“Thou art the Mother of the Flame;
as the Spirit rested upon thee in the beginning to create the Head,
so He rests upon thee now to create the Body.”
– Byzantine Liturgy
John 14:15-21
“If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he will give you another Counselor, to be with you for ever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him; you know him, for he dwells with you, and will be in you.
“I will not leave you desolate; I will come to you. Yet a little while, and the world will see me no more, but you will see me; because I live, you will live also. In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. He who has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me; and he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.”
What do the Fathers say?
St John CHRYSOSTOM. The disciples having heard Him say, I go to the Father, and being troubled at the thought of it, He says, To love Me, is not to be troubled, but to keep My commandments: this is love, to obey and believe in Him who is loved. And as they had been expressing a strong desire for His bodily presence, He assures them that His absence will be supplied to them in another way: And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Comforter.
He says – That He may abide with you for ever. The Spirit does not depart even at death. He intimates too that the Holy Spirit will not suffer death, or go away, as He has done.
But so that the mention of the Comforter might not lead them to expect another incarnation, a Comforter that can be seen with the eye, He adds, Even the Spirit of truth, Whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him, nor knows Him.
And He explains that He will not dwell with you as I have done, but will dwell in your souls.
St AUGUSTINE. This is the Holy Spirit in the Trinity, Whom the Catholic faith professes to be consubstantial and coeternal with the Father and the Son.
The Venerable BEDE. Note, that when He calls the Holy Spirit the Spirit of truth, He shows that the Holy Spirit is His Spirit: then when He says He is given by the Father, He declares Him to be the Spirit of the Father also. Thus the Holy Spirit proceeds both from the Father, and from the Son.
Pope St GREGORY the Great. The Holy Spirit kindles in every one, in whom He dwells, the desire of things invisible. And since worldly minds love only things visible, this world receives Him not.
In proportion as secular minds enlarge themselves by the spread of their desires, in that proportion they narrow themselves, with respect to admitting Christ.
St AUGUSTINE. The world, i. e. the lovers of the world, cannot, He says, receive the Holy Spirit: that is to say, unrighteousness cannot be righteous.
The lovers of the world, cannot receive Him, because it does not see Him; it does not have eyes wherewith to see that, which can only be seen invisibly.
It follows: But you know Him, for He dwells with you. And that they might not think this meant a visible dwelling, in the sense in which we use the phrase with respect to a guest, He adds, And shall be in you.
That no one might think, because our Lord was about to give the Holy Spirit, that He would therefore not be present Himself in Him, He adds, I will not leave you comfortless.
Although the Son of God has made us the adopted sons of the Father, yet here He Himself shows the affection of a Father towards us.
St John CHRYSOSTOM. When He had cleansed His disciples by the sacrifice of His passion, and their sins were remitted, and they were sent forth to dangers and trials, it was necessary that they should receive the Holy Spirit abundantly. But they were made to wait some time for this gift, in order that they might feel the want of it, and so be the more grateful for it when it came.
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
Artwork ex Wikimedia Commons