St Justin, Philosopher and Martyr: BENEDICT XVI GENERAL AUDIENCE St Peter's Square Wednesday, 21 March 2007

 

BENEDICT XVI

GENERAL AUDIENCE

St Peter's Square
Wednesday, 21 March 2007

 

St Justin, Philosopher and Martyr (c. 100-165)

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

In these Catechesis, we are reflecting on the great figures of the early Church. Today, we will talk about St Justin, Philosopher and Martyr, the most important of the second-century apologist Fathers.

The word "apologist" designates those ancient Christian writers who set out to defend the new religion from the weighty accusations of both pagans and Jews, and to spread the Christian doctrine in terms suited to the culture of their time.

Thus, the apologists had a twofold concern: that most properly called "apologetic", to defend the newborn Christianity (apologhía in Greek means, precisely, "defense"), and the pro-positive, "missionary" concern, to explain the content of the faith in a language and on a wavelength comprehensible to their contemporaries.

Justin was born in about the year 100 near ancient Shechem, Samaria, in the Holy Land; he spent a long time seeking the truth, moving through the various schools of the Greek philosophical tradition.

Finally, as he himself recounts in the first chapters of his Dialogue with Tryphon, a mysterious figure, an old man he met on the seashore, initially leads him into a crisis by showing him that it is impossible for the human being to satisfy his aspiration to the divine solely with his own forces. He then pointed out to him the ancient prophets as the people to turn to in order to find the way to God and "true philosophy".

In taking his leave, the old man urged him to pray that the gates of light would be opened to him.

The story foretells the crucial episode in Justin's life: at the end of a long philosophical journey, a quest for the truth, he arrived at the Christian faith. He founded a school in Rome where, free of charge, he initiated students into the new religion, considered as the true philosophy. Indeed, in it he had found the truth, hence, the art of living virtuously.

For this reason he was reported and beheaded in about 165 during the reign of Marcus Aurelius, the philosopher-emperor to whom Justin had actually addressed one of his Apologia.

These - the two Apologies and the Dialogue with the Hebrew, Tryphon - are his only surviving works. In them, Justin intends above all to illustrate the divine project of creation and salvation, which is fulfilled in Jesus Christ, the Logos, that is, the eternal Word, eternal Reason, creative Reason.

Every person as a rational being shares in the Logos, carrying within himself a "seed", and can perceive glimmers of the truth. Thus, the same Logos who revealed himself as a prophetic figure to the Hebrews of the ancient Law also manifested himself partially, in "seeds of truth", in Greek philosophy.

Now, Justin concludes, since Christianity is the historical and personal manifestation of the Logos in his totality, it follows that "whatever things were rightly said among all men are the property of us Christians" (Second Apology of St Justin Martyr, 13: 4).

In this way, although Justin disputed Greek philosophy and its contradictions, he decisively oriented any philosophical truth to the Logos, giving reasons for the unusual "claim" to truth and universality of the Christian religion. If the Old Testament leaned towards Christ, just as the symbol is a guide to the reality represented, then Greek philosophy also aspired to Christ and the Gospel, just as the part strives to be united with the whole.

And he said that these two realities, the Old Testament and Greek philosophy, are like two paths that lead to Christ, to the Logos. This is why Greek philosophy cannot be opposed to Gospel truth, and Christians can draw from it confidently as from a good of their own.

Therefore, my venerable Predecessor, Pope John Paul II, described St Justin as a "pioneer of positive engagement with philosophical thinking - albeit with cautious discernment.... Although he continued to hold Greek philosophy in high esteem after his conversion, Justin claimed with power and clarity that he had found in Christianity 'the only sure and profitable philosophy' (Dial. 8: 1)" (Fides et Ratio, n. 38).

Overall, the figure and work of Justin mark the ancient Church's forceful option for philosophy, for reason, rather than for the religion of the pagans. With the pagan religion, in fact, the early Christians strenuously rejected every compromise. They held it to be idolatry, at the cost of being accused for this reason of "impiety" and "atheism".

Justin in particular, especially in his first Apology, mercilessly criticized the pagan religion and its myths, which he considered to be diabolically misleading on the path of truth.

Philosophy, on the other hand, represented the privileged area of the encounter between paganism, Judaism and Christianity, precisely at the level of the criticism of pagan religion and its false myths. "Our philosophy...": this is how another apologist, Bishop Melito of Sardis, a contemporary of Justin, came to define the new religion in a more explicit way (Ap. Hist. Eccl. 4, 26, 7).

In fact, the pagan religion did not follow the ways of the Logos, but clung to myth, even if Greek philosophy recognized that mythology was devoid of consistency with the truth.

Therefore, the decline of the pagan religion was inevitable: it was a logical consequence of the detachment of religion - reduced to an artificial collection of ceremonies, conventions and customs - from the truth of being.

Justin, and with him other apologists, adopted the clear stance taken by the Christian faith for the God of the philosophers against the false gods of the pagan religion.

It was the choice of the truth of being against the myth of custom. Several decades after Justin, Tertullian defined the same option of Christians with a lapidary sentence that still applies: "Dominus noster Christus veritatem se, non consuetudinem, cognominavit - Christ has said that he is truth not fashion" (De Virgin. Vel. 1, 1).

