Sermons

Pentecost

PENTECOST As far as can be determined,1 Leo delivered these sermons on Pentecost Sunday, with the exception of Serm. 80, which he gave on one of the fast days. Serms. 75-77, while barely mentioning the fast, emphasize the Feast of Pentecost, where Leo describes the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles (Serm. 77.1). As usual, Leo denounces the relevant heresies. Macedonianism, while holding the Father and the Son to be equal, considered the Holy Spirit to have an inferior nature (Serm. 75.4), thus undermining the Trinity, for "by no reckoning is that truly one which is different by any inequality" (Serm. 77.3). Leo decries the claim that the Manichaeans make concerning Mani and the Holy Spirit (Serm. 76.6). He lists the marks of the Holy Spirit (Serm. 75.5) and the benefits of the Holy Spirit (Serm. 76.4), underscoring the fact that the Holy Spirit differs in no way from the Father and the Son (Serm. 76.2). Serms. 78-81 emphasize the fast. Leo urges his flock to recognize the value of fasting, which must be done with love (Serm. 79.3) and with prompt faith (Serm. 79.4). As with the other fasts, he urges people to "withhold some small portions of food, so that what is not spent on our tables might benefit alms" (Serm. 80.1). Sermon 75 23 May 443 HE HEARTS of all Catholics know well, dearly beloved, that today's solemnity ought to be honored among the special feasts. No one doubts how much reverence is owed to this day which the Holy Spirit has consecrated by the wonderful miracle ofhis own gift. For, from that day on which the Lord ascended over all the heights of heaven to sit at the right hand ofGod the Father, this day is the tenth. It is likewise the fiftieth from the Resurrection of that same Lord who enlightened us about him from whom light began. It contains I. Cf. CCL I 38.cxci. 330 SERMON 75 331 great mysteries in itself of both the old and the new dispensations , by which it is very dearly shown that grace was foretold by the old law and that the law was fulfilled by grace. As once to the Hebrew people, freed from Egypt, the law was given on Mt. Sinai on the fiftieth day after the sacrifice of the lamb, so after the Passion of Christ when the true Lamb of God was killed, on the fiftieth day from his Resurrection, the Holy Spirit came down on the apostles and the community of believers. The attentive Christian can easily know that the beginnings ofthe Old Testament had ministered to the principles of the Gospel, and that the Second Covenant was established by the same Spirit who had set up the first. 2. As the history of the apostles shows us, "When the fifty days were completed and they were all together in the same place, suddenly a sound was made from heaven as of a violent wind approaching, and it filled the whole house where they were. And there appeared to them parted tongues as ifof fire, and these rested on each ofthem. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak in other tongues, just as the Holy Spirit was giving them to speak.,,2 0 how swift is that speech of wisdom! Where God is the teacher, how quickly is that learned which is being taught! No interpretation is used in order to understand, no practice is needed in order to use it. No time is needed to study, but, with the "Spirit" of Truth "blowing wherever he pleases,,,3 the particular voices of each distinct people become familiar in the mouth of the Church. From this day the trumpet ofthe Gospel teaching resounds. From this day showers of graces, streams of benedictions, water all the desert and every wasteland, since to "renew the face of the earth,"4 "God's Spirit hovered over the water."5 To take away the old darkness, beams of new light flash out, when by the splendor of those glowing tongues, the Word of the Lord becomes "clear,,6 and "speech takes fire.,,7 Both the force ofgiving light and the power for burning were present for this reason , to create knowledge and to destroy sin. 2. Acts 2.1-4. 4. Cf. Ps 103(104).3°. 6. Cf. Ps 18(19).9. 3· Cf. In...