From the book "THE SERMONS OF SAINT ANTONY OF PADUA"Translated into English by Paul Spilsbury
from the Critical Latin Edition of the Centro Studi Antoniani, Padova, Italia (1979):
THE FEAST OF PENTECOST
1. The Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, 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. [Jn 14.26]
[PROLOGUE: THE HOLY SPIRIT, THE COMFORTER]
2. ‘Paracletos’ is the Greek for ‘comforter’. The Holy Spirit is named ‘Comforter’ because he consoles those whom he fills, so that though they lose temporal things, they rejoice with eternal joy. So Isaiah 51 says:
The Lord will comfort Sion, and will comfort all the ruins thereof. And he will make her desert as a place of pleasure, and her wilderness as the garden of the Lord. Joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving and the voice of praise. [Is 51.3]
We will explain this text, first morally and then anagogically.
3. [Morally.] Sion, which means ‘crag’ or ‘look-out point’, is the soul of the just man, which like a rocky crag in the sea is buffeted by the waves of temptation, and yet is not worn away or moved; and therefore looks within itself and above itself. "Grant me to know myself and you," says
Augustine.1 The Holy Spirit comforts this Sion, saying:
Blessed are they that mourn; for they shall be comforted. [Mt 5.5]
And Isaiah 41 says:
To comfort all that mourn: to appoint to the mourners of Sion. [Is 61.2-3] To mourn is to be without light; whoever lacks the light of worldly glory, the Holy Spirit will fill with the consolation of his grace.
So there follows: And he will comfort all the ruins thereof. This is what the Lord says in Matthew 19:
He that hath left house or brethren, etc. will receive an hundredfold, [Mt 19.29] that is, spiritual gifts and virtues which are worth a hundred times more than temporal and carnal things. When the latter fall into ruin, the former rise up; the proud man falls, the humble man rises; the lustful man falls, the chaste man rises, and so with the rest.
And he will make her desert as a place of pleasure. A desert is as it were a deserted place, and it represents the heart of the just man, which because it does not frequent present consolations, takes pleasure in the grace of the Holy Spirit. What shall I call ‘pleasure’, if not the sweetness of contemplation, devotion of mind and compassion for our neighbour?
And her wilderness (that is, poverty) as the garden of the Lord. Of this, the Bride says in
Canticles 6:
My beloved is gone down into his garden. [Cant 6.1]
St Bernard2 says, "In heaven, all good things are abundantly available; only poverty is not to be found among them. On earth, this kind of thing abounds, and man does not know its worth. The Son of God came to seek it, so as to make it precious in his estimation."
Joy (for sin forgiven) and gladness (for an enlightened conscience), thanksgiving (for temporal benefits) and the voice of praise (for spiritual gifts) shall be found therein (i.e. in the aforesaid Sion).
4. Anagogically. Note that in this text the word ‘comfort’ occurs twice, on account of the double comfort the just man receives in the general resurrection: namely, the robe of soul and body. So the last chapter of Proverbs says:
All her domestics are clothed in double garments. [Prov 31.21]
And Isaiah 61:
For your double confusion and shame they shall praise their part; therefore they shall receive double in their land. Everlasting joy shall be to them. [Is 61.7]
What is ‘double’ consists of two parts. He comforts the soul, and he comforts the body, because he restores their ruins. So the Lord promises in the last chapter of Amos:
In that day I will raise up the tabernacle of David, that is fallen: and I will close up the breaches of the walls thereof and repair what was fallen. [Am 9.11]
He will raise up the ‘tabernacle of David’ the body of the just man which had fallen in death, ‘in that day’ of the general resurrection; when he will rebuild the ‘breaches of the walls’ (the passions of his members), so that no passion may have dominion over him. And because there is no true resurrection unless what falls rises again, there is added: And I will repair what was fallen.
So Job says:
And in my flesh I shall see God my Saviour [Job 19.26].
And because the just man is a ‘desert’ here, as to stillness of soul, and a ‘wilderness’ as to poverty of body, his soul takes pleasure in the savour of wisdom, with which the angels are satisfied; and his body is like the garden of the Lord, watered with four gifts, like the four rivers of Paradise. Regarding these there is added: Joy in clarity, gladness in agility, thanksgiving in subtlety and a voice of praise in impassibility, will be found therein, that is, in the robe of the glorified body. Blessed is he who merits to be consoled by the Paraclete with this double consolation.
[LITERAL SERMON ON THE GOSPEL OF THE FEAST]
5. The Holy Spirit, the Paraclete. This is he who is breathed into the hearts of the saints by the Father and the Son. This is he by whom they are sanctified, so as to be fitted to be saints. As the human spirit is the life of the body, so this divine Spirit is the life of spirits. The former life makes able to feel, the latter life makes holy. He is called the Holy Spirit, without whom no spirit, angelic or human, is made holy.