It should be noted in this regard that the term consuetudo, used here by Tertullian in reference to the pagan religion, can be translated into modern languages with the expressions: "cultural fashion", "current fads".

In a time like ours, marked by relativism in the discussion on values and on religion - as well as in interreligious dialogue - this is a lesson that should not be forgotten.

To this end, I suggest to you once again - and thus I conclude - the last words of the mysterious old man whom Justin the Philosopher met on the seashore: "Pray that, above all things, the gates of light may be opened to you; for these things cannot be perceived or understood by all, but only by the man to whom God and his Christ have imparted wisdom" (Dial. 7: 3).

Homily by St. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan Bk. 4 on Luke iv: Sabbato Quattuor Temporum Pentecostes

Continuation of the Holy Gospel according to Luke
4:38

At that time Jesus arose out of the synagogue, and entered into Simon's house. And Simon's wife's mother was taken with a great fever. And so on.

Homily by St. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan
Bk. 4 on Luke iv

Behold here how long-suffering is the Lord our Redeemer! Neither moved to anger against them, nor sickened at their guilt, nor outraged by their attacks, did He leave the Jews' country. Nay, forgetting their iniquity, and mindful only of His mercy, He strove to soften their hard and unbelieving hearts, sometimes by His teaching, and sometimes by freeing some of them, and sometimes by healing them. St. Luke does well to tell us first of the man who was delivered from an unclean spirit, and then of the healing of a woman. The Lord indeed came to heal both sexes, but that must be healed first which was created first, and then must not she be passed by whose first sin arose rather from fickleness of heart than from depraved will.

That the Lord began to heal on the Sabbath-day showed in a figure how that the new creation began where the old creation ended. It showed moreover, that the Son of God, Who came not to destroy the law but to fulfill the law, Matth. v. 17, is not under the law, but above the law. Neither was it by the law, but by the Word, that the world was created, as it is written "By the Word of the Lord were the heavens made." Ps. xxxii. 6. The law, then, is not destroyed, but fulfilled, in the Redemption of fallen man. Whence also the Apostle said: "Put off, concerning the former conversation, the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts and be renewed in the spirit of your mind and put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness." Eph. iv. 22.

It was well that He began to heal on the Sabbath, that He might show Himself to be the Creator, weaving in one with another of His works, and continuing that which He had already begun, even as a workman, beings to repair a house, begins not to take down that which is old from the foundations, but from the roof. Thus, does the Lord begin to lay to His hand again, in that place whence last He had lifted it then He began with things lesser, that He may go on to things greater. Even men are able to deliver other men from evil spirits, albeit with the word of God to command the dead to rise again is for God's power alone. Perchance, also, this woman, the mother-in-law of Simon and Andrew, was a type of our nature, stricken down with the great fever of sin, and burning with unlawful lusts after diverse objects. Nor would I say that the passion which rages in the mind is a lesser fire than that fever which burns the body. Covetousness, and lust, and uncleanness, and vain desires, and strivings, and anger; these be our fevers.

Homily by St. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan Book 5 on Luke v: Octave Six

 

Homily by St. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan

Book 5 on Luke v

"And, behold, men brought in a bed a man which was taken with a palsy." The healing of this paralytic was not idle, nor its fruits limited to himself. The Lord healed him, or ever he could ask, not because of the entreaties of others, but for example's sake. He gave a pattern to be followed, and sought not the intercession of prayer. In the presence of the Pharisees and doctors of the law, which were come out of every town of Galilee, and Judaea, and Jerusalem, many sick folk were healed, but among them is specially described the healing of this paralytic. First of all, as we have before said, every sick man ought to engage his friends to offer up prayers for his recovery, that so the tottering framework of this our life, and the distorted feet of our works, may be righted by the healing power of the word from heaven.

Here ought therefore to be advisers, who should rouse up the minds of the sick to higher things, since when the body becomes languid with sickness, the mind is apt to follow its example. With the help of such friends he can be brought and laid on the ground before the Feet of Jesus, and seem worthy of a glance from the Lord for the Lord looks upon such as lie lowly before Him, "for He has regarded the lowliness of His handmaiden" Luke ii. 48. "And when He saw their faith, He said unto him Man, your sins are forgiven you." Great is the Lord, who, for the sake of some, forgives the sins of others who tries some, and pardons the wanderings of others. Why should you be equal, O man, avail not with you, if a slave have won power to intercede, and right to obtain, with God?

O you that judges, learn to forgive those that are sick, to pray. If you doubt of the pardon of your sins, because of their grievousness, get to the Church, that she may pray for you, and that the Lord, accepting her countenance, may grant to her petitions what He refuses to thine. And although we are bound to accept this history as one of fact, and to believe that the body of the paralytic was healed yet remember  also his inward cure, unto whom his sins were forgiven. The Jews said: "Who can forgive sins but God alone?” And in these words they confessed the Godhead of Him Who forgave the sins of the paralytic, and themselves condemned their own unbelief in Him Whose work they acknowledged, but Whose Person they denied.

Homily by St. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan Bk. 6 on Luke ix: Pentecost Octave V

 

Continuation of the Holy Gospel according to Luke

Luke 9:1-6

At that time: Jesus called His twelve disciples together, and gave them power and authority over all devils, and to cure diseases. And so on.

