. The world are the wicked, seeing is certain knowledge; sight being the most certain of the senses.
BEDE. Note too, that when He calls the Holy Spirit the Spirit of truth, He shews that the Holy Spirit is His Spirit: then when He says He is given by the Father, He declares Him to be the Spirit of the Father also. Thus the Holy Ghost proceeds both from the Father, and from the Son.
GREGORY. (v. Mor.) The Holy Spirit kindles in every one, in whom He dwells, the desire of things invisible. And since worldly minds love only things visible, this world receiveth Him not, because it rises not to the love of things invisible. In proportion as secular minds enlarge themselves by the spread of their desires, in that proportion they narrow themselves, with respect to admitting Christ.
AUGUSTINE. (Tract. lxxiv. 4) Thus the world, i. e. the lovers of the world, cannot, He says, receive the Holy Spirit: that is to say, unrighteousness cannot be righteous. The world, i. e. the lovers of the world, cannot receive Him, because it seeth Him not. The love of the world hath not invisible eyes wherewith to see that, which can only be seen invisibly. It follows: But ye know Him, for He dwelleth (manebit) with you. And that they might not think this meant a visible dwelling, in the sense in which we use the phrase with respect to a guest, He adds, And shall be in you.
CHRYSOSTOM. (Hom. lxxv. 1) As if He said, He will not dwell with you as I have done, but will dwell in your souls.
AUGUSTINE. (Tract. lxxiv. 5) To be in a place is prior to dwelling. Be in you, is the explanation of dwell with you: i. e. shews that the latter means not that He is seen, but that He is known, He must be in us, that the knowledge of Him may be in us. We see the Holy Ghost then in us, in our consciences.
GREGORY. (ii. Mor.) But if the Holy Spirit abides in the disciples, how is it a special mark of the Mediator that He abides in Him. (supr. 1:32. ἐπʼ αὐτὸν) We shall better understand, if we distinguish between the different gifts of the Spirit. In respect of those gifts without which we cannot attain to salvation, the Holy Spirit ever abides in all the Elect: but in respect of those which do not relate to our own salvation, but to the procuring that of others, He does not always abide in them. For He sometimes withdraws His miraculous gifts, that His grace may be possessed with humility. Christ has Him without measure and always.
CHRYSOSTOM. (Hom. lxxv. 1) This speech levels at a stroke, as it were, the opposite heresies. The word another, shews the distinct personality of the Spirit: the word Paraclete, His consubstantiality.
AUGUSTINE. (contr. Serm. Arrian. c. xix.) Comforter, the title of the Holy Spirit, the third Person in the Trinity, the Apostle applies to God: God that comforteth those that are cast down, comforted us. (2 Cor. 7:6) The Holy Spirit therefore Who comforts those that are cast down, is God. Or if they will have this said by the Apostle of the Father or the Son, let them not any longer separate the Holy Spirit from the Father and the Son, in His peculiar office of comforting.
AUGUSTINE. (Tract. lxxiv. c. 1) But when the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us, (Rom. 5:6) how shall we love and keep the commandments of Christ, so as to receive the Spirit, when we are not able to love or to keep them, unless we have received the Spirit? Does love in us go first, i. e. do we so love Christ and keep His commandments as to deserve to receive the Holy Spirit, and to have the love of God the Father shed abroad in our hearts? This is a perverse opinion. For he who does not love the Father, does not love the Son, however he may think he does. (c. 2). It remains for us to understand, that he who loves has the Holy Spirit, and by having Him, attains to having more of Him, and by having more of Him, to loving more. The disciples had already the Spirit which our Lord promised; but they were to be given more of Him: they had Him secretly, they were to receive Him openly. The promise is made both to him who has the Spirit, and to him who has Him not; to the former, that he shall have Him; to the latter, that He shall have more of Him.
CHRYSOSTOM. (Hom. lxxv. 1) When He had cleansed His disciples by the sacrifice of His passion, and their sins were remitted, and they were sent forth to dangers and trials, it was necessary that they should receive the Holy Spirit abundantly. But they were made to wait some time for this gift, in order that they might feel the want of it, and so be the more grateful for it when it came.
14:18–21
18. I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.
19. Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more: but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also.
20. At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.
21. He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.
AUGUSTINE. (Tr. lxxv. 1) That no one might think, because our Lord was about to give the Holy Spirit, that He would therefore not be present Himself in Him, He adds, I will not leave you comfortless. The Greek word ὀρφανοὶ signifies “wards.” Although then the Son of God has made us the adopted sons of the Father, yet here He Himself shews the affection of a Father towards us.
CHRYSOSTOM. (Hom. lxxv. 1) At the first He said, Whither I go ye shall come; but as this was a long time off, He promises them the Spirit in the interval. And as they knew not what that was, He promises them that they most desired, His own presence, I will come to you: but intimates at the same time that they are not to look for the same kind of presence over again: Yet a little while, and the world seeth Me no more: as if He said, I will come to you, but not to live with you every day as I did before. And, I will come to you alone, He says, thus preventing any inconsistency with what He had said to the Jews: Henceforth ye shall not see Me.
