Tract 92 on S. John. zealous, therefore, dearly beloved, that | A Homily of S. Augustine the Bishop. as the LORD to-day ascended on high in our form, so we may ascend in hope after Him as far as we can, and follow Him in heart. Let us ascend after Him at once, in desire and in progress, even by means of our sins and passions. For if each of us strives to subdue them to himself, and trains himself to stand above them, he frames of them a ladder for himself, whereby he may ascend to higher things. They will lift us up, if they be put below us. Ry. Let not. p. ccxx. Lesson VI. WE make a ladder for ourselves of our sins, if we tread upon the sins themselves. For malice cannot go up to the Author of Good; neither can lust and riot ascend to the Virgin's Son. Sins, I say, cannot ascend up after the Father of holiness. Crimes cannot follow after the righteous, nor weakness and disease after the physician. Therefore, if we desire to enter into the kingdom of the Physician Himself, let us first heal our wounds. Let us regulate and preserve in ourselves the position of our two substances: lest the lower part of our nature should plunge down in hell the soul, which is the nobler portion of man but rather let our more glorious nature bring our sanctified body with itself into heaven, through His help, Who liveth and reigneth for ever and ever. Amen. Ry. CHRIST. p. ccxxi. THIRD NOCTURN. On the day of Pentecost, the HOLY GHOST came down upon a hundred and twenty men assembled together, amongst whom were all the apostles, who were filled therewith; and when they spoke with the tongues of all nations, many of those who were present, astonished at such a wonder, (inasmuch as they saw, when Peter spake, so great and divine a witness was given to CHRIST, that He, Who, slain by them, was counted among the dead, was proved to be risen again, and to be alive) pricked to the heart, were converted, and obtained pardon Ry. I will pray. p. ccxxi. Lesson VIII. OR the blood of CHRIST was in such But wise shed for the remission of all sins, that it was able to wash away even the very sin by which it was shed. Looking then to this, the LORD said, They hated Me without a cause. when the COMFORTER is come, He shall testify of Me: as though He were saying, They who saw Me hated Me and slew Me, but the COMFORTER Will bear such witness of Me, that He will make those who have not seen Me to believe. And ye also, He saith, will bear witness, because ye have been with Me from the beginning. HOLY SPIRIT will bear witness, and ye also shall bear it: for since ye have The Lesson of the Holy Gospel according been with Me from the beginning, ye to S. John. Lesson VII. Chap. xv. AT that time: JESUS said unto his disciples: When the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the FATHER, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the FATHER, he shall testify of me. And that which follows. are able to preach what ye know; and, in order that ye should not do it just yet, the fulness of that SPIRIT is not present with you. Ry. For if I go. p. ccxxviii. Lesson IX. HE, therefore, shall bear witness of Me, and ye also shall bear witness; for the love of GoD shed abroad in your hearts by the HOLY GHOST, Which is given you, will give you boldness in giving witness. Peter truly still lacked this boldness, when, alarmed at the question of a serving maid, he could not bear true witness, but contrary to his promise, was compelled by his great fear to deny thrice. That fear is not in love: perfect love casteth out fear. Indeed, before the LORD's passion, Peter's servile fear was questioned by a serving woman; but after the resurrection of the LORD, Peter's free-spirited love was questioned by the Prince of freedom Himself, and therefore, on the first occasion, he was troubled: on the second calmed. There he denied Him whom he loved; here he loved Him whom he had denied. But even up to that time his very love was weak and narrow, until the HOLY SPIRIT strengthened and enlarged it. Te Deum, p. 15. WHITSUN EVE. From this day till the Feast of Trinity inclusive, if a feast of nine lessons occurs, it is transferred till after that feast. FIRST NOCTURN. and denying the only LORD GOD, and our LORD JESUS CHRIST. j I Ry. After His Passion. p. ccxix. Lesson II. WILL therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the LORD, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterwards destroyed them that believed not. And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day. Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of the eternal fire. Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities. Ry. All the beauty. p. ccxix. Lesson III. YET Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The LORD rebuke thee. Here beginneth the general Epistle of But these speak evil of those things S. Jude the Apostle. Lesson I. JUDE, the servant of JESUS CHRIST, and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by GOD the FATHER, and preserved in JESUS CHRIST, and called: Mercy unto you, and peace, and love, be multiplied. Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our GoD into lasciviousness, which they know not; but what they know naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves. Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core. These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear : clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots; raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever. Ry. Be Thou exalted. p. ccxx. SECOND NOCTURN From the Treatise to the Catechumens on the Creed, by S. Augustine the Bishop. Lesson IV. Book 4. WHILST holy Mother Church received you in her womb by the most sacred sign of the cross; who, as she shall bring forth your brethren spiritually with great joy, to be the offspring of so great a mother, up to that time when she is to give them up to the true light, regenerated by holy washing, feeds in her womb with fitting nourishment those whom she bears, and joyfully carries them joyful unto the day of birth. For she is not bound by the sentence of Eve, who bringeth forth her sons in sorrow and mourning, and them too not rejoicing but rather weeping: but the Church looses what Eve had bound; that she might, by obedience, restore to life the offspring which the other by her disobedience had given over to death. All the holy rites, which have been, and are still, performed on your behalf, by the ministry of the servants of God in exorcisms, prayers, spiritual songs, breathings, sackcloth, bowing of the necks, humbling of the feet, the very dread which ought to be purchased at the cost of all feeling of security: all these, as I have said, are food, which refreshes you in the womb, that your mother may present you to CHRIST, born again, and rejoicing in baptism. Ry. It is time. p. ccxx. Lesson V. YE have also received the Creed, the safeguard of her that bears you, against the venom of the serpent. Mary, the perfect one who bore our perfect Head; who was also herself the clear type of Holy Church. For as she, bringing forth her Son, remained a Virgin, so the Church also, at all times, brings forth her members, and loses not her virginity. We have taken upon us, by the LORD's help, the task of explaining to you the clauses of the most holy Creed: that you may instruct your understandings as to what they each contain. hath been shut out from your hearts. hearts are ready, because the enemy Ry. Let not. p. ccxx. Lesson VI. Your YOU have professed that you have re nounced him. In which profession ye uttered the phrase, I renounce, with the attestation, not of men, but of angels. Renounce, not only in words, but in conduct: not merely with the sound of the tongue, but also in the manner of life; not merely with the utterance of the lips, but with the Know that you speech of actions. have entered into a contest with a Let crafty, old, and inveterate foe. him not find his words in you after your renunciation, let him have no right in you, to draw you into his service. For thou, O Christian, art detected and exposed, when thou doest one thing, and professest another: faithful in name, but shewing something else in deed, not keeping truly to thy promise: now entering the church to utter prayers, and a little later shouting indecorously at the theatre with the actors. What hast thou to do with the pomps of the devil, which thou hast renounced? R. CHRIST, going up. p. ccxxi. to S. John. In the Revelation of the Apostle John Lesson of the Holy Gospel according it is written, that the dragon stood before the woman, which was ready to be delivered, to devour her child as soon as she had brought forth. None of you is ignorant that the dragon is the devil: or that that woman denotes the Virgin Lesson VII. Chap. xiv. 