Homily by St. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan

Bk. 6 on Luke ix

We learn from the commandments of the Gospel what manner of men they ought to be who preach the glad tidings of the kingdom of God "Take nothing for your journey neither staves nor scrip, nor bread neither money." Thus let the Apostle be destitute of earthly help, and panoplies in faith, deem himself able to do all the more, as he needs all the less Such as please may also put upon these words a spiritual interpretation in that a man may be said to lay as the encumbrances of the body, not only by abdicating power, and casting away riches, but also by denying the very body itself its pleasures. The first general commandment given to the Apostles touching their manners was to be bringers of peace, Matth. x. 13, and to be no gadders about, but keepers of the laws of guests. To wander from house to house, and to abuse the rights of hospitality, are things alien to a preacher of the kingdom of heaven.

But as the kindness of hospitality is to be met with courtesy, so also is it said "Whosoever will not receive you, when you go out of that city, shake off the very dust from your feet, for a testimony against them." Hereby is it taught that hospitality doth meet with a good reward, since not only do we bring peace to such as receive us, but also, if they be shadowed by some earthly vanities, these defects are taken away, where enter the feet of them that bear the glad tidings of Apostolic preachment. It is well written in Matthew x. 11: "Into whatsoever city or town you shall enter, inquire who in it is worthy and there abide till you go thence" thus avoiding any possible need of going from house to house. But no such selection is commanded to him that giveth hospitality, lest his hospitality itself should be lessened, while he picks his guests.

This passage, taken according to the plain meaning, is a sacred commandment touching the religious duty of hospitality, but its heavenly words likewise hint at a mystery. When the house is chosen, it is asked if the master thereof be worthy. Let us see if this be not perchance a figure of the Church, and her Master, Christ. What worthier house can the Apostolic preacher enter, than the Holy Church? Or what host is more to be preferred before all others, than Christ, Whose use it is to wash the feet of His guests yea, Who suffers not that any whom He receives into His house should dwell there with foul feet, but, defiled as they are by their former wanderings, does vouchsafe to change them into new and clean livers. He Alone is He, from Whose house no man ought ever to go forth, nor change His roof for any other shelter, for unto Him it is well said "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we believe." John vi. 68, 69.

Homily by St. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo 26th Tract on John

Pentecost Octave: IV

 Continuation of the Holy Gospel according to John

John 6:44-52

At that time, Jesus said unto the multitudes of the Jews: No man can come to Me, except the Father, Which hath sent me, draw him. And so on.

Homily by St. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo

26th Tract on John

Think not that thou art drawn against thy will; the soul is drawn, not willingly only, but lovingly. Neither must we be afraid lest men who are great weighers of words, and very far from understanding the things of God, should catch us up upon this Gospel doctrine of the Holy Scriptures, and should say to us: How can my faith be willing if am drawn? I answer: Thou art not drawn as touching thy will, but by pleasure. And, now, what is being drawn by pleasure? Delight thyself in the Lord, and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Ps. xxxvi. 4. There is pleasure in that heart to which the Bread That came down from heaven is sweet. The poet is allowed to say His special pleasure draws each, but pleasure, which so draws, is not a necessity, not a bond, but a delight how much more strongly, may we say that men are drawn to Christ, who delight in truth, who delight in blessedness, who delight in righteousness, who delight in life everlasting, since truth and blessedness, and righteousness and everlasting life are all to be found in Christ? Or have the bodily senses pleasure, and the spiritual senses none? If the spiritual sense have no pleasures, wherefore is it written: And the children of men shall put their trust under the shadow of thy wings. They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house, and Thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures. For with thee is the fountain of life, and in thy light shall we see light. Ps. xxxv. 8.

Give me a lover, and he will catch my meaning; give me one who longs, give me a hungry man, give me a wanderer in this desert, a thirst and gasping for the fountains of the eternal Fatherland; give me such a one, and he will catch my meaning. If I talk to some cold creature, he will not. Such cold creatures were they of whom it is written: The Jews then murmured at Him because He said, I am the Bread Which came down from heaven. And they said: Is not this Jesus the son of Joseph, whose father and Mother we know? How is it then that He saith: I came down from heaven? Jesus therefore answered and said unto them: Murmur not among yourselves. No man can come to Me, except the Father, Which hath sent Me, draw him. 41-44. But wherefore speaks Christ of them whom the Father draws, since He Himself draws. Why was it His will to say: No man can come to Me except the Father draws him? If we are to be drawn, let us be drawn by Him to Whom one that loved much said: Draw me, we will run after the savior of thy good ointments. Cant. i. 4. But let us consider, my brethren, what He meant, and understand it as well as we can. The Father draws to the Son them who believe in the Son, because they are persuaded that He has God to His Father. God the Father begets to Himself a coequal Son; and whosoever is persuaded, and realizes unto himself by faith, and thinks, that He in Whom he believeth is equal to the Father, him the Father is drawing unto the Son.