AUGUSTINE. (Tr. lxxv. 2) For the world saw Him then with the carnal eye, manifest in the flesh, though it did not see the Word hidden under the flesh. But after the resurrection He was unwilling to shew even His flesh, except to His own followers, whom He allowed to see and to handle it: Yet a little while, and the world seeth Me no more; but ye shall see Me. But, inasmuch as the world, by which are meant all who are aliens from His kingdom, will see Him at the last judgment, it is better perhaps to understand Him here as pointing to that time, when He will be taken for ever from the eyes of the wicked, to be seen thenceforth by those who love Him. A little while, He says, for that which seems a long time to men, is but a moment in the eyes of God.
Because I live, ye shall live also.
THEOPHYLACT. AS if He said, Though I shall die, I shall rise again. And ye shall live also, i. e. when ye see Me risen again, ye will rejoice, and be as dead men brought to life again.
CHRYSOSTOM. (Hom. lxxv. 2) To me however he seems to refer not only to the present life, but to the future; as if He said, The death of the cross shall not separate you from Me for ever, but only hide Me from you for a moment.
AUGUSTINE. (Tr. lxxv. 3) But why does He speak of life as present to Him, future to them? Because His resurrection preceded, theirs was to follow. His resurrection was about so soon to take place, that He speaks of it as present; theirs being deferred till the end of the world, He does not say ye live, but ye shall live. Because He lives, therefore we shall live: As by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. (1 Cor. 15:21) It follows: In that day (the day of which He saith, ye shall live also) ye shall know, i. e. whereas now ye believe, then ye shall see, that I am in the Father, and ye in Me, and I in you. For when we shall have attained to that life in which death is swallowed up, then shall be finished that which is now begun by Him, that He should be in us, and we in Him.
CHRYSOSTOM. (Hom. lxxv. 2) Or, in that day, on which I shall rise again, ye shall know. For His resurrection it was that established their faith. Then the powerful teaching of the Holy Spirit began. His saying, I am in the Father, expresses His humility; the next, And ye in Me, and I in you, His humanity and God’s assistance to Him. Scripture often uses the same words in different senses, as applied to God and to men.
HILARY. (viii. de Trin) Or He means by this, that whereas He was in the Father by the nature of His divinity, and we in Him by means of His birth in the flesh; He on the other hand should be believed to be in us by the mystery of the Sacrament: as He Himself testified above: Whoso eateth My flesh, and drinketh My blood, dwelleth in Me, and I in Him. (supr. 6:54)
ALCUIN. By love, and the observance of His commandments, that will be perfected in us which He has begun, viz. that we should be in Him, and He in us. And that this blessedness may be understood to be promised to all, not to the Apostles only, He adds, He that hath My commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me.
AUGUSTINE. (Tract. lxxv. 5) He that hath them in mind, and keepeth them in life; he that hath them in words, and keepeth them in works; he that hath them by hearing, and keepeth them by doing; he that hath them by doing, and keepeth them by persevering, he it is that loveth Me. Love must be shewn by works, or it is a mere barren name.
THEOPHYLACT. As if He said, Ye think that by sorrowing, as ye do, for my death ye prove your affection; but I esteem the keeping of My commandments the evidence of love. And then He shews the privileged state of one who loves: And he that loveth Me shall be loved of My Father, and I will love him.
AUGUSTINE. (Tract. lxxv. 5) I will love him, as if now He did not love him. What meaneth this? He explains it in what follows: And will manifest Myself unto him, i. e. I love him so far as to manifest Myself to him; so that, as the reward of his faith, he will have sight. Now He only loves us so that we believe; then He will love us so that we see. And whereas we love now by believing that which we shall see, then we shall love by seeing that which we have believed.
AUGUSTINE. (ad Paul. de videndo Dei, Ep. 112:100, 10) He promises to shew Himself to them that love Him as God with the Father, not in that body which He bore upon earth, and which the wicked saw.
THEOPHYLACT. Or, as after the resurrection He was to appear to them in a body more assimilated to His divinity, that they might not take Him then for a spirit, or a phantom, He tells them now beforehand not to have misgivings upon seeing Him, but to remember that He shews Himself to them as a reward for their keeping His commandments; and that therefore they are bound ever to keep them, that they may ever enjoy the sight of Him.
14:22–27
22. Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world?
23. Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.
24. He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me.
25. These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you.
26. But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
27. Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you.
AUGUSTINE. (Tract. lxxvi. 1) Our Lord having said, A little while, and the world seeth Me no more: but ye shall see Me: Judas, not the traitor named Scariot, but he whose Epistle is read among the Canonical Scriptures, asks His meaning: Judas saith unto Him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that Thou wilt manifest Thyself unto us, and not unto the world? Our Lord in reply explains why He manifests Himself to His own, and not to aliens, viz. because the one love Him, the other do not. Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love Me, he will keep My words.
GREGORY. (Hom. xxx. in Evang.) If thou wouldest prove thy love, shew thy works. The love of God is never idle; whenever it is, it doeth great things: if it do not work, it is not.
AUGUSTINE. (Tract. lxxvi. 2) Love distinguishes the saints from the world: it maketh men to be of one mind in an house; in which house the Father and the Son take their abode; who give that love to those, to whom in the end they will manifest themselves. For there is a certain inner manifestation of God, unknown to the ungodly, to whom there is no manifestation made of the Father and the Holy Spirit, and only could be of the Son in the flesh; which latter manifestation is not as the former, being only for a little while, not for ever, for judgment, not for joy, for punishment, not for reward. And We will come unto him: They come to us, in that we go to Them; They come by succouring, we go by obeying; They come by enlightening, we go by contemplating; They come by filling, we go by holding: so Their manifestation to us is not external, but inward; Their abode in us not transitory, but eternal. It follows, And will make Our abode with him.