Whom the Father shall send in my name [Jn 16.14], that is, in my glory, to manifest my glory; or because he has the same name as the Son, namely, God. The text continues: He shall glorify me, because in making you spiritual, he will declare in what way the Son is equal to the Father, he whom they had known according to the flesh, as man [cf. 2Cor 5.16]. Or, by taking away fear, he will make you proclaim my glory to the whole world, which will benefit, not me, but men.
He will teach you all things. Joel 2 says:
Children of Sion, rejoice and be joyful in the Lord your God: because he hath given you a teacher of justice. [Joel 2.23]
He will teach you to know all things belonging to salvation. So, just before, he promises:
Behold, I will send you corn and wine and oil, and you shall be filled with them. [Joel 2.19]
The Holy Spirit is called ‘corn’ because he strengthens those going to their homeland, lest they faint in the way [cf. Mt 15.32]. He is called ‘wine’ because he gladdens them in tribulation; and ‘oil’, because he smoothes what is rough. These three were very necessary to the Apostles, about to preach in all the world, and so today he sent them the Holy Spirit to confer these three on them, with which they were filled. So there is sung of them: They were all filled with the Holy Spirit [Ac 2.4; 4.31], lest the spirit of the world should enter them.
A vessel completely full cannot receive anything more. And bring all things to your mind, that is, he will help you or remind you, and make you remember all things, whatsoever I shall have said to you. He will teach you, that you may know; he will prompt you, that you may will. Behold, the Holy Spirit gives the ability to know and to will; let us apply our ability on behalf of our ability, and so we shall be a temple of that Holy Spirit.
May the Son, who is blessed for ever, send him to us.
[ALLEGORICAL SERMON]
6. A swift stream of fire issued forth from before the Ancient of days [Dan 7.10].
This text is from Daniel 7. There is something similar in Isaiah 44:
I will pour water upon the thirsty ground and streams upon the dry land : I will pour out my spirit upon thy seed , and my blessing upon thy stock. [Is 44.3]
This is the very thing Peter preached today in Jerusalem, in Acts 2:
I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy. [Ac 2.17]
A river is an everlasting flowing of waters, which stream perpetually. This ‘river’ is the grace of the Holy Spirit, which today abundantly watered the hearts of the Apostles, filling them and cleansing them. As was said: I will pour upon you clean water, and you shall be cleansed from all your filthiness [Ezek 36.25].
This river is called ‘fiery’. "What else is the Holy Spirit but a divine fire? What corporeal fire does to iron, this fire does to the dirty, cold and hard heart. At the incoming of this fire, the human mind little by little loses all blackness, coldness and hardness, and wholly takes on the likeness of that by which it is inflamed. For this purpose it is given to man, for this it is breathed into him, that as far as possible he may be configured to it. For, from the burning of the divine fire, he becomes completely white-hot, and blazes forth equally, and melts into the love of God, according to these words of the Apostle: The charity of God is poured forth in our hearts, by the Holy Ghost who is given to us [Rom 5.5]."3
Note that by burning, fire brings low what is high, joins together what is divided (as iron to iron), makes bright what is dark, penetrates what is hard, is always mobile, directs all its movements and force upwards and flees the earth, and moves whatever it is engendered in to its own proper operation. These seven properties of fire can be referred to the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, which,
by the gift of fear, brings low what is high (that is, proud);
by the gift of piety, joins divided and separated hearts;
by the gift of knowledge, makes bright what is dark;
by the gift of fortitude, penetrates hard hearts;
by the gift of counsel, is always in motion (for he who is counselled by his inspiration does not
remain idle, but moves promptly to his own work and the salvation of others.
"The grace of the Holy Spirit knows no sluggishness or effort."4);
by the gift of understanding, directs all its movements, etc., because by his inspiration he gives man to understand, that is, to inwardly read in his heart, that he may seek what is heavenly and flee what is earthly);
by the gift of wisdom, it moves the mind in which it is engendered to its own operation, because it gives it a taste for it. Ecclesiasticus 24 says: I perfumed my dwelling [Ecclus 24.21]. The mind of the just, in which the Holy Spirit dwells, is redolent as a vessel or place in which something sweet-scented is placed.
The grace of the Holy Spirit is called a ‘river of fire’; a river, because it extinguishes the thirst for temporal things and washes away the stains of sin; fiery, because it inflames to love and illuminates to knowledge. So today it is said to appear upon the Apostles in tongues of fire, because it made them to speak and to burn. They burned with love of God, they enlightened their neighbour with a word.
7. It is also said to be ‘swift’. So Acts 2 says:
Suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a mighty wind coming. [Ac 2.2] Its might draws the mind above, and casts down eternal woe.
The stream of the river maketh the city of God joyful, [Ps 45.5]
because it filled the whole house where they were sitting [Ac 2.2].
We have heard where this river went; let us see whence it came out. It issued forth from before the Ancient of days. ‘Ancient’, because before everything. Christ says in John 8:
Before Abraham was made, I am. [Jn 8.58]
He, then, is the Ancient of days, an origin without a beginning, timelessly forming time, and ruling what is formed, reigning everywhere as God, from before whose face today streams forth the river of fire. The ‘face’ is that by which we are recognised. By the Son we come to know the Father, by the Holy Spirit we come to know the Son.