Arius, who believed that the Son was made, was not one of them whom the Father draws since whosoever believes not that the Father is a Father by the begetting of a coequal Son, such a one knows not the Father. What do you say, O Arius? What do you say O heretic? What is your profession? What is Christ? He is not, says Arius, Himself Very God. Then, O Arius, the Father has not drawn you; you have not understood His dignity as a Father, to Whom you deny His Son. You deny the existence of the Son of God, the Father draws you not, and you are not drawn to the Son, since the Son of whom you speak is another son, [existing only in your imagination,] and not the really existent Son. Photinus said: Christ is a mere man, and not God at all. He who utters those words was not one of them whom the Father draws. But whom has the Father drawn? The Father drew him who said: You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. Matth. xvi. 16, 17. Show a sheep a green bough, and you draw him. Let a boy see some nuts, and he is drawn by them. As they run, they are drawn, drawn by taste, drawn without bodily hurt, drawn by a line bound to their heart. If, then, among earthly things, such as be sweet and pleasant draw such as love them, as soon as they see them, so that it is truth to say, His special pleasure draws each, does not that Christ, Whom the Father has revealed, draw? What stronger object of love can a soul have than the Truth?

Homily by St. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo 45th Tract on John: Die III infra octavam Pentecostes ~ Dies Octavæ I. classis

Pentecost Octave III

Homily by St. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo 45th Tract on John: Die III infra octavam Pentecostes ~ Dies Octavæ I. classis

Continuation of the Holy Gospel according to John

John 10:1-10

At that time: Jesus said unto the Pharisees: Amen, amen, I say unto you, he that enters not by the door into the sheep-fold, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber but he that enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. And so on.

Homily by St. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo

45th Tract on John

In the words of the Gospel which are this day read, the Lord has spoken unto us in similitudes, touching His flock, and the Door whereby entry is made into their fold. The Pagans therefore may say, "We have good lives," but if they enter not in the Door, what does that profit them whereof they make their boast? Good life is profitable to a man if it lead unto life everlasting, but if he does not have life everlasting, what shall his good life profit him? Neither indeed can it be truly said that they live good lives, who are either so blinded as not to know, or so puffed up as to despise, the end of a good life. And no man can have a true and certain hope of life everlasting, unless he knows the true Life, Which is Christ, and enter in by that Door into the sheepfold.

There are many such, who try to persuade men to live good lives but not to be Christians. These are they who would fain "climb up some other way," "for to kill and to destroy," and are not as the Good Shepherd, Who is come to keep and to save. There have been philosophers who have treated many subtle questions of right and wrong, who have been the authors of many distinctions and definitions, who have completed many exceedingly clever arguments, who have filled many books, and have proclaimed their own wisdom with braying trumpets. These dared to say to men: "Follow us embrace our school of thought, and you will find therein the secret of an happy life." But these were not of them who enter in by the Door; they came not but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy.

Touching these, what shall I say? Behold, the Pharisees themselves read of Christ, and therefore talked of Christ they looked for His coming, and when He came, they knew Him not. They boasted that they themselves were among the Seers, that is, of the wise ones, and they denied Christ, and entered not in by the Door. Therefore they, if they led away any, led them away only to kill and to destroy, not to free them. So much for them. Now let us see if all they who boast the name of Christian enter in by the Door. Some there are, and their number cannot be reckoned, who not only boast that they themselves are among the Seers, but would fain appear as though their hearts were enlightened by Christ but they are heretics.

Homily by St. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo 12th Tract on John: Die II infra octavam Pentecostes

 Homily by St. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo 12th Tract on John: Die II infra octavam Pentecostes 

Continuation of the Holy Gospel according to John

John 3:16-21

At that time, Jesus said unto Nicodemus: God so loved the world that He gave His Only-begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. And so on.

The Physician comes that, as often as in him lies, he may heal the sick man. He is his own destroyer, who will not keep the commandments of the Physician. Into the world came the Saviour. Why is He called the Saviour of the world, but because He came "into the world not to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved"? If he wills not to be saved through Him, you will be condemned of yourself. And why do I say I that you will be condemned? Because it is written: "He that believes in Him is not condemned." What then can you hope that He will say of "him that does not believe" but that He will be condemned.  And indeed He says further: "He that believes not is condemned already." He is condemned already, though the condemnation be not yet openly pronounced.

He is condemned already, for "the Lord knows them that are His." He knows them for whom is laid up the crown, and likewise them that are reserved unto the fire. His eye sees in the field of the world the distinction of the wheat and of the straw, of the good corn and of the tares. "He that believes not is condemned already." And why? "Because he hath not believed in the Name of the Only-begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil." "Because their deeds were evil”, but, my brethren, is there one man of whom God finds that his works are good? No, not one. God finds all works to be (in themselves) bad. How then do we hear that some there be who do truth, and come to the light? For these words come quickly: "But he that does truth, comes to the light."

But the Lord says [of such as these, who are condemned already, because they believe not in Him]: "They loved darkness rather than light." And here He makes the great point [of difference between such, and them that do the truth.] There are many who have loved their sins; there are many who have confessed their sins and he that confesses and denounces his sin, is working already with God. God denounces your sins, and if you denounce them likewise, then you join yourself with God in His act. The man and the sinner are two different things. God made the man, and the man made the sinner. Put away your work, and God will save His. You must hate your own work and love God's work. When your own works begin to displease you, then is it that thou begin to do well, because you denounce your own evil works. The first thing to do, if you would do good works, is to acknowledge your evil ones.

