[Sermon] 1. When the Spirit of Truth comes, he will
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SERMON 25: THE FourTH SUNDAY AFTER EASTER
[Sermon] 1. When the Spirit of Truth comes, he will teach you all the truth. John 16:13. Our Lord Jesus
Christ, seeing that his disciples were desolate because of his physical departure, promised them in this verse a regal reward, an imperial gift as a remedy for desolation, that is, the Holy Spirit, in whose possession there is no place of desolation or sorrow, but rather of consolation and happiness. In order then to provoke a longing for him in their souls, it describes his threefold property, which draws every desiring soul into his love. First, it describes him with reference to benignity due to the communicated presence of the highest majesty; second with reference to nobility due to the excellence of personal dignity; third, with reference to liberality due to the excess of copious doctrine. First, it describes him as most benign due to the communicated presence of the highest majesty, when it says: When he comes. Surely, this is great benignity, because such a great doctor does not refuse to come to his disciples since it is against the custom of other masters.
Second, it describes him as most noble due to the excellence of personal dignity, when it adds: The Spirit of Truth.
In fact, nothing is more excellent, nothing more precious, and nothing more noble than the Holy Spirit. Third, it describes him as most generous due to the excess of bountiful doctrine, when it introduces: he will teach you all truth. All streams of wisdom and knowledge derive from this doctor, who is the highest source.
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2. It says then: When he comes, where it describes him with reference to benignity because the presence of the highest majesty is imparted. If one asks the reason why the most benign Spirit deigns to come to his disciples, the best response is that the principal reason is his benignity.
Given his benignity, this Spirit comes first as physician for every experience because he bears spiritual and corporal life, second as master of all wisdom because he instructs with useful doctrine, third as the king of all opulence because he removes all indigence. The first regards the sick, the second regards the ignorant, and the third regards the poor.
3. First, the Spirit comes as a physician for every experience because he bears spiritual and corporal life. O what an expert this physician is, who gives life to those who are dead, spiritually and physically, and cures every infirmity without iron, without fire, without magical words, but instead with good will alone. Whence Ezekiel
37:9 prays: Come Spirit, and blow upon these slain, that they may be restored, that is, from a death of sin through the reception of grace. Whence just as the body is dead without the soul, so the soul without the Spirit.
4. Second, he comes as master of all wisdom because he instructs with useful doctrine. He is indeed the principal font of all knowledge and spiritual Christian doctrine, whether prophetic or apostolic, in accord with both laws. Therefore, as Wisdom 7:7 says: I wished and understanding was given me, and I called and the Spirit of wisdom came upon me, and I preferred her to kingdoms and thrones, and I esteemed riches as nothing in comparison to her. This is because although the Holy Spirit is liberal and generous in giving, nevertheless he is provident and discrete in dispensing. Anyone, therefore, who asks for a great benefit from him is required for one's part to have
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the appropriate, required disposition; and this is why it says: I wished, with the vehement desire of love, and called, with devotion in prayer; and then discrete and prudent understanding was given me, and the Spirit of illuminating wisdom came upon me; and I preferred her to all temporal things, because they are nothing in comparison to her. In fact, if the Scriptures are silent, experience teaches, because all together things do not satiate the appetite of the rational soul, because human beings, after having acquired all these things, become even more ardent in acquiring; and thus nothing is clearer than the fact that the acquisition or possession of these things has more to do with emptiness and indigence than support and sufficiency; whence the appetite never rests in them because it finds no support. The Spirit of wisdom, however, completes and moderates the entire soul; it even inebriates the soul so that it is soberly guided in all works.
5. Third, he comes third as the king of all opulence because he removes all indigence. Whence Acts 2:2-4:
There was a sound from heaven like a violent wind and it filled the entire house were they sitting;... they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. Truly the Holy Spirit filled and enriched the apostles with virtues, gifts, and presents, so that they lacked nothing, when he constituted them heirs and kings of the heavenly kingdom** and princes of Christian faith. Thus, it is he who raises the avaricious and needy from the land of avarice, and lifts the sinner and poor from the dunghill of impurity; so that wealthy with the true riches of grace, one may be seated with the princely apostles and have a glorious throne* in the celestial homeland.
448 See James 2:5.
449 See Matt 19:28: "And Jesus said to them: Amen, I say to you that you who have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of
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6. It follows: the Spirit of Truth, where it describes him as noble due to the excellence of personal dignity. In fact, this Spirit, because of his dignity and excellence, is first admirable in beginners due to the spiritual purgation of all sins; second, revered in the proficient due to the faithful dispensation of charismatic gifts; third, desirable in the accomplished due to the refreshment of the mind from sweet foods. He is the Spirit of highest power because of the first, of perfect equity because of the second, and of celestial goodness because of the third.