When the Paraclete cometh, he shall give testimony of me. [Jn 15.26]
Let us, then, devoutly ask him to send us the Paraclete, by whom we may know and love him, so that we may be found fit to attain to him. May he grant this, who is blessed for ever. Amen.
[MORAL SERMON]
8. A stream of fire, etc. There is something similar in Isaiah 59:
When he shall come as a violent stream which the spirit of the Lord driveth on. [Is 59.19] The stream stands for the flow of tears which the spirit of contrition makes to flow. So it says in Exodus 17 that Moses struck the rock with his staff, and water came out from it [cf. Ex 17.6].
The rock is the hard heart; if it is struck by the staff of contrition, the water of tears comes out.
Sting your eye, and out comes a tear. Sting your heart, and out comes wisdom.
This stream is called ‘of fire’, that is, hot. So Genesis 36 says: This is Ana that found the hot waters in the wilderness, when he fed the asses of Sebeon his father. [Gen 36.24]
Ana (‘gratified’) is the penitent whom divine grace has made grateful. He finds the waters of hot tears, which expel the chill of malice, not in the city and tumult of worldly folk, but in the wilderness of body and mind. A little child is happy when his nurse bathes him in warm water. So the just man, small in malice, is happy when grace, his nurse, washes him with tears. He
says:
Thou shalt wash me, and I shall be made whiter than snow. [Ps 50.9]
He finds these waters when he corrects in himself the ‘asses’ (his asinine obstinacy) with the rod of discipline, and compels them to go into the eternal pastures.
Alternatively, the ‘asses’ are faithful souls, which are called ‘of Sebeon’ (meaning ‘standing in mourning’), who represents Christ, the father of the just man, who by taking on our nature stands mourning; for as the Apostle says, he was offering with a strong cry and with tears [Heb 5.7]. His faithful, as he feeds them with word and example, find tears in the wilderness of the mind, because compunction of tears arises from compassion for our neighbours. So Job 30
says:
I wept heretofore for him that was afflicted: and my soul had compassion on the poor. [Job 30.25]
Compunction of tears is called a ‘stream of fire’ because it cleanses and warms. There is a proverb, "He weeps warmly, who weeps from the heart." Because there was a great fire of love in the heart of Magdalene, she shed the hottest tears, and she began to wash his feet with tears
[Lk 7.38].Truly her tears were a ‘swift stream of fire’, because they destroyed all her sins:
Many sins are forgiven her, because she hath loved much. [cf. Lk 7.47]
9. ‘Swift’. So Job 3 says:
Before I eat, I sigh; and as overflowing waters, so is my roaring. [Job 3.24]
As a swift and violent river, the waters of a flood, washes away an obstacle; so the ‘roaring’, the groans and tears, of a penitent wash away all the obstacles of temptation. And as at the roaring of a lion all the beasts stop in their steps, so do all the demons at the groaning of a penitent. So in chapter 2:
No man spoke to him a word: for they saw that his grief was very great. [Job 2.13]
The ‘speaking’ of the demons is their tempting, which ceases when there is vehement sorrow in a penitent; First he must go forward, if afterwards he may eat; that is, have peace and sweetness of conscience.
This stream goes out from the face of Christ, coming to judgement, and to render to each according to his works. Then let a man call to mind how angry that terrible judge will be, so that the powers of heaven shall be moved [Lk 21.26], and the pillars of heaven tremble [cf. Job 26.11]; when, as Apocalypse 6 says, they will say to the mountains and rocks:
Fall upon us and hide us from the face of him that sitteth upon the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb. [Apoc 6.16]
Formerly he was silent before his shearer and striker, his face smeared with spittle and swollen with blows, pale in death; but in judgement his face will be fierce, angry and unpitying. Who will then stand to see it? If, as Esther 15 says, when she saw the face of Assuerus, full of graces, she fell down and was almost in a swoon [cf. Esth 15.17-18] what will man do, when in the judgement he sees the face of the just Judge, so terrible and austere?
When Assuerus had lifted up his countenance, and with burning eyes had shewn the wrath of his heart, the queen sunk down and her colour turned pale: and she rested her weary head upon her handmaid. [Esth 15.10]
When someone considers all this carefully within himself, he is fear-struck and grief-stricken, and he is awash with tears. So the swift stream of fire goes out from the face of Christ. Isaiah says: From thy face, O Lord, we have conceived and brought forth the spirit of salvation [cf. Is 26.17-18], tearful compunction. May he deign to grant us this, who is blessed for ever. Amen.
NOTES
1 cf. AUGUSTINE, Soliloquies II,1; PL 32.885
2 cf. BERNARD, In vigila Nativitatis Domini, sermo 1,5; PL 183.89
3 RICHARD OF ST VICTOR, De Trinitate VI,14; PL 196.978
4 AMBROSE, Exposition of Luke, II,19; PL 15.1640