Pentecost: The Grandest Octave? by Shawn Tribeon May 23, 2018

Pentecost: The Grandest Octave?

by Shawn Tribeon May 23, 2018

The following is a reprint of an article I published six years ago on a subject of particular interest to me: the ancient Octave of Pentecost. As many will already know, but some who are newer to these issues may not, in the ancient liturgical tradition the great feast of Pentecost is not only observed by a single Sunday celebration of the feast, but rather is honoured by an octave whereby the feast is extended through eight days -- just as is Christmas and Easter. In the liturgical calendar of the usus antiquior this is still the case, but in the calendar of the reformed,  modern Roman liturgy, this was abolished in the liturgical reforms that came after the Second Vatican Council. The Octave of Pentecost was considered by Blessed John Henry Newman to be perhaps "the grandest" of all the octaves of the liturgical year and this reflection was offered by Fr. Guy Nicholls of the Oratory on the same.

* * *

Pentecost: The Grandest Octave?

by Fr. Guy Nicholls of the Oratory 

“…consider the breviary offices for Pentecost and its Octave, the grandest, perhaps in the whole year…” --Blessed John Henry Newman 

Last year [2011] I read with great interest Gregory Dipippo’s article on the Octave of Pentecost. In the light of that, and in view of the current liturgical season, your readers may be interested to know of a new initiative taking place this Pentecost at Dorchester-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, England, a church which has featured several times on the NLM website. To this account I have added my own reflections on the importance of restoring the liturgical observance of the Octave of Pentecost.

Whitsunday (i.e. Pentecost Day) was celebrated at Dorchester with a magnificent High Mass in the Novus Ordo, preceded by the solemn singing of Terce in Latin from the pre-1970 breviary (comprising principally the Veni Creator and sections III-V of psalm 118). While the Mass began in the vernacular and was mostly sung, Latin took over from the Pater noster until the end. The Celebrant was assisted by a Deacon and an Acolyte wearing the tunicle. The ordinary of the Mass, Morales’s Missa L’Homme Arme’, was sung by the Newman Consort of Oxford, a group connected with the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, who also sang Byrd’s Confirma hoc Deus.

Most fittingly and movingly, two young adults, recently baptized, were confirmed by special indult after the homily. They wore the white robes of the newly baptized, thus illustrating the origin of the familiar English name of this feast, “Whitsunday”, since it was the usual time for the celebration of adult baptism in ancient times in our cold northern climate. After the chrismation, the entire congregation, having renewed their baptismal faith with the candidates in place of the Creed, was sprinkled with baptismal water accompanied by the singing of the Vidi aquam.

Since it seems that such a great feast of the “Birthday of the Church” is more fittingly celebrated over an extended period than is allowed for in the single day of the 1970 Missal, the Octave of Pentecost is currently being celebrated at Dorchester as a series of votive Masses of the Holy Spirit, but with some important differences.

In accordance with the Holy Father’s mind expressed in Summorum Pontificum, that the two forms of the Roman Rite should be mutually enriching, the Octave is being celebrated largely in the Ordinary Form, though using significant elements drawn from the Masses of the pre-1970 Octave. The Proper chants of the Masses of the pre 1970 Graduale, and particularly the Alleluia and its Sequence Veni sancte Spiritus are sung in Latin. Each day’s readings are those provided in the old Missal, especially extended on the Ember Days of Wednesday and Saturday. In place of the Graduals, for weekday Masses Responsorial psalms have been provided from the current Lectionary to match the particular character of each day.

For instance, Tuesday’s Gospel of the “Door of the sheepfold”, has psalm 22 as a fitting prelude, while Saturday’s long series of Old Testament Readings takes up one of the ancient pre-Christian themes of the Jewish feast of Pentecost, the offering to God of the first fruits of the harvest, for which psalms 64, 106 and 125 are provided in the Novus Ordo lectionary, and so are selected here.

Reflections on the Recovery of the Pentecost Octave

The transition to Ordinary time on the Monday after Pentecost is disjunctive. It is not simply the return to Ordinary time per se that jars, since that must happen at some time anyway. No, the problem that several of your correspondents share with me is the sense that the first green Monday after Pentecost has come from nowhere. In addition to the abruptness of this transition, the ferial days which now follow Pentecost belong to an entirely disconnected sequence that was broken off before Lent and so has no token of continuity with what has immediately preceded it. The transition was formerly more intelligible since the Octave of Pentecost came quietly to an end on Ember Saturday, emerging easily in First Vespers of Trinity Sunday, the beginning of a new week and season, and a feast, indeed, which celebrated and contemplated the mysteries which were fulfilled in the descent of the Holy Spirit "leading the Church into all truth".

What is the effective result of the loss of the Pentecost Octave?

First, it has the most unfortunate effect of reducing Pentecost to a mere end point. Because it is now simply a single day at the conclusion of Paschaltide from which all that follows is discontinuous, Ordinary Time does not seem to succeed Pentecost, but to supplant it. Thus Pentecost now seems only to look backwards to Easter of which it is the concluding celebration, rather than both back to Easter and forwards towards “green time” representing the post-Pentecostal life of the Church until the Second Coming.

Secondly, this rupture and discontinuity is further increased by the nomenclature of "Ordinary Time". While from the designation of "Time after Pentecost" alone the Church might have posited a relationship to that feast (albeit in a different way from "Time after Easter" to Easter Day itself), there was indeed a more than merely nominal connection. Of course Paschaltide is more organically and thematically linked to Easter than is the whole "post Pentecosten" period to Pentecost. Nevertheless the correspondence between Time after Pentecost on the one hand and the entire era of the Church, endowed with the Spirit and awaiting the Parousia on the other, was formerly more manifest in this long "green" period of the Church Year. This was especially clear both at the outset of the season with the Mystery-contemplative feasts of Trinity and Corpus Christi, and at the very end on account of its eschatological Sunday Gospels.

