Sermon on Pentecost

Psalm 104:30

Send out your Spirit, and they will be created, and you will renew the face of the earth.

Prologue

We must speak about him without whom no one can speak what is right and who can make or makes everyone speak abundantly. Indeed, without him we cannot correctly speak. So it is not surprising that it is said in Wisdom 9:17: who could have known the sense, of God’s truth, unless he had sent his Spirit from on high? Without a sense of the truth no one could speak what is true.¹

Again, the Holy Spirit enables all to speak abundantly (cf. 1 Cor 12:3). Therefore, Gregory says: he makes wise those whom he has filled.¹ Today this is evident, as the apostles were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in various tongues (Acts 2:4). Therefore, we will ask this one, who even makes the mute speak abundantly (cf. Isa 35:6; Matt 9:32–33), that he may give me to speak, et cetera.

Sermon

Send out your Spirit, and they will be created (Ps 104:30), et cetera.

Today Holy Mother Church solemnly celebrates the mission of the Holy Spirit that occurred among the apostles, the mission that was besought in a prophetic spirit by the prophet, saying: send out your Spirit, and they will be created, et cetera. We can consider four things in these words, namely, (1) the property of the Holy Spirit, (2) his mission, (3) the strength of the one sent, and (4) the receptive matter of this strength. For it says: send out—behold, the mission (2); your Spirit—see, the person sent (1); and they will be created, and you will renew—lo, the effect of the one sent (3); the face of the earth—see, the receptive matter of this effect (4).¹

1. First, I say, the property of the Holy Spirit is mentioned when he says: your Spirit. Here we must notice that the name “spirit” seems to imply four things: (1.1) the fineness of substance, (1.2) the perfection of life, (1.3) the incitement of a movement, and (1.4) his hidden origin.

1.1. First, I say that the name “spirit” seems to imply the fineness of substance.¹ For we usually call substances without a body “spirits.” Likewise, we call fine bodies, like air and fire, “spirits.” Hence [the risen Christ] says, in the last chapter of Luke: touch and see, because a spirit does not have flesh and bones (Luke 24:39).² And in this way a spirit is distinct from things that have a coarse matter, those that are composed of flesh and a body.³

1.2. Second, the name “spirit” seems to imply the perfection of life. Because as long as animated creatures have a spirit, they live, but when their spirit recedes, they perish.¹ As the psalmist says: you will take away their spirit, and they will cease to be (Ps 146:4), et cetera.² And in Genesis: he called forth the spirit of life in all the flesh.³

1.3. Third, the name “spirit” seems to imply the incitement of a movement.¹ In this way we call the winds “spirits” (cf. Acts 2:2). And concerning this it is said in Psalm 107:25: he spoke, and a spirit of a storm came about; a spirit of storms will be the portion of their cup (Ps 10:7 [Vg]). We also say that people act in a spirit when they do something impulsively, as Isaiah 25:4 does: the spirit of the strong is like a hurricane that pushes over a wall.²

1.4. Fourth, the name “spirit” usually means a hidden origin, just as it is attributed to a spirit when someone is disturbed but does not know what is disturbing him.¹ Thus we read in John 3:8: the Spirit is like the wind: it blows where it wills and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it is coming from.

Let us inquire, with regard to these four [implications of his name], about the properties of the Holy Spirit, in reverse order: he is called Holy Spirit because of his hidden origin, the incitement of the movement, the holiness of life, and the fineness of substance.

But how has God created all things? I say that he did not do it by reason of a natural necessity, just as fire completely consumes, but that he has brought forth all things of his own free will, as the psalmist says: all things he has made, whatever he willed (Ps 115:3).¹ A house-builder builds a house because he wants to and yet at the same time because necessity or utility urges him, for instance, in order to make money or to live in the house. God truly did not make the world because he wanted to gain something, since he is not in need of our goods.²

Why then did he make the world? Certainly out of his loving will, not out of cupidity. We have an example of this: a house-builder who would know how to design a house while he does not stand in need of it but loves¹ the beauty of a house—that love of the house-builder would bring the house into being.

But what, then, is the cause and the root of bringing forth hidden things? For sure, it is love. Thus it says in Wisdom 11:24: you love all things that are, and you hate nothing of the things which you have made. And St. Dionysius says that divine love has not sent forth itself in order to be without offspring.¹ Love is the Holy Spirit.² Hence it is said at the beginning of creation in Genesis that the Spirit of the Lord glided over the waters (Gen 1:2), namely, in order to make the matter and to bring things forth into being. We celebrate now the feast of the Holy Spirit, and the Spirit is the principle of being in all things.³ Thus the Spirit has a hidden origin, the property of which is love.

