Category: Pentecost

Fourth Sunday after Pentecost

7/6/2014

At that time: As the people pressed upon Jesus, to hear the Word of God, he stood by the lake of Gennesaret.

Sermon by St. Ambrose the Bishop

When the Lord wrought so many works of healing, neither time nor place could restrain the people from seeking health. Evening came, and they still followed him; he went down to the lake, and they still pressed upon him; for which reason he entered into Peter's ship. This is that ship, which spiritually up to this very hour, according to the expression of Matthew, is buffeted by tempests; but still, according to Luke, is filled with fishes. By all this is signified that for a while things are troublous for the Church, but afterwards fruitful. And the fishes are those Christians which are as yet in the troublous waters of human life. In this ship also spiritually doth Christ, for the sake of his disciples, still sleep, and still command, for he sleepeth for the lukewarm, and watcheth for the perfect.

No fear, then, for the ship where wisdom steereth, where false teaching is not known, where faith swelleth the sails. How shall she be troubled, whose Lord is himself the Church's sure Foundation? It is where faith is weak that there is fear; where love is perfect, there is safety. To many it is commanded to loose their nets, but to Peter also is said: Launch out into the deep: which may be interpreted as the depths of doctrine. What indeed is there so deep, as to gaze upon the depth of all riches, to recognize the Son of God, and to take up the confession of his divine generation? This is a thing which the mind is not able to grasp by the searchings of man's reason, but which is embraced by a hearty faith.

For, albeit, it is not given unto me to know how the Son of God was born, yet of the fact that he was begotten, I may not be ignorant. What the order of his generation was, I know not, but the Source of his generation, I do acknowledge. None hath beheld the Begetting of the Son of God by the Father, but the Church hath stood by to hear the Father testify that this is his beloved Son. If we believe not God, whom shall we believe? For whatsoever we believe cometh either by sight or hearing; sight is oftentimes deceived, but faith cometh by hearing.

Pentecost Sunday

6/8/2014

At that time: Jesus said unto his disciples: 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.

Sermon by St. Gregory the Pope

Dearly beloved brethren, our best way will be to run briefly through the words which have been read from the Holy Gospel, and thereafter rest for a while quietly gazing upon the solemn subject of this great Festival. This is the day whereon suddenly there came a sound from heaven, and the Holy Ghost descended upon the Apostles, and, for fleshly minds, gave them minds wherein the love of God was shed abroad; and, while without there appeared unto them cloven tongues, like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them, within, their hearts were enkindled. While they received the visible presence of God in the form of fire, the flames of his love enwrapped them. The Holy Ghost himself is love; whence it is that John saith: God is love. Whosoever therefore loveth God with all his soul, already hath obtained him whom he loveth; for no man is able to love God, if he have not gained him whom he loveth.

But, behold now, if I shall ask any one of you whether he loveth God, he will answer will all boldness and quietness of spirit: I do love him. But at the very beginning of this day's Lesson from the Gospel, ye have heard what the Truth saith: If a man love me, he will keep my word. The test, then, of love, is whether it is shewed by works. Hence the same John hath said in his Epistle: If a man say, I love God, and keepeth not his commandments, he is a liar. Then do we indeed love God, and keep his commandments, if we deny ourselves the gratification of our appetites. Whosoever still wandereth after unlawful desires, such an one plainly loveth not God, for he saith, Nay, to that which God willeth.

And my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. O my dearly beloved brethren, think what a dignity is that, to have God abiding as a guest in our heart. Surely if some rich man or some powerful friend were to come into our house, we would hasten to have our whole house cleaned, lest, perchance, when he came in, he should see aught to displease his eye. So let him that would make his mind an abode for God, cleanse it from all the filth of works of iniquity. Lo, again, what saith the Truth? We will come unto him, and make our abode with him. There are some hearts whereunto God cometh, but maketh not his abode therein; with a certain pricking they feel his Presence, but in time of temptation they forget that which hath priced them: and so they turn again to work unrighteousness, even as though they had never repented.

Thoughts for Pentecost Sunday

6/8/2014

The Coming of the Holy Ghost

“The Advocate, the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, He will teach you all things” (John, 14:26)

Today the Catholic Church commemorates the dramatic and important event of the first Pentecost, almost two thousand years ago, when the Holy Ghost descended on the Blessed Virgin Mary and the disciples assembled in prayer in Jerusalem, on the tenth day after the ascension of Jesus Christ into heaven.