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 knowledge of Him cannot be in us: Comforter. And that which follows. for thus it is that we behold our conscience within ourselves. For we see the face of another: we cannot see A Homily of S. Augustine the Bishop. Tract 74 on S. John. In that He saith, I will pray the FATHER, and He shall give you another Paraclete, He shews that He also is a Paraclete. For Paraclete in Latin means advocate; and it is said of CHRIST: We have an Advocate with the FATHER, JESUS CHRIST the righteous. For thus He said that the world could not receive the HOLY SPIRIT, as also it is written: The carnal mind is enmity against GOD; for it is not subject to the law of GOD, neither indeed can be. As though we were to say: Unrighteousness cannot be righteousness. For He speaks of the world in this place, meaning the lovers of this world, which love is not from the FATHER; and therefore the love of GOD, which is shed abroad in our hearts by the HOLY GHOST, which is given unto us, is contrary to the love of this world, which we strive to diminish and destroy in us. Ry. I will pray. p. ccxxi. Lesson VIII. THE world then, cannot receive Him, because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him. For worldly love hath not the invisible eyes, wherewith the HOLY GHOST can be seen: Him Who cannot be seen, save invisibly. Ye, He saith, shall know Him, for He will abide with you, and shall be in you. He will be in them, that He may abide : not, abide, that He may be; for to be anywhere is prior in time to abiding. But lest they should fancy that the saying, He shall abide with you, was uttered in the same sense, as a guest is wont to abide visibly with a man, He explains His words, He shall abide with you, by adding and saying, He shall be in you. Ry. For if I go. p. ccxxviii. Lesson IX. THEREFORE He is invisibly seen. And, unless He be in us, the jour own face: but, on the other hand, not see that of another. we see our own conscience, and do But our conscience can never exist, save in ourselves: but the HOLY SPIRIT can exist even without us. He is indeed given that He may be in us: but He cannot be seen and known by us as He ought to be seen and known, except HOLY SPIRIT, lest any one should After the promise of the fancy that the LORD intended to give Him as though in His own stead, and He be in us. as if not about to be with them Himself, He added and said: I will not leave you orphans, I will come unto you. Although then the Son of GoD adopted us as His FATHER'S sons, and willed that we should have as our FATHER by grace, Him Who He Himself shews a kind of fatherly was His FATHER by nature, nevertheless affection for us, in saying, I will not leave you orphans. Te Deum. p. 15. WHITSUN DAY. Inv. Alleluia. The SPIRIT of the LORD hath filled the world: * O come let us worship. Alleluia. Ps. Venite. p. 3. HYMN. Jam Christus astra ascenderat. N Had mounted o'er the starry frame; OW CHRIST, ascending whence He came, And of His wondrous deeds they boast And to the men of every race, NOCTURN. Amen. Ant. And suddenly there came a sound* from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind. Al. Al. Ps. xlviii., Magnus Dominus. p. 29. * Ant. Stablish the thing, O GOD, which Thou hast wrought in us, for Thy temple's sake at Jerusalem. Al. Al. Ps. lxviii. Exurgat Deus. p. 38. Ant. Send forth Thy SPIRIT, * and they shall be created: and Thou shalt renew the face of the earth. Al. Al. Ps. civ. Benedic. p. 57. y. The SPIRIT of the LORD filleth the world. Alleluia. R. And That which containeth all things hath knowledge of the voice. Alleluia. Our FATHER. Abs. Hear, LORD. Y Sir, pray. Ben. The Evangelical lection. Lesson of the Holy Gospel according to S. John. Lesson I. Chap. xiv. 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. And that which follows. A Homily of S. Gregory the Pope. I wish, dearly beloved brethren, to go briefly through the words of the Gospel lesson, that I may be afterwards able to dwell at greater length on the consideration of so great a festival. For to day the HOLY GHOST came with a sudden sound upon the disciples, and transformed the minds of carnal Lesson II. BUT behold, if any of you should be asked if he love GoD, he makes answer with full boldness and a confident mind: I do love Him. You have lesson what the Truth saith: If heard in the very beginning of the a man love Me, he will keep My words. Therefore the evidence of action is the proof of love. Thus the same John saith in his epistle: He that saith, I love GoD, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar: for we truly love GOD, and keep His commandments, if we restrain ourselves from our pleasure. For whosoever continues to waste his time in unlawful desires, certainly does not love God, because he contradicts Him and His will. Rz. They were all filled with the HOLY GHOST, and began to speak with other tongues, as the SPIRIT gave them utterance; * and the multitude came together, saying, Alleluia. y. The Apostles spake in divers tongues the wonderful works of God. And. Glory. And. Ben. The King. |