GREGORY. (Hom. xxx.) Into some hearts He cometh, but not to make His abode with them. For some feel compunction for a season and turn to God, but in time of temptation forget that which gave them compunction, and return to their former sins, just as if they had never lamented them. But whoso loveth God truly, into his heart the Lord both comes, and also makes His abode therein: for the love of the Godhead so penetrates him, that no temptation withdraws him from it. He truly loves, whose mind no evil pleasure overcomes, through his consent thereto.
AUGUSTINE. (Tract. lxxvi. 4) But while the Father and the Son make Their abode with the loving soul, is the Holy Spirit excluded? What meaneth that which is said of the Holy Spirit above: He dwelleth with you, and shall be in you, but that the Spirit makes His abode with us? Unless indeed a man be so absurd as to think that when the Father and the Son come, the Holy Spirit departs, as if to give place to His superiors. Yet even this carnal thought is met by Scripture, in that it says, Abide with you for ever. (v.16) He will therefore be in the same abode with Them for ever. As He did not come without Them, so neither They without Him. As a consequence of the Trinity, acts are sometimes attributed to single persons in it: but the substance of the same Trinity demands, that in such acts the presence of the other Persons also be implied.
GREGORY. (Hom. xxx.) In proportion as a man’s love rests upon lower things, in that proportion is he removed from heavenly love: He that loveth Me not, keepeth not My sayings. To the love then of our Maker, let the tongue, mind, life bear witness.
CHRYSOSTOM. (Hom. lxxv. 1, 2) Or thus: Judas thought that he should see Him, as we see the dead in sleep: How is it, that Thou wilt manifest Thyself unto us, and not unto the world? meaning, Alas, as Thou art to die, Thou wilt appear to us but as one dead. To correct this mistake, He says, I and My Father will come to him, i. e. I shall manifest Myself, even as My Father manifests Himself. And will make our abode with Him; which is not like a dream. It follows, And the word which ye hear is not Mine, but the Father’s which sent Me; i. e. He that heareth not My words, inasmuch as he loveth not Me, so loveth he not My Father. This He says to shew that He spoke nothing which was not the Father’s, nothing beside what seemed good to the Father.
AUGUSTINE. (Tract. lxxvi. 5) And perhaps there is a distinction at bottom, since He speaks of His sayings, when they are His own, in the plural number; as when He says, He that loveth Me not, keepeth not My sayings: when they are not His own, but the Father’s, in the singular, i. e. as the Word, which is Himself. For He is not His own Word, but the Father’s, as He is not His own image, but the Father’s, or His own Son, but the Father’s.
CHRYSOSTOM. (Hom. lxxv. 3) These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you. Some of these things were obscure, and not understood by the disciples.
AUGUSTINE. (Tract. lxxvii. 1) The abode He promised them hereafter is altogether a different one from this present abode He now speaks of. The one is spiritual and inward, the other outward, and perceptible to the bodily sight and hearing.
CHRYSOSTOM. (Hom. lxxv. 3) To enable them to sustain His bodily departure more cheerfully, He promises that that departure shall be the source of great benefit; for that while He was then in the body, they could never know much, because the Spirit would not have come: But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, Whom the Father will send in My name, He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
GREGORY. (Hom. xxx. in Evang.) Paraclete is Advocate, or Comforter. The Advocate then intercedes with the Father for sinners, when by His inward power He moves the sinner to pray for himself. The Comforter relieves the sorrow of penitents, and cheers them with the hope of pardon.
CHRYSOSTOM. (Hom. lxxv. 3) He often calls Him the Comforter, in allusion to the affliction in which they then were.
DIDYMUS. (Didym. de Spir. Sancto, l. ii. inter opera Hieron.) The Saviour affirms that the Holy Spirit is sent by the Father, in His, the Saviour’s, name; which name is the Son. Here an agreement of nature and propriety1, so to speak, of persons is shewn. The Son can come in the Father’s name only, consistently with the proper1 relationship of the Son to the Father, and the Father to the Son. No one else comes in the name of the Father, but in the name of God, of the Lord, of the Almighty, and the like. As servants who come in the name of their Lord, do so as being the servants of that Lord, so the Son who comes in the name of the Father, bears that name as being the acknowledged only-begotten Son of the Father. That the Holy Spirit then is sent in the Son’s name, by the Father, shews that He is in unity with the Son: whence He is said too to be the Spirit of the Son, and to make those sons by adoption, who are willing to receive Him. The Holy Spirit then, Who cometh in the name of the Son from the Father, shall teach them, who are established in the faith of Christ, all things; all things which are spiritual, both the understanding of truth, and the sacrament of wisdom. But He will teach not like those who have acquired an art or knowledge by study and industry, but as being the very art, doctrine, knowledge itself. As being this Himself, the Spirit of truth will impart the knowledge of divine things to the mind.
GREGORY. (Hom. xxx.) Unless the Spirit be present to the mind of the hearer, the word of the teacher is vain. Let none then attribute to the human teacher, the understanding which follows in consequence of his teaching: for unless there be a teacher within, the tongue of the teacher outside will labour in vain. Nay even the Maker Himself does not speak for the instruction of man, unless the Spirit by His unction speaks at the same time.