Thirdly, the greatly reduced presence of Pentecost as a one-day wonder leaves a vacuum which the charismatic pentecostalists would seek to fill. Although historically there are many reasons why this movement has grown up within the Church, it cannot be without significance that their non-liturgical character as the would-be standard bearers of a pneumatologically-based devotional life in the Latin Church has coincided with that Church's now very reduced celebration of the Spirit's coming and His role in the Church until the Parousia.

With regard to a pneumatological focus to the liturgy, I find it difficult to see how the pre-Pentecost Novena (as argued by Mgr Bugnini) can adequately replace the weight of the post-Pentecost Octave. Let me admit immediately that I believe that the Masses of the OF for the period from Ascension to Pentecost are admirable in providing that focus on the prayerful preparation for the descent of the Spirit, and is a good example of the ways in which certain aspects of the OF do represent an enrichment from which the EF might well benefit (as does the euchology and lectionary for the entire Paschal season). Still, it has to be granted that a period of preparation is just that: a preparation and not the fulfilment thereof. The Pentecost Octave represents the fulfilment of the outpouring of the Spirit as manifested in the Church's post-Pentecostal life.

To those who suggest that the Church should simply "get on with it" and go straight from Pentecost Sunday to Ordinary Time without any delay, I say that the Octave of Pentecost, far from being a delay in "getting on", is setting the scene for Ordinary Time which follows. Any careful reader of the Masses and Offices of the Octave notes immediately that they are not simply historical reminiscences of aspects of the descent of the Holy Spirit. In fact, the Spirit is not explicitly mentioned in the Gospels of any of the Masses throughout the Octave! The Votive Masses in the Paul VI Lectionary do indeed contain an exhaustive collection of Gospel pericopes which mention the Holy Spirit explicitly, but that is not what the Church was aiming to do in the Masses of the Octave of Pentecost: It is the effects of the Spirit's outpouring that are celebrated in those Gospel passages. Why then did the Church use Gospel passages without reference to the Coming of the Spirit during the Octave of Pentecost? This is, of course, a consequence of the baptismal nature of the Octave, beginning of course with its Vigil. It is that baptismal character which has formed the shape and catechetical matter of the Octave and given it its peculiarly solemn rank, equal to that of Easter alone.

Fourthly, if the character and solemnity of the Pentecost Octave are ultimately connected to the baptismal celebrations of Pentecost, should the Octave continue to exist in the same form as it did until 1970 and should there be two celebrations of Baptism of like solemnity at either end of the same season? If not, then should Pentecost continue to be marked by such a solemn Octave as that which used to give it such splendour?

Regarding the first point, it is arguable that the "doublet" of the Pentecost Vigil as a celebration of baptism is redundant. It can be seen as simply postponing the baptismal ceremony from Easter to a later and warmer time of the year. Yet the Church felt no incongruity for centuries in celebrating both Vigils, even if baptism was celebrated at only one of them in any place at any time. I would argue thence that this “doublet” is not simply a reduplication. As the Latin Church has celebrated the liturgy for most of her history, Easter and Pentecost are both understood as fontal feasts. Both of them in complementary ways are a celebration of sacramental fecundity. The Resurrection and the outpouring of the Spirit should not be treated as reducible to one and the same event, but as successive stages in the one Paschal Mystery in which the Second and Third Persons of the Godhead act specifically according to the salvific will of the Heavenly Father.

To take the second point, viz. If baptism ought not to be celebrated with the same kind of outward solemnity at Pentecost as it is at Easter, then should Pentecost be endowed with an octave of the same rank and character as the avowedly baptismal octave of Easter? This in turn raises the question of the character of the Easter Octave precisely as baptismal. All the Easter Octave Masses have Gospel pericopes drawn from the accounts of the Resurrection appearances. In this respect the character of the Easter Octave, though clearly a Baptismal one from its Introits, prayers and epistles, is more closely allied to the historical event which it celebrates than is the Octave of Pentecost. In fact, from the point of view of the Gospel pericopes, Pentecost has the more clearly post-baptismal liturgical character. Looking carefully at both Octaves it becomes clear that they are united by their baptismal character, but in complementary ways: the first based on the historical event of the resurrection as the originating cause of our salvation, and the second celebrating the outpouring of the Spirit as the means of continually accomplishing this salvation in the Church's sacraments.

Moreover, if all the gifts of the Spirit which are given at Baptism are explicitly celebrated at Easter, why should the Church recognise a need liturgically to celebrate Pentecost at all, and why prepare for it with a Novena following the Ascension?

Fifthly, Pentecost is a feast which demands “resonance” for its importance in the Church's life to be made clear. An octave provides a feast with room to resonate. It is the counterpart to Pope Paul VI's image of the Church bell which rings out before Mass, thereby preparing the faithful psychologically to take part in the liturgy. To extend the image we may say that the earlier the bell rings and the greater the number of bells which are rung, the greater the celebration they announce and prepare the way for. Similarly, just as a great sound needs time to unfold so that its timbre may be appreciated, so too does a great feast. That which is over in one day has little room to resound and gives the impression that it has not much to say to us needing to be heard at leisure. I would argue that a great octave lends proportionate splendour in advance to the feast and to the character of its celebration.