But what is the first movement of the will? For certain it is love.¹ And what is the operation of love? I say: someone who is moved by love rejoices through the love for a loved thing and is saddened about what is contrary to it. Thus we read in the prophet Ezekiel, the first chapter: where the incitement of the Spirit was, that is, the inclination of divine love, that is whither they will be brought (Ezek 1:12).

Yes, in a just way all things that are in the world are moved by the Holy Spirit, which is indicated by Esther 13:9 (Vg), where it says: there is no one who could resist [his] will.¹ This Holy Spirit, whose feast we celebrate now, is the principle of the movement of all things.²

Nevertheless, some things are moved in the world by themselves, and others by others. They who have life are moved by themselves, whereas the things that lack life are moved by others. The principle of the movement of all things is alive. Even more: it is life.¹ Hence, the Holy Spirit is life, insofar as he is the principle of the movement of all things. As the psalmist says: with you is the fountain of life (Ps 36:9). And since he is life, he is, therefore, the giver of life.² Great is the Holy Spirit, therefore, by whom all things that exist are moved and live. Thus we read in Acts 17:28: in him we live and move and are. So all things have their movement and being from the Holy Spirit.

Hence we read in Wisdom 7:22: for in her, that is, God’s wisdom, is the spirit of understanding, which makes people understand.¹ In Greek the word holy (Wis 7:22) signifies cleanness.² It is true that the love through which a person loves corporeal things is unclean or foul: for through love the lover is united with the beloved thing, and the more the lover is mingled with the beloved thing, the more he collects foulness. Just as silver, if it is mixed with something impure, collects foulness (cf. Prov 25:4), so your mind [is defiled] if it is mixed with love for lower things. But when it is connected with the highest thing, it is called holy love.³ There are some who want to be dedicated to God and who pay no heed to the salvation of their neighbors.⁴ But the Holy Spirit is not like that (Wis 7:23). The Apostle Paul was seriously concerned about the salvation of his neighbors, whence he said: I have been made all things for all people in order to enlighten all (1 Cor 9:22). Furthermore, some others are many-sided yet deceitful.

The Holy Spirit is not like that. He is multiple (Job 11:6, Wis 7:22) in such a way that he who is one (Wis 7:22) shows himself to different people.

Furthermore, he is fine¹ (Wis 7:22), because he makes a person draw back from coarse things and cling to God, as the psalmist says: one thing I have desired of the Lord (Ps 27:4) and elsewhere: yet clinging to God is my good (Ps 73:28).

And how does he sanctify? I say that he makes every single thing mentioned appear in those whom he sanctifies,¹ because he turns the ones he sanctifies into refined people and makes them despise temporal things. Thus it says in John: do not love the world nor the things that are in the world. If someone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him (1 John 2:15).

Furthermore, he bestows the spiritual life on the ones whom he sanctifies. Thus we read in Ezekiel 37:5: behold, I will send the Spirit into you and you will live. Spiritual life is life through the Holy Spirit.¹ The Apostle [impresses on us]: if you live by the Spirit, walk also by the Spirit (Gal 5:25).

Again, the Holy Spirit moves those whom he sanctifies through his incitement to do good.¹ Isaiah testifies: because he comes like a wild river, driven by the Spirit of the Lord (Isa 59:19). Others are lazy;² they do not seem to be set in motion by the Holy Spirit. Thus a gloss on Acts 2:2: suddenly a sound came from heaven, et cetera, says: the grace of the Holy Spirit does not know late undertakings.³

And the Holy Spirit sanctifies you: he leads us back to the hidden origin, that we may be united with God. Therefore, Isaiah says: the Spirit of the Lord will carry you off to a place you do not know,¹ meaning: to the heavenly inheritance. The psalmist says: your good Spirit will lead me away in a land with straight paths; because of your name you will give me life; in your justice you will lead me away from my fear (Ps 143:10–11).

Now it is clear that this is the property of the Holy Spirit and that he is the origin of living, being, and moving (cf. Acts 17:28).

2. Let us look at the second aspect: the mission of the Holy Spirit, which is wondrous and unknown to us, because the Holy Spirit is sent (2.1) without a need for his part, (2.2) without a change in him, (2.3) without subjection, and (2.4) without separation.

2.1. First, I say: the Holy Spirit was sent while there was no necessity for him [to be sent]. When someone is sent to a certain place so that some things happen which cannot happen unless he is sent, it is a mission out of necessity.

But there is no necessity in the mission of the Holy Spirit, as we read in Wisdom 7:23: he has every strength, oversees all things. What then is the reason for the mission of the Holy Spirit? I say: our want.¹ The necessity of this want is partly because of the dignity of our human nature and partly because of the defect of it. For the rational creature surpasses the other creatures because it can stretch out to the enjoyment of God, something no other creature is capable of.² Thus we read in Lamentations 3:24: ‘my portion,’ he has said, ‘is the Lord of my soul.’ Some seek their portion in the world, like honors, esteem. But the psalmist says: clinging to God is my good (Ps 73:28).