AUGUSTINE. (Tract. lxxvii. 2) So then the Son speaks, the Holy Spirit teaches: when the Son speaks we take in the words, when the Holy Spirit teaches, we understand those words. The whole Trinity indeed both speaks and teaches, but unless each person worked separately as well, the whole would be too much for human infirmity to take in.
GREGORY. (Hom. xxx.) But why is it said of the Spirit, He shall suggest2 all things to you: to suggest being the office of an inferior? The word is used here, as it is used sometimes, in the sense of supplying secretly. The invisible Spirit suggests, not because He takes a lower place in teaching, but because. He teaches secretly.
AUGUSTINE. (Tract. xxvii. 2) Suggest, i. e. bring to your remembrance. Every wholesome hint to remember that we receive is of the grace of the Spirit.
THEOPHYLACT. The Holy Spirit then was both to teach and to bring to remembrance: to teach what Christ had forborne to tell His disciples, because they were not able to bear it; to bring to remembrance what Christ had told them, but which on account of its difficulty, or their slowness of understanding, they were unable to remember.
CHRYSOSTOM. (Hom. lxxiv. 3) Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you: He says this to console His disciples, who were now troubled at the prospect of the hatred and opposition which awaited them after His departure.
AUGUSTINE. (Tract. lxxvii. 2) He left no peace in this world; in which we conquer the enemy, and have love one to another: He will give us peace in the world to come, when we shall reign without an enemy, and where we shall be able to avoid disagreement. This peace is Himself, both when we believe that He is, and when we shall see Him as He is. But why does He say, Peace I leave with you, without the My, whereas He puts in My in, My peace I give unto you? Are we to understand My in the former; or is it not rather left out with a meaning? His peace is such peace as He has Himself; the peace which He left us in this world is rather our peace than His. He has nothing to fight against in Himself, because He has no sin: but ours is a peace in which we still say, Forgive us our debts. (Matt. 6:12) And in like manner we have peace between ourselves, because we mutually trust one another, that we mutually love one another. But neither is that a perfect peace; for we do not see into each other’s minds. I could not deny however that these words of our Lord’s may be understood as a simple repetition. He adds, Not as the world giveth, give I unto you: i. e. not as those men, who love the world, give. They give themselves peace, i. e. free, uninterrupted enjoyment of the world. And even when they allow the righteous peace, so far as not to persecute them, yet there cannot be true peace, where there is no true agreement, no union of heart.
CHRYSOSTOM. (Hom. lxxv. 3) External peace is often even hurtful, rather than profitable to those who enjoy it.
AUGUSTINE. (de Verb. Dom. serm. ix) But there is a peace which is serenity of thought, tranquillity of mind, simplicity of heart, the bond of love, the fellowship of charity. None will be able to come to the inheritance of the Lord who do not observe this testament of peace; none be friends with Christ, who are at enmity with the Christians.
15. If ye love me, keep my commandments.
16. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;
17. Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.
CHRYSOSTOM. Our Lord having said, Whatsoever ye shall ask in My name, that I will do; that they might not think simply asking would be enough, He adds, If ye love Me, keep My commandments. And then I will do what ye ask, seems to be His meaning. Or the disciples having heard Him say, I go to the Father, and being troubled at the thought of it, He says, To love Me, is not to be troubled, but to keep My commandments: this is love, to obey and believe in Him who is loved. And as they had been expressing a strong desire for His bodily presence, He assures them that His absence will be supplied to them in another way: And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Comforter.
AUGUSTINE. (Tract. lxxiv. 4) Wherein He shews too that He Himself is the Comforter. Paraclete means advocate, and is applied to Christ: We have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. (1 John 2:1)
ALCUIN. Paraclete, i. e. Comforter. They had then one Comforter, who comforted and elevated them by the sweetness of His miracles, and His preaching.
DIDYMUS. (Didym. De Spiritu Sancto.) But the Holy Ghost was another Comforter: differing not in nature, but in operation. For whereas our Saviour in His office of Mediator, and of Messenger1, and as High Priest, made supplication for our sins; the Holy Ghost is a Comforter in another sense, i. e. as consoling our griefs. But do not infer from the different operations of the Son and the Spirit, a difference of nature. For in other places we find the Holy Spirit performing the office of intercessor2 with the Father, as, The Spirit Himself intercedeth for us. (Rom. 8:26) And the Saviour, on the other hand, pours consolation into those hearts that need it: as in Maccabees, He strengthened those of the people that were brought low. (1 Macc. 14:15)
CHRYSOSTOM. (Hom. lxxiv. 2) He says, I will ask the Father, to make them believe Him: which they could not have done, had He simply said, I will send.
AUGUSTINE. (contra Serm. Arrian. c. xix.) Yet to shew that His works are inseparable from His Father’s, He says below, When I shall go, I will send Him unto you.
CHRYSOSTOM. (Hom. lxxiv) But what had He more than the Apostles, if He could only ask the Father to give others the Spirit? The Apostles did this often even without praying.
ALCUIN. I will ask—He says, as being the inferior in respect of His humanity—My Father, with Whom I am equal and consubstantial in respect of My Divine nature.
CHRYSOSTOM. (Hom. lxxv. 1) That He may abide with you for ever. The Spirit does not depart even at death. He intimates too that the Holy Ghost will not suffer death, or go away, as He has done. But that the mention of the Comforter might not lead them to expect another incarnation, a Comforter to be seen with the eye, He adds, Even the Spirit of truth, Whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him.
