Pinned Post
Translation of the Epistle for the Feast of Pentecost
When the days of Pentecost were drawing to a close, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a violent wind coming, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them parted tongues as of fire, which settled upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy spirit and began to speak in foreign tongues, even as the Holy Spirit prompted them to speak. Now there were staying at Jerusalem, Jews, devote men from every nation under heaven. And when this sound was heard, the multitude gathered and were bewildered in mind, because each heard them speaking in his own language. But they were all amazed and marvelled saying, Behold, are not all these that are speaking Galileans? And how have we heard each his own language in which he was born? Parthians and Medes, Elamites, and inhabitants of Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus Asia, Phrygia, Pamphilia, Egypt and parts of Libya about Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, Jews also and proselytes, Cretens and Arabians, we have heard them speaking in our own languages of the wonderful works of God.
Continuation of the Holy Gospel According to Saint John
At that time, Jesus said to His disciples: If anyone love Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him. He who does not love Me, does not keep My words. And the word that you have heard is not Mine, but the Father’s Who sent Me. These things I have spoken to you while yet dwelling with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, Whom the Father will send in My Name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your mind whatever I have said to you. Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, or be afraid. You have heard Me say to you, ‘I go away and I am coming to you.’ If you loved Me, you would indeed rejoice that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. And now I have told you before it comes to pass, that when it has come to pass you may believe. I will no longer speak much with you, for the prince of the world is coming and in Me he has nothing. But he comes that the world may know that I love the Father, and that I do as the Father has commanded Me.
Saving Words of the Gospel.
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Transcription of Sermon
But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, Whom the Father will send in My Name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your mind whatever I have said to you.
Although the Church doesn’t say officially that Pentecost is the birth of the Church because our Lord established the Church progressively through His life; giving us the deposit of faith, giving us the sacraments, giving authority and structure to the Church, and then ascending after having taught the Disciples everything they needed to know to run the Church, then He sends the Holy Spirit to infuse the Church and indeed to invade our souls. Somebody said that Bethlehem is the Feast of God with us, at the Triduum we celebrate what God did for us, and on Pentecost we celebrate God within us. And that’s true; inasmuch as we are in a state of grace, we are dwelling places of the Holy Spirit who makes of our bodies, as Paul repeatedly says, “temples of the Holy Spirit.”
And it’s because of the divine indwelling that we can receive what’s called actual grace. If one is not in a state of grace, one cannot receive an actual grace. One can receive what’s called the prevenient grace, which is an invitation to come back to the life of grace. But other than that, outside of a state of grace, there is no actual grace for our souls. When we are in a state of grace, we are in communion with God. We ought not see this contractually, right, it’s a relationship. And inasmuch as we are in a state of grace, we are in a relationship with Our Lord. And because we are in this relationship, He gives us all sorts of gifts, and they come in the form of actual graces.
They are called actual because, unlike the state of grace, which is meant to be static, stable, unchanging, actual graces come in a moment, and they want us to act; they want us to do something.
How do they come to us? Thomas Aquinas says there’s a human mode and there is a superhuman mode. So, the human mode would be, for example, you hear the words of the Gospel, you do spiritual reading, something moves you in your heart, you are corrected by a friend or a loved one to change something, and to give God glory with your life. Those are human modes. Supernatural, but God disposes of created vehicles for His grace. And so, notice too the responsibility for us to be agents of grace for those around us as well.
Think of Anthony of the Desert, right? Or Anthony the Great, as they call him in the East. He goes to Mass, not sure what he’s going to hear. He hears the Gospel of leaving everything and following Christ, and that was the human mode of actual grace that called him to become a Desert Father. Obviously, there are also actual graces that we receive unperceived.
There are actual graces that we receive without a tangible vehicle. These are called superhuman mode actual graces. For example, you’re doing your work, you’re just thinking about your work, you’re doing whatever you’re supposed to be doing, and into your mind comes the thought to pray for somebody. There was nothing that occasioned that. You didn’t see a picture, you didn’t hear the name, there was no association. This is what’s called superhuman mode of actual grace.
The Council of Trent uses Augustine’s words and teaches us, “God never commands the impossible, but in commanding, He tells us to do what we can, to ask for that which we are not able to do, and He helps us in order that we may be able to do it.” And so, the fact that you are here means you’ve received either an actual grace or… a human mode actual grace was I saw the clock I know it’s time for me to go to Mass; that’s an actual grace. So, this is happening all day long. We ought not think of it in just the Anthony of the Great type moments that happens once in a lifetime; these are things that are happening hundreds of times a day, and when it comes to you, it’s called a sufficient grace. It’s sufficient because it’s enough for you to do a supernatural act. It’s not supposed to be, it’s not supposed to remain as a sufficient grace because the sufficient grace is the first propulsion, so to say, it’s the first movement of grace.
