“Mary, who is the Mother of God, remained always a virgin: for as the Word, in becoming flesh, did not lose His divinity, so she, in becoming a mother, did not lose her virginity.” — Didymus the Seer
John 15:26—16:4
But when the Counselor comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness to me; and you also are witnesses, because you have been with me from the beginning.
“I have said all this to you to keep you from falling away.
They will put you out of the synagogues; indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God. And they will do this because they have not known the Father, nor me.
But I have said these things to you, that when their hour comes you may remember that I told you of them.
What do the Fathers say?
St John CHRYSOSTOM. The disciples might say, If they have heard words from You, such as no other has spoken, if they have seen works of You, such as no other has done, and yet have not been convinced, but have hated Your Father, and You with Him, why do You send us to preach? How will we be believed? Such thoughts as these He now answers: But when the Comforter is come, Whom I will send to you from the Father, even the Spirit of Truth which proceeds from the Father, he shall testify of Me.
St AUGUSTINE. As if He said, Seeing Me, they hated and killed Me: but the Comforter shall give such testimony concerning Me, as shall make them believe, though they see Me not. And because He shall testify, you shall testify also: And you also shall bear witness: He will inspire your hearts, and you shall proclaim with your voices. And you will preach what you know; Because you have been with Me from the beginning; which now you do not do, because you have not yet the fulness of the Spirit.
But the love of God shall then be shed abroad in your hearts by the Spirit which shall be given you, and shall make you confident witnesses to Me. The Holy Spirit by His testimony made others testify; taking away fear from the friends of Christ’s, and converting the hatred of His enemies into love.
DIDYMUS. The Holy Spirit He calls the Comforter, not only to relieve the sorrows of the faithful, but to fill them with unspeakable joy. Everlasting gladness is in those hearts, in which the Spirit dwells.
The Spirit, the Comforter, is sent by the Son, not as Angels, or Prophets, or Apostles, are sent, but as the Spirit must be sent which is of one nature with the Divine wisdom and power that sends Him.
The Son when sent by the Father, is not separated from Him, but abides in the Father, and the Father in Him.
In the same way the Holy Spirit is not sent by the Son, or proceeds from the Father, in the sense of change of place. For as the Father’s nature, being incorporeal, is not local, so neither does the Spirit of truth, Who is incorporeal also, and superior to all created things, have a local nature.
The Spirit of truth properly proceeds from God, as the Father, the Begetter. The Father and the Son together send the Spirit of truth: He comes by the will both of the Father and the Son.
St THEOPHYLACT. Elsewhere He says that the Father sends the Spirit; now He says He does: Whom I will send unto you; thus declaring the equality of the Father and the Son. That He might not be thought however to be opposed to the Father, and to be another and rival source, as it were, of the Spirit, He adds, From the Father; i. e. the Father agreeing, and taking an equal part in sending Him.
When it is said that He proceeds, do not understand His procession to be an external mission, such as is given to ministering spirits, but a certain peculiar, and distinct procession, such as is true of the Holy Spirit alone. To proceed is not the same as being sent, but is the essential nature of the Holy Spirit, as coming from the Father.
Sources:
Bible readings from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, Second Catholic Edition, copyright © 2006 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA
Quotes of the Fathers from Thomas Aquinas’ Catena Aurea Translated by St John Henry Newman
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