7. First, the Spirit is admirable in beginners due to the spiritual purgation of all sins. Whence Isaiah 4:3 says: Everyone will be called holy, who is recorded for life in Jerusalem; if the Lord will have washed away the filth of Zion's daughters and removed the blood of Jerusalem from its midst by the spirit of judgment and the spirit of ardor. The Holy Spirit is referred to as the Spirit of judgment, inasmuch as he impresses the soul with the fear of divine severity; but as the Spirit of ardor, inasmuch as he elevates to the love of goodness. With these two, that is fear and love, the Lord washes away the filth of Zion's daughters and the blood of Jerusalem, that is, the stains of spiritual and carnal sins. All sinners defiled by filth must draw near to this bath.
8. Second, the Spirit is revered in the proficient due to the faithful dispensation of charismatic gifts. Whence
1 Corinthians 12:4;11: There are varieties of gifts but the same Spirit; and after the enumeration of divine gifts, it follows: all these things are the works of the one and same
Spirit, who allots to everyone according to his will. The Holy Spirit distributes all gifts according to our merit
Se ee ee eee Man will sit on the throne of his glory, will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel."
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and his good pleasure. Although diverse, distinct, and multiple streams flow forth from the source, there is nevertheless only one source, who multiplies himself without diminishment. In this way, diverse streams of graces, gifts, and beatitudes flow forth from one eternal source, from one paradise, from one Holy Sprit, without diminishing him.
9. Third, he is desirable in the accomplished due to the refreshment of the mind from pleasing foods. Whence the saints are able to say in the celestial home what is read in Wisdom 12:1: O how good and sweet is your Spirit in us, Lord! Whence the good is joined well with the sweet, for there is the good that is not sweet such as the fear of punishment, and the sweet that is not good such as pleasurable depravity; but it says all good because it joins the good with the sweet by saying: O how good and sweet! Yet since one rarely finds some terrestrial delight, which is not sprinkled with bitterness or which does not generate distaste after frequent use, therefore, the Divine
Wisdom, Christ, says in Sirach 24:27: My spirit is sweeter than honey, that is above all created delights, for among creatures sweetness is characteristic of honey. Whence the sweetness of the Holy Spirit renews so sweetly, that the soul is perfectly satiated without generating distaste, indeed, desire continues.
10. Finally, it describes him in relation to the generous excess of bountiful doctrine, when it introduces: he will teach you all truth. Given his overflowing, bountiful doctrine, this Spirit teaches a threefold truth to which all truth can be reduced. In fact, he first teaches to flee from the deformity of fault due to the fear of divine severity; second, to do all things without personal bias due to a love for justice and equity; third, and to seek the dwelling of the celestial homeland through the vision of divine
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majesty. The first concerns the self, the second concerns the neighbor, but the third concerns God. And so if follows that when this Spirit teaches evil must*be fled due to the fear of divine reverence, good must be done for the love of justice and celestial realities must be sought for the enjoyment of divine wisdom, so that through these three things a person may be ordered in relationship to oneself, neighbor, and God, then it can rightly be said that he teaches all truth.
11. First, therefore, he teaches to flee from evil due to the fear of divine reverence. Whence Psalm 33:12-15 states: Come children and hear I will teach you the fear of the Lord, ... turn away from evil and do good, seek after peace and pursue it. Since the fear of the Lord is the beginning and primary foundation of all good, the Holy
Spirit, therefore, like a true master, first teaches every disciple of his the fear of the Lord, with which a person turns away from evil, does the good proper to justice, and seeks out and follows the good proper to a peaceful way of life.
12. Second, he teaches to do the good for the love of justice. Whence Wisdom 8:7 says: She teaches temperance and justice, truth and prudence. Since justice is twofold, that is, concerning oneself and concerning a neighbor, the Holy Spirit, therefore, first teaches prudence and modest temperance when one uses things; second, he teaches truthful justice when rendering things to a neighbor.
Nothing is more useful to people than these two for the consummation of the spiritual life.
13. Third, he teaches to seek celestial things in order to taste divine wisdom. Wisdom 12:19 says: You have taught your people through such works that it is necessary to be just and humane, and you have made your children
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to be of good hope. This authority, when understood spiritually, can be used to explain that the passage relates now to the Holy Spirit, that is to say, You taught your people, that is Christians, faith through such works, that is miracles, about being just and humane, so that we may come through the effects to understand the cause, and as sensate creatures we may return through the visible to the invisible, because true knowledge begins a posteriori during the journey; and you have made your children to be of good hope, eager with desire for the future glory.
Indeed the hope of the celestial homeland excites eternal longings within the children of God. And something similar to this is said in 1 John 2:27-28: As it [his anointing] has taught you, abide in him, ... so that when he appears we may have confidence, and may not shrink ashamed from him at his coming. Let us ask, therefore, etc.