Fimally, it is important also not to forget the Breviary Offices of Pentecost and its Octave, which Blessed John Henry Newman called “the grandest, perhaps, of the whole year” (v. An Essay in Aid of a Grammar of Assent, ch. 5, section 2, “Belief in the Holy Trinity”). These reflections from the Fathers upon the Gospel readings of each day invite us to deepen our assimilation of the mystery of the Life of the Church whose soul is the Holy Spirit (v. Catechism of the Catholic church no. 797).

In summary, the character of Pentecost as a consummation and fulfilment of the Paschal Mystery suggests that it is fitting to celebrate it with an Octave similar in character and rank to that of Easter. Easter looks both backwards to Our Lord's Passion as His “passing to the Father” and forwards to Eastertide as the season in which the resurrection and its meaning for our eternal life is unfolded for us. In a parallel way Pentecost looks both backwards to the promise of the gift of the Paraclete made at Easter and forwards to “Tempus post Pentecosten”, representing the life of the Church under the Holy Spirit's constant guidance and enriched with His lifegiving sacraments.

Vigil of Pentecost: Homily by St. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo

 

Vigil of Pentecost: Homily by St. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo

74th and 75th Tracts on John

By these words of the Lord: "I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter", He implies that he Himself is a Comforter. The Greek word used, namely "Parakletos," signifies also an Advocate, and is used in that sense where it is written "We have an Advocate Parakleton with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous." "Even the Spirit of truth, Whom the world cannot receive," because as we read elsewhere, "the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can it be" as we may say plainly nothing can make unrighteousness righteous. By "the 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 Spirit of truth Whom the world cannot receive, because it sees Him not, neither knows Him "for to love the world is to lack those spiritual eyes, which are able to see Him Who is invisible, the Holy Ghost. "But you know Him," says the Lord to His disciples, "for He shall dwell with you, and shall be in you." He will be in them to dwell in them, not dwell in them to be in them for one must first be in a place before one dwell there. But 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 saith in explanation "He shall be in you."

Therefore 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 conscience. We see the faces of other men, but we cannot see our own but of consciences we see none save that within ourselves. But our conscience is never elsewhere but within us whereas the Holy Ghost may be without 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 or without us. Then, after that He had promised the Holy Ghost, the Lord, lest they should deem that He was to give them that other Comforter instead of Himself, and that He Himself was to be no longer with them, said also "I will not leave you orphans 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 shows that he Himself has toward us a love as of a Father, where He says "I will not leave you orphans."

This resurrection sermon or paschal Easter homily is from St. John Chrysostom, archbishop of Constantinople in the early 5th century.

 from St. John Chrysostom, archbishop of Constantinople

Let all Pious men and all lovers of God rejoice in the splendor of this feast; let the wise servants blissfully enter into the joy of their Lord; let those who have borne the burden of Lent now receive their pay, and those who have toiled since the first hour, let them now receive their due reward.  Let any who came after the third hour be grateful to join in the feast, and those who may have come after the sixth, let them not be afraid of being too late.

For the Lord is gracious and He receives the last even as the first. He gives rest to him who comes on the eleventh hour as well as to him who has toiled since the first.  Yes, He has pity on the last and He serves the first. He rewards the one and is generous to the other.  He repays the deed and praises the effort.

Come you all: enter into the joy of your Lord. You the first and you the last, receive alike your reward.  You rich and you poor, dance together.  You sober and you weaklings, celebrate the day.  You who have kept the fast and you who have not, rejoice today. The table is richly loaded: enjoy its royal banquet. The calf is a fatted one: let no one go away hungry. All of you enjoy the banquet of faith!  All of you receive the riches of his goodness!

Let no one grieve over his poverty, for the universal kingdom has been revealed.  Let no one weep over his sins, for pardon has shone from the grave.  Let no one fear death, for the death of our Savior has set us free.  He has destroyed it by enduring it. He has despoiled Hades by going down into its kingdom. He has angered it by allowing it to taste of his flesh.

When Isaiah foresaw all this, he cried out: “O Hades, you have been angered by encountering Him in the nether world.” Hades is angered because it is frustrated, it is angered because it has been mocked, it is angered because it has been destroyed, it is angered because it has been reduced to naught, it is angered because it is now captive. It seized a body, and lo! it discovered God.  It seized earth, and, behold! it encountered heaven.   It seized the visible, and was overcome by the invisible.

O death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory? Christ is risen and life is freed! Christ is risen and the tomb is emptied of the dead!  For Christ, being risen from the dead, has become the Leader and Reviver of those who had fallen asleep.

To Him be glory and power for ever and ever. Amen.