AUGUSTINE. (Tract. lxxiv. 1) This is the Holy Ghost in the Trinity, Whom the Catholic faith professes to be consubstantial and coeternal with the Father and the Son.
CHRYSOSTOM. (Hom. lxxv. 1) The Spirit of truth He calls Him, because He unfolds the figures of the Old Testament. The world are the wicked, seeing is certain knowledge; sight being the most certain of the senses.
BEDE. Note too, that when He calls the Holy Spirit the Spirit of truth, He shews that the Holy Spirit is His Spirit: then when He says He is given by the Father, He declares Him to be the Spirit of the Father also. Thus the Holy Ghost proceeds both from the Father, and from the Son.
GREGORY. (v. Mor.) The Holy Spirit kindles in every one, in whom He dwells, the desire of things invisible. And since worldly minds love only things visible, this world receiveth Him not, because it rises not to the love of things invisible. In proportion as secular minds enlarge themselves by the spread of their desires, in that proportion they narrow themselves, with respect to admitting Christ.
AUGUSTINE. (Tract. lxxiv. 4) Thus the world, i. e. the lovers of the world, cannot, He says, receive the Holy Spirit: that is to say, unrighteousness cannot be righteous. The world, i. e. the lovers of the world, cannot receive Him, because it seeth Him not. The love of the world hath not invisible eyes wherewith to see that, which can only be seen invisibly. It follows: But ye know Him, for He dwelleth (manebit) with you. And that they might not think this meant a visible dwelling, in the sense in which we use the phrase with respect to a guest, He adds, And shall be in you.
CHRYSOSTOM. (Hom. lxxv. 1) As if He said, He will not dwell with you as I have done, but will dwell in your souls.
AUGUSTINE. (Tract. lxxiv. 5) To be in a place is prior to dwelling. Be in you, is the explanation of dwell with you: i. e. shews that the latter means not that He is seen, but that He is known, He must be in us, that the knowledge of Him may be in us. We see the Holy Ghost then in us, in our consciences.
GREGORY. (ii. Mor.) But if the Holy Spirit abides in the disciples, how is it a special mark of the Mediator that He abides in Him. (supr. 1:32. ἐπʼ αὐτὸν) We shall better understand, if we distinguish between the different gifts of the Spirit. In respect of those gifts without which we cannot attain to salvation, the Holy Spirit ever abides in all the Elect: but in respect of those which do not relate to our own salvation, but to the procuring that of others, He does not always abide in them. For He sometimes withdraws His miraculous gifts, that His grace may be possessed with humility. Christ has Him without measure and always.
CHRYSOSTOM. (Hom. lxxv. 1) This speech levels at a stroke, as it were, the opposite heresies. The word another, shews the distinct personality of the Spirit: the word Paraclete, His consubstantiality.
AUGUSTINE. (contr. Serm. Arrian. c. xix.) Comforter, the title of the Holy Spirit, the third Person in the Trinity, the Apostle applies to God: God that comforteth those that are cast down, comforted us. (2 Cor. 7:6) The Holy Spirit therefore Who comforts those that are cast down, is God. Or if they will have this said by the Apostle of the Father or the Son, let them not any longer separate the Holy Spirit from the Father and the Son, in His peculiar office of comforting.
AUGUSTINE. (Tract. lxxiv. c. 1) But when the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us, (Rom. 5:6) how shall we love and keep the commandments of Christ, so as to receive the Spirit, when we are not able to love or to keep them, unless we have received the Spirit? Does love in us go first, i. e. do we so love Christ and keep His commandments as to deserve to receive the Holy Spirit, and to have the love of God the Father shed abroad in our hearts? This is a perverse opinion. For he who does not love the Father, does not love the Son, however he may think he does. (c. 2). It remains for us to understand, that he who loves has the Holy Spirit, and by having Him, attains to having more of Him, and by having more of Him, to loving more. The disciples had already the Spirit which our Lord promised; but they were to be given more of Him: they had Him secretly, they were to receive Him openly. The promise is made both to him who has the Spirit, and to him who has Him not; to the former, that he shall have Him; to the latter, that He shall have more of Him.
CHRYSOSTOM. (Hom. lxxv. 1) When He had cleansed His disciples by the sacrifice of His passion, and their sins were remitted, and they were sent forth to dangers and trials, it was necessary that they should receive the Holy Spirit abundantly. But they were made to wait some time for this gift, in order that they might feel the want of it, and so be the more grateful for it when it came.
14:18–21
18. I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.
19. Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more: but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also.
20. At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.
21. He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.
AUGUSTINE. (Tr. lxxv. 1) That no one might think, because our Lord was about to give the Holy Spirit, that He would therefore not be present Himself in Him, He adds, I will not leave you comfortless. The Greek word ὀρφανοὶ signifies “wards.” Although then the Son of God has made us the adopted sons of the Father, yet here He Himself shews the affection of a Father towards us.
CHRYSOSTOM. (Hom. lxxv. 1) At the first He said, Whither I go ye shall come; but as this was a long time off, He promises them the Spirit in the interval. And as they knew not what that was, He promises them that they most desired, His own presence, I will come to you: but intimates at the same time that they are not to look for the same kind of presence over again: Yet a little while, and the world seeth Me no more: as if He said, I will come to you, but not to live with you every day as I did before. And, I will come to you alone, He says, thus preventing any inconsistency with what He had said to the Jews: Henceforth ye shall not see Me.