When the sufficient grace prompts you to do something, it’s like a little plant that is now sprung out of the dirt. What are you gonna do? Are you gonna obey? Or are you going to disobey? Do you cooperate with grace, or do you resist grace? If you resist it, in that first instance, it squashes the plant, and that plant will bear no fruit, and all of the subsequent graces that Our Lord had planned then will be frustrated. If you cooperate with that sufficient grace, then you receive what’s called efficient grace, and this is the help that you need from on high to continue doing what you’re supposed to be doing. And all along the way of doing God’s work, we receive what are called concomitant graces. These are helping graces to move us, to motivate us, to strengthen us. And if it’s a very arduous task that you’re called to in that moment, God gives you what’s called the grace of fortitude or strength in order to bear it, do it well. So, He doesn’t set you up for failure.
Notice how St. Paul distinguishes between what’s called carnal prudence and divine prudence. So, divine prudence is God sends us a grace. We’re called the act. We’re not called to calculate; we’re called to act. There can be a deliberation, but He’s also gonna help with the deliberation. We’re called to act. If we start, if our deliberations are more self-centered, yeah, but I’m weak, or this is gonna take a lot of time, or I was gonna watch reruns, and now I’ve got to do this. Okay, now we have entered into the world of human, or better said, Paul calls carnal prudence. I’m looking at all the reasons why not, and that goes nowhere good, and that squashes the grace.
Our Lord will give us what are called also graces of inspiration along the way, which can be, and this all happens very quickly, the one after another. It’s very quick. It takes a lot longer to explain it than it does to simply cooperate with it. But Our Lord will give us a thought such as salvation, salvation of souls, vocations, praying for the souls in purgatory. He’ll give us an idea, an inspiration to motivate us in order to persevere. When we have received that grace, we cooperate with it, and we receive the subsequent graces then what happens is God will send others that are contingent on that first, and He’ll start others so it’s like this garden of little buds and plants that now Our Lord is asking you to tend to. That garden is our heart.
So, ultimately, this requires fidelity to grace, and fidelity to grace is probably the fewest words necessary to describe holiness. Fidelity to grace never saying no to what Our Lord asks of us if we wake up in the morning, or we leave Mass today, and we say, “My goal today is to never deny God anything today.” What happens? If I act on that, I’ll be awake to what He’s doing. It’ll be easier to recognize His work, and I go to bed holier.
Why don’t I always recognize His loving hand in all of this? Well, the obstacles to fidelity to grace are multiple. If I have attachments that are disordered, for example, when you do your Adoration, when you do your mental prayer — I would imagine you do it every day — when you do your mental prayer, and thoughts come to you that are not prayerful thoughts. They’re not necessarily bad thoughts, but they’re not what you’re there for. Often, those distractions are revelatory of disordered attachments in my heart. It could be something I really like. It could be somebody I’m angry at, and I haven’t forgiven. It could be a grudge that I’m holding on to. It could be worries about jobs, work, and things of this nature. There’s a certain disorder there that’s revealed. That’s not a bad thing. Our Lord is revealing it so we can take care of it, so that we can also reorder our hearts.
Another obstacle to grace is the exterior noise that I submit myself to. Do I spend more time in front of screens than I do praying and studying the faith? I’m not talking about time that we have to spend in front of screens because of work, but things that are not work, things that are not necessary. And this leads into the other obstacle to fidelity to grace, which is a lack of knowledge of our faith.
If I don’t know what the Church teaches, and I’m not constantly studying it, what am I going to do? I go to a podcast, or I read a blog, and I let somebody else do the hard work, and then I just kind of get the acceptable talking points, and I reiterate them to show that I’m a good Catholic. Well, that’s really not serious. If I’m serious about being faithful to the Holy Spirit, I’m going to study the Faith. I’m going to interiorize it. I’m not going to get talking points from somebody. I’m going to interiorize it. Why? Because the study of the Faith is the immersion in truth. And as I study the Faith, what happens? It starts to purify my intellect. And God will always start with the intellect. He starts to purify the intellect. And after He purifies the intellect, He starts to purify my affections so that I can love the truth more, with greater purity of heart. And so, if those are the obstacles, what are the solutions?
It’s clear, right? More prayer, more interior life, more study of the Faith, and moderation in my use of creatures. When I’m faithful to grace, beautiful things happen, things that are seemingly disproportionate to my own efforts, because it’s Our Lord’s work. So, ultimately it’s an ongoing choice for this relationship with the Holy Spirit, and today we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Spirit, the Feast of what He did for us, the Feast of the Revelation of what He’s done in the Church, and what He wants to do in our souls, and may it be so.
In the Name of the Father, and the Son, the Holy Ghost. Amen.
~Fr. Ermatinger