St. Philip Neri

 St. Philip Neri

Philip Neri was born in Florence of good and devout parents. Giving up a large inheritance from his uncle, he went to Rome, where he studied philosophy and the sacred sciences and dedicated himself wholly to Christ. He became a priest out of obedience and gave himself up completely to the saving of souls. Through hearing confessions, in which he persevered to the last day of his life, he brought forth innumerable sons for Christ. Desiring to nourish them with the daily bread of God's word, with frequent reception of the sacraments, with constant prayer, and with other exercises of piety, he founded the Congregation of the Oratory. His heart was wounded by the love of God, burning with such ardor that it could only be contained within his breast because the Lord miraculously enlarged the breast by breaking two of his ribs, and forming an arch over the heart. Philip was famed for the gift of prophecy and for his wonderful penetration of the thoughts of men's hearts. He kept his virginity always intact; and he had the gift of distinguishing those who cultivated purity by a good odor, and those who did not by a stench. At the age of eighty, in the year of salvation 1595, he fell asleep in the Lord.

Hymn

Pangamus Nerio debita cantica, Quem supra nitidi sidera verticis, Virtus, et meritum sustulit inclytum Carpturum pia gaudia.

Sicuri subitis dum videt ignibus Aedes, quas habitat, fletibus abstinet, Flammas cum penitus quiverit horridas Paucis vincere lacrymis.

Oblatum patrui munus, et aureos Nummos magnanimus calcat, et impiger Romam digreditur, quam magis omnibus Illustrem facit urbibus.

Noctes sub specubus, corpora martyrum Quas implent, vigilat sedulus integras ; Ex ipsis satagens discere mortuis Normam, qua bene viveret.

Almae sit Triadi gloria perpetim, Quam caelum, barathrum, terraque suscipit : Quae nobis Nerii det prece iugia Dulcis gaudia Patriae. Amen 

Pangamus Nerio debita cantica, Quem supra nitidi sidera verticis, Virtus, et meritum sustulit inclytum Carpturum pia gaudia.

Sicuri subitis dum videt ignibus Aedes, quas habitat, fletibus abstinet, Flammas cum penitus quiverit horridas Paucis vincere lacrymis.

Oblatum patrui munus, et aureos Nummos magnanimus calcat, et impiger Romam digreditur, quam magis omnibus Illustrem facit urbibus.

Noctes sub specubus, corpora martyrum Quas implent, vigilat sedulus integras ; Ex ipsis satagens discere mortuis Normam, qua bene viveret.

Almae sit Triadi gloria perpetim, Quam caelum, barathrum, terraque suscipit : Quae nobis Nerii det prece iugia Dulcis gaudia Patriae. Amen 

Hymn

 1. Due praises sing in Philip's sight, Who now 'mid heaven's stars so bright There dwells in sweet delight; Reward for virtue famed.

 2. While home he sees consumed by flame, From weeping, heedless, yet refrains, E'en through few tears would serve to tame The menace of the blaze.

 3. He spurns, for such his noble heart, His uncle's wealth and swift departs To Rome, whose name he sets apart: A city of renown.

 4. Whole nights of prayer in catacombs, Amid the martyrs' many tombs He learns from those who've met their doom The art of living well.

 5. To loving Trinity e'er be praise, Whom heaven, abyss and earth upraise, Whose gift Heaven's joy for all our days, Bestowed on Philip's prayer. Amen.

Collect

 Deus, qui fidéles tibi servos sanctitátis glória sublimáre non desístis, concéde propítius, ut illo nos igne Spíritus Sanctus inflámmet, quo beáti Philíppi cor mirabíliter penetrávit Per Dóminum nostrum Iesum Christum, Fílium tuum, qui tecum vivit et regnat in unitáte Spíritus Sancti, Deus, per ómnia sǽcula sæculórum. Amen.

God our Father, you are continually raising to the glory of holiness

  those who serve you faithfully.

In your love, hear our prayer:

  let the Holy Spirit inflame us with that fire with which, in so admirable a way,

  he took possession of Saint Philip’s heart.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

God, for ever and ever.

Amen.

Pope Gregory VII: March 28th

Pope Gregory VII, the former Hildebrand, was born near Soana in Tuscany. As noble as any of the nobility in learning, in holiness and in every kind of virtue, he was a shining light to the whole Church of God. As a young man, he donned the religious habit at the monastery of Cluny, and served God with such zeal and devotion that he was chosen Prior by the holy religious of that monastery. Later, he was made Abbot of the monastery of St. Paul-outside-the-Walls, and then Cardinal of the Roman Church, performing noteworthy services and missions under Popes Leo IX, Victor II, Stephen IX, Nicholas II and Alexander II. At the death of Alexander, he was unanimously elected Pope, and stood out as a most zealous promoter and defender of the freedom of the Church, for which he suffered many things, even having to leave Rome. His last words, as he lay dying, were: “I have loved righteousness and hated iniquity, and therefore I am dying in exile.” He went to heaven in year of salvation 1085, and his body was buried with honor in the Cathedral of Salerno.

St. Rita: Collect

 COLLECT

Largire nobis, quaesumus, Domine, sapientiam crucis et fortitudinem quibus beatam Ritam ditare dignatus es, ut, in tribulatione cum Christo patientes, paschali eius mysterio intimius participare valeamus.

Bestow on us, we pray, O Lord,
the wisdom and strength of the Cross,
with which you were pleased to endow Saint Rita,
so that, suffering in every tribulation with Christ,
we may participate ever more deeply in his Paschal Mystery.
Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever.

Another Translation: mine

Grant to us, we beech you, O Lord,

the wisdom and strength of the Cross,

which you vouchsafed to Saint Rita,

that we might suffer more profoundly with Christ,

in the Paschal Mystery.