AUGUSTINE. (Tr. lxxv. 2) For the world saw Him then with the carnal eye, manifest in the flesh, though it did not see the Word hidden under the flesh. But after the resurrection He was unwilling to shew even His flesh, except to His own followers, whom He allowed to see and to handle it: Yet a little while, and the world seeth Me no more; but ye shall see Me. But, inasmuch as the world, by which are meant all who are aliens from His kingdom, will see Him at the last judgment, it is better perhaps to understand Him here as pointing to that time, when He will be taken for ever from the eyes of the wicked, to be seen thenceforth by those who love Him. A little while, He says, for that which seems a long time to men, is but a moment in the eyes of God.
Because I live, ye shall live also.
THEOPHYLACT. AS if He said, Though I shall die, I shall rise again. And ye shall live also, i. e. when ye see Me risen again, ye will rejoice, and be as dead men brought to life again.
CHRYSOSTOM. (Hom. lxxv. 2) To me however he seems to refer not only to the present life, but to the future; as if He said, The death of the cross shall not separate you from Me for ever, but only hide Me from you for a moment.
AUGUSTINE. (Tr. lxxv. 3) But why does He speak of life as present to Him, future to them? Because His resurrection preceded, theirs was to follow. His resurrection was about so soon to take place, that He speaks of it as present; theirs being deferred till the end of the world, He does not say ye live, but ye shall live. Because He lives, therefore we shall live: As by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. (1 Cor. 15:21) It follows: In that day (the day of which He saith, ye shall live also) ye shall know, i. e. whereas now ye believe, then ye shall see, that I am in the Father, and ye in Me, and I in you. For when we shall have attained to that life in which death is swallowed up, then shall be finished that which is now begun by Him, that He should be in us, and we in Him.
CHRYSOSTOM. (Hom. lxxv. 2) Or, in that day, on which I shall rise again, ye shall know. For His resurrection it was that established their faith. Then the powerful teaching of the Holy Spirit began. His saying, I am in the Father, expresses His humility; the next, And ye in Me, and I in you, His humanity and God’s assistance to Him. Scripture often uses the same words in different senses, as applied to God and to men.
HILARY. (viii. de Trin) Or He means by this, that whereas He was in the Father by the nature of His divinity, and we in Him by means of His birth in the flesh; He on the other hand should be believed to be in us by the mystery of the Sacrament: as He Himself testified above: Whoso eateth My flesh, and drinketh My blood, dwelleth in Me, and I in Him. (supr. 6:54)
ALCUIN. By love, and the observance of His commandments, that will be perfected in us which He has begun, viz. that we should be in Him, and He in us. And that this blessedness may be understood to be promised to all, not to the Apostles only, He adds, He that hath My commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me.
AUGUSTINE. (Tract. lxxv. 5) He that hath them in mind, and keepeth them in life; he that hath them in words, and keepeth them in works; he that hath them by hearing, and keepeth them by doing; he that hath them by doing, and keepeth them by persevering, he it is that loveth Me. Love must be shewn by works, or it is a mere barren name.
THEOPHYLACT. As if He said, Ye think that by sorrowing, as ye do, for my death ye prove your affection; but I esteem the keeping of My commandments the evidence of love. And then He shews the privileged state of one who loves: And he that loveth Me shall be loved of My Father, and I will love him.
AUGUSTINE. (Tract. lxxv. 5) I will love him, as if now He did not love him. What meaneth this? He explains it in what follows: And will manifest Myself unto him, i. e. I love him so far as to manifest Myself to him; so that, as the reward of his faith, he will have sight. Now He only loves us so that we believe; then He will love us so that we see. And whereas we love now by believing that which we shall see, then we shall love by seeing that which we have believed.
AUGUSTINE. (ad Paul. de videndo Dei, Ep. 112:100, 10) He promises to shew Himself to them that love Him as God with the Father, not in that body which He bore upon earth, and which the wicked saw.
THEOPHYLACT. Or, as after the resurrection He was to appear to them in a body more assimilated to His divinity, that they might not take Him then for a spirit, or a phantom, He tells them now beforehand not to have misgivings upon seeing Him, but to remember that He shews Himself to them as a reward for their keeping His commandments; and that therefore they are bound ever to keep them, that they may ever enjoy the sight of Him.
14:22–27
22. Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world?
23. Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.
24. He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me.
25. These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you.
26. But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
27. Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you.
AUGUSTINE. (Tract. lxxvi. 1) Our Lord having said, A little while, and the world seeth Me no more: but ye shall see Me: Judas, not the traitor named Scariot, but he whose Epistle is read among the Canonical Scriptures, asks His meaning: Judas saith unto Him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that Thou wilt manifest Thyself unto us, and not unto the world? Our Lord in reply explains why He manifests Himself to His own, and not to aliens, viz. because the one love Him, the other do not. Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love Me, he will keep My words.
GREGORY. (Hom. xxx. in Evang.) If thou wouldest prove thy love, shew thy works. The love of God is never idle; whenever it is, it doeth great things: if it do not work, it is not.
AUGUSTINE. (Tract. lxxvi. 2) Love distinguishes the saints from the world: it maketh men to be of one mind in an house; in which house the Father and the Son take their abode; who give that love to those, to whom in the end they will manifest themselves. For there is a certain inner manifestation of God, unknown to the ungodly, to whom there is no manifestation made of the Father and the Holy Spirit, and only could be of the Son in the flesh; which latter manifestation is not as the former, being only for a little while, not for ever, for judgment, not for joy, for punishment, not for reward. And We will come unto him: They come to us, in that we go to Them; They come by succouring, we go by obeying; They come by enlightening, we go by contemplating; They come by filling, we go by holding: so Their manifestation to us is not external, but inward; Their abode in us not transitory, but eternal. It follows, And will make Our abode with him.