The Holy Ghost is the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity, the Spirit of Love. While all the activities of the divinity in the world are actually performed by all three Persons, we ascribe or appropriate certain works to one particular Person. Hence, works of love, such as the enlightenment and the sanctification of human souls, we attribute to the Holy Ghost. For the same reason we attribute to the Holy Ghost the indwelling of God in the Church, which is a work of love. On the first Pentecost the Holy Ghost became the very soul of Christ's Mystical Body, the Church. And just as the human soul gives to the body strength and vigour, so the Holy Ghost gives to the Catholic Church the power and the stability it needs to combat all hostile forces and to continue until the end of time its work of bringing souls to eternal salvation.

Sometimes people wonder why the Catholic Church is so vigorous, despite the many difficulties and persecutions it encounters. The answer is not to be sought in any natural source. If the Church had relied on merely natural means of preserving and protecting itself, it would have perished centuries ago. The life of the Church is divine, because it is conferred directly by God Himself. That is the reason why the Church can never perish.

The Holy Ghost dwells also in the souls of individual Catholics, giving them the spiritual strength they need for the battle of life, and enlightening them to know God's holy will. However, they will merit this help and guidance only by exercising staunch loyalty to Christ and to His Church. Only if they are members of the Church in the fullest sense can they expect to share in its supernatural life in full measure. Only those Catholics who habitually live in sanctifying grace and frequently receive the sacraments can hope to derive from their membership in the Church the aid of the Holy Ghost in the degree in which Christ willed we should partake of the supernatural benefits of the Advocate whom He sent on the first Pentecost.

Practical Application

Thank God for His protection over the Catholic Church and rejoice today in the birthday of the Church. Promise that you will so live your Catholic life that your soul will ever be worthy to be the dwelling place of the Holy Ghost.

Vigil of Pentecost

6/7/2014

At that time: Jesus said unto his disciples: If ye love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter.

Sermon by St. Augustine the Bishop

By these words of the Lord: I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter: he certainly doth imply that he himself is a comforter. The Greek word used, namely, Paraclete, signifieth also an advocate, and is used in that sense where it is written: We have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous. The Gospel continueth with the words: Even the Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot receive: concerning which the Apostle saith: The carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can it be. Which is as though to say: Nothing can make unrighteousness righteous. By the word World, in this place, we must understand the lovers of the world, a love which cometh not of the Father. And therefore it is that this love of the world, which we strive to lessen and to destroy in ourselves, is contrary to the love of God, which is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.

The world cannot receive him, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him. For to love the world is to lack those spiritual eyes, which are able to see him who is invisible, namely, the Holy Ghost. But, saith the Lord to his disciples: Ye know him, for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. That is, He cometh to dwell with you, so that he may be in you abidingly. The Lord did not mean that the Spirit would come to dwell for a while, and so be in his people only for a season. According to this latter sense of the verb To Be, one must first be in a place before one can dwell there. So, lest the Apostles should think that the words: He shall dwell with you: signified that he should visibly abide with them for a while, as do guests in the houses of men, the Lord added in explanation: He shall be in you: which is to say: He shall abide in you.

On this wise, then, is he seen that is invisible: If he were not in us we could have in us no knowledge of him; but he is seen in us, as we see our consciences. We see the faces of other men, and we cannot see our own; but of men's consciences we see none save that which is within ourselves. However, our conscience is never elsewhere except within us; whereas the Holy Ghost may be outside of us, as well as within us. He is given to be within us, and unless he be within us, we can neither see nor know him, either within us or outside of us. Then, after the Lord had promised the Holy Ghost (lest anyone should fancy that he intended to give them this Comforter in place of himself, and he himself was to be no longer with them, but leave them as orphans), he said also: I will not leave you comfortless; I will come to you. Therefore, although the Son of God hath made us by adoption sons of his own Father, and hath willed that the Same who is his Father by nature should be our Father by grace, nevertheless, he sheweth that he himself hath towards us a love as of a father, whereof he saith: I will not leave you comfortless, that is, orphans.

The Blessed Virgin Mary and the Apostles await the coming of the Holy Ghost

Fourth Sunday after Pentecost

Pentecost Sunday

Thoughts for Pentecost Sunday

Vigil of Pentecost

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