GREGORY. (Hom. xxx.) Into some hearts He cometh, but not to make His abode with them. For some feel compunction for a season and turn to God, but in time of temptation forget that which gave them compunction, and return to their former sins, just as if they had never lamented them. But whoso loveth God truly, into his heart the Lord both comes, and also makes His abode therein: for the love of the Godhead so penetrates him, that no temptation withdraws him from it. He truly loves, whose mind no evil pleasure overcomes, through his consent thereto.
AUGUSTINE. (Tract. lxxvi. 4) But while the Father and the Son make Their abode with the loving soul, is the Holy Spirit excluded? What meaneth that which is said of the Holy Spirit above: He dwelleth with you, and shall be in you, but that the Spirit makes His abode with us? Unless indeed a man be so absurd as to think that when the Father and the Son come, the Holy Spirit departs, as if to give place to His superiors. Yet even this carnal thought is met by Scripture, in that it says, Abide with you for ever. (v.16) He will therefore be in the same abode with Them for ever. As He did not come without Them, so neither They without Him. As a consequence of the Trinity, acts are sometimes attributed to single persons in it: but the substance of the same Trinity demands, that in such acts the presence of the other Persons also be implied.
GREGORY. (Hom. xxx.) In proportion as a man’s love rests upon lower things, in that proportion is he removed from heavenly love: He that loveth Me not, keepeth not My sayings. To the love then of our Maker, let the tongue, mind, life bear witness.
CHRYSOSTOM. (Hom. lxxv. 1, 2) Or thus: Judas thought that he should see Him, as we see the dead in sleep: How is it, that Thou wilt manifest Thyself unto us, and not unto the world? meaning, Alas, as Thou art to die, Thou wilt appear to us but as one dead. To correct this mistake, He says, I and My Father will come to him, i. e. I shall manifest Myself, even as My Father manifests Himself. And will make our abode with Him; which is not like a dream. It follows, And the word which ye hear is not Mine, but the Father’s which sent Me; i. e. He that heareth not My words, inasmuch as he loveth not Me, so loveth he not My Father. This He says to shew that He spoke nothing which was not the Father’s, nothing beside what seemed good to the Father.
AUGUSTINE. (Tract. lxxvi. 5) And perhaps there is a distinction at bottom, since He speaks of His sayings, when they are His own, in the plural number; as when He says, He that loveth Me not, keepeth not My sayings: when they are not His own, but the Father’s, in the singular, i. e. as the Word, which is Himself. For He is not His own Word, but the Father’s, as He is not His own image, but the Father’s, or His own Son, but the Father’s.
CHRYSOSTOM. (Hom. lxxv. 3) These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you. Some of these things were obscure, and not understood by the disciples.
AUGUSTINE. (Tract. lxxvii. 1) The abode He promised them hereafter is altogether a different one from this present abode He now speaks of. The one is spiritual and inward, the other outward, and perceptible to the bodily sight and hearing.
CHRYSOSTOM. (Hom. lxxv. 3) To enable them to sustain His bodily departure more cheerfully, He promises that that departure shall be the source of great benefit; for that while He was then in the body, they could never know much, because the Spirit would not have come: But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, Whom the Father will send in My name, He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
GREGORY. (Hom. xxx. in Evang.) Paraclete is Advocate, or Comforter. The Advocate then intercedes with the Father for sinners, when by His inward power He moves the sinner to pray for himself. The Comforter relieves the sorrow of penitents, and cheers them with the hope of pardon.
CHRYSOSTOM. (Hom. lxxv. 3) He often calls Him the Comforter, in allusion to the affliction in which they then were.
DIDYMUS. (Didym. de Spir. Sancto, l. ii. inter opera Hieron.) The Saviour affirms that the Holy Spirit is sent by the Father, in His, the Saviour’s, name; which name is the Son. Here an agreement of nature and propriety1, so to speak, of persons is shewn. The Son can come in the Father’s name only, consistently with the proper1 relationship of the Son to the Father, and the Father to the Son. No one else comes in the name of the Father, but in the name of God, of the Lord, of the Almighty, and the like. As servants who come in the name of their Lord, do so as being the servants of that Lord, so the Son who comes in the name of the Father, bears that name as being the acknowledged only-begotten Son of the Father. That the Holy Spirit then is sent in the Son’s name, by the Father, shews that He is in unity with the Son: whence He is said too to be the Spirit of the Son, and to make those sons by adoption, who are willing to receive Him. The Holy Spirit then, Who cometh in the name of the Son from the Father, shall teach them, who are established in the faith of Christ, all things; all things which are spiritual, both the understanding of truth, and the sacrament of wisdom. But He will teach not like those who have acquired an art or knowledge by study and industry, but as being the very art, doctrine, knowledge itself. As being this Himself, the Spirit of truth will impart the knowledge of divine things to the mind.
GREGORY. (Hom. xxx.) Unless the Spirit be present to the mind of the hearer, the word of the teacher is vain. Let none then attribute to the human teacher, the understanding which follows in consequence of his teaching: for unless there be a teacher within, the tongue of the teacher outside will labour in vain. Nay even the Maker Himself does not speak for the instruction of man, unless the Spirit by His unction speaks at the same time.
AUGUSTINE. (Tract. lxxvii. 2) So then the Son speaks, the Holy Spirit teaches: when the Son speaks we take in the words, when the Holy Spirit teaches, we understand those words. The whole Trinity indeed both speaks and teaches, but unless each person worked separately as well, the whole would be too much for human infirmity to take in.
GREGORY. (Hom. xxx.) But why is it said of the Spirit, He shall suggest2 all things to you: to suggest being the office of an inferior? The word is used here, as it is used sometimes, in the sense of supplying secretly. The invisible Spirit suggests, not because He takes a lower place in teaching, but because. He teaches secretly.
AUGUSTINE. (Tract. xxvii. 2) Suggest, i. e. bring to your remembrance. Every wholesome hint to remember that we receive is of the grace of the Spirit.
THEOPHYLACT. The Holy Spirit then was both to teach and to bring to remembrance: to teach what Christ had forborne to tell His disciples, because they were not able to bear it; to bring to remembrance what Christ had told them, but which on account of its difficulty, or their slowness of understanding, they were unable to remember.
CHRYSOSTOM. (Hom. lxxiv. 3) Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you: He says this to console His disciples, who were now troubled at the prospect of the hatred and opposition which awaited them after His departure.
AUGUSTINE. (Tract. lxxvii. 2) He left no peace in this world; in which we conquer the enemy, and have love one to another: He will give us peace in the world to come, when we shall reign without an enemy, and where we shall be able to avoid disagreement. This peace is Himself, both when we believe that He is, and when we shall see Him as He is. But why does He say, Peace I leave with you, without the My, whereas He puts in My in, My peace I give unto you? Are we to understand My in the former; or is it not rather left out with a meaning? His peace is such peace as He has Himself; the peace which He left us in this world is rather our peace than His. He has nothing to fight against in Himself, because He has no sin: but ours is a peace in which we still say, Forgive us our debts. (Matt. 6:12) And in like manner we have peace between ourselves, because we mutually trust one another, that we mutually love one another. But neither is that a perfect peace; for we do not see into each other’s minds. I could not deny however that these words of our Lord’s may be understood as a simple repetition. He adds, Not as the world giveth, give I unto you: i. e. not as those men, who love the world, give. They give themselves peace, i. e. free, uninterrupted enjoyment of the world. And even when they allow the righteous peace, so far as not to persecute them, yet there cannot be true peace, where there is no true agreement, no union of heart.
CHRYSOSTOM. (Hom. lxxv. 3) External peace is often even hurtful, rather than profitable to those who enjoy it.
AUGUSTINE. (de Verb. Dom. serm. ix) But there is a peace which is serenity of thought, tranquillity of mind, simplicity of heart, the bond of love, the fellowship of charity. None will be able to come to the inheritance of the Lord who do not observe this testament of peace; none be friends with Christ, who are at enmity with the Christians.
Catena Aurea John 14
St. Jacques Berthieu was a French Jesuit priest martyred in 1896 while he was spreading the faith in Madagascar.
He was born in 1838 in France to a simple farming family. He studied at seminary and was ordained a diocesan priest in 1864, then went on to serve at a local parish for nine years. He had a thriving and well-developed prayer life grounded in St. Ignatius’ spiritual exercises. When he heard a call to become a missionary, he joined the Jesuit order in 1873.
Two years later, Jacques sailed to an island just off of Madagascar, where he studied the local language with several other Jesuits and some nuns. At the age of 37, the new climate and culture challenged him. “My uselessness and my spiritual misery serve to humiliate me, but not to discourage me,” he wrote. “I await the hour when I can do something, with the grace of God.”
He did what he could with his limited language and skills—he started a garden to help feed the missionary station and offered what pastoral service he could to the people there.
In 1881, the French government closed French territories to the Jesuits, so Jacques and the team of missionaries he was living with moved to the larger island of Madagascar, which was an independent kingdom. They built a church and began serving and teaching the people.
Within a few years, the kingdom of Madagascar was at war with the French. Soon a revolt targeted Christians, who were seen as complicit with the colonizers. Jacques asked a French colonel to help protect the Christian community he was working with, but was refused because Jacques had criticized the colonel’s treatment of the village women. The group fled instead, but were soon caught.
On this date in 1896, Jacques was found, stripped, and beaten. One rebel grabbed his crucifix and said, “Is this your amulet? Will you continue to pray for a long time?” Jacques replied, “I have to pray until I die.” He was struck on his head by a machete.
Wounded, he was marched some six miles to the village where he had been living, and was further tortured. His captors decided to kill him. Jacques knelt at the sight of the approaching gunmen, but they missed when they first fired at him. Jacques made the sign of the cross.
One approached him and offered to spare him if he gave up his faith—in fact, he said, they would make Jacques their counselor. “I cannot consent to this,” Jacques replied. “I prefer to die.”
They fired again, missing once more. Jacques bowed his head in prayer and was finally killed. His body was dumped in the local river. He was 57.
After his death, the people of the village noticed that miraculous healings began to happen when they drank the water of the river into which Jacques’ body was thrown. He was canonized by Pope Benedict XVI in 2012.
St. Jacques Berthieu, you were the missionary to Madagascar who preferred death to denying your faith—pray for us!
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