You should realize that it is necessary that all things that are moved to a certain end have something that moves them to that end. The things that are moved to a natural end are moved by something in nature, whereas things that are moved to a supernatural end, namely, the enjoyment of God, must have a supernatural mover.¹ Well, nothing can lead us to this but two, for by these two things a person is led to this end: by knowledge and by love.² Such a knowledge is supernatural. Thus we read in 1 Corinthians 2:9: eye has not seen, ear has not heard, nor did it come up in the heart of man what God has prepared for those who love him.³ And in Isaiah 64:4: never have they heard, neither did they perceive it with their ears, nor has an eye seen without you, God, the things you have prepared for those who awaited (them).⁴ Everything man knows he knows either because he finds out or because he learns it.⁵ For sight serves the finding, and hearing serves the learning.⁶ Because of this it is said that eye has not seen and ear has not heard, by showing that it transcends human knowledge. It even exceeds the human desire, and that is why it is said: nor did it come up in the heart of man.⁷

So how is man led into the knowledge of him? It could not be otherwise than that the heavenly secrets were made known to man, that is, that the Holy Spirit would be sent visibly¹ in order to move our affections so as to direct them toward those [heavenly secrets]. Therefore, it says: eye has not seen. So, how do we know? God has revealed them to us through his Spirit. For the Spirit examines everything thoroughly, even the profound things of God (1 Cor 2:10). Hence we read in Wisdom 9:17: who will be able to know your thoughts unless you gave wisdom and sent the Holy Spirit from the highest heavens? Thus the Holy Spirit is not sent because of necessity on his part, but for our benefit.

2.2. Furthermore, this mission happens without a change in him.¹ When a messenger is sent from place to place, it is with a change. But the Holy Spirit is sent without a change of place, since he is the true God and unchangeable.² Thus it is said in Wisdom 7:27: remaining in himself, he renews all things.

How, then, is he sent? He draws us to himself, and this is called being sent only in the sense in which we say that the sun is sent to someone when that person stands in the sunlight.¹ Thus it is with the Holy Spirit.² So it is said concerning uncreated wisdom, in Wisdom 9:10: send her out from the heavens and from the throne of your greatness, so that she may be with me and work with me and so that I may know what is pleasing to you. Likewise, in Galatians 4:6: he sent his Spirit, who calls: ‘Abba, Father.’

These missions spread throughout all nations and enter holy souls (cf. Wis 7:27). When the fullness of time had come, the Son of God was sent into the flesh,¹ and thus it was right that also the Holy Spirit would be sent visibly, not, however, that he would be received in the unity of a person² as the Son in the human nature.

2.3. Furthermore, the Holy Spirit is sent although he is not subjected.¹ Slaves and servants are sent by their masters, since they are subjected to them. Hence some heretics believed that the Son and the Holy Spirit would be lesser than the Father, since they are sent by the Father. This, however, is not true. The Holy Spirit sets people free (cf. Gal 4:5); hence he is not a servant; he is sent out by reason of his own decision, for the Spirit blows where he wills (John 3:8); and the term “being sent” is used merely because the Father is the originator.²

We find places where it says that the Holy Spirit is sent by the Father, while elsewhere it says that he is sent by the Son.¹ But the Greeks² oppose strongly in this matter, for they hold that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father only, not from the Son, and they argue in an unrefined way.

Unrefined, for where the Son speaks about the mission of the Holy Spirit, he connects the Son with the Father or the Father with the Son: for instance, in John 15, he says: the Paraclete, whom the Father will send in my name (John 14:26) and in another place: when the Paraclete comes, whom I will send to you from the Father (John 15:26). Thus the origination of the source comes from the Father.¹

2.4. Furthermore, the Holy Spirit is sent without separation,¹ since the Spirit of unity is [naturally] opposed to separation. Hence the Apostle says: exert yourselves to serve the unity of the Spirit in a bond of peace (Eph 4:3). The Holy Spirit gathers together according to Ephesians 4. Thus also John 17:22 says: that they may be one in us, through the unity of the Holy Spirit, just as we, too, are one.² This union is begun in our time through grace, and will be completed in the future through glory, to which may he lead us, et cetera.

Evening Collation

Send out your Spirit (Ps 104:30), et cetera.

Early in the morning today we have said some things in keeping with the measure of our understanding about the property of the Holy Spirit and his mission. Now it remains to speak about the effects of the Holy Spirit and whom or what it befits to receive these effects.

3. In the words cited above we are given to understand the twofold effect of the Holy Spirit, namely, (3.1) creation and (3.2) renewal, where it says, and they will be created and you will renew.

3.1. If we truly want to accept these words in the sense that creation means bringing forth things into the existence of nature,¹ the Spirit is indeed the Creator of all things, in keeping with what is touched upon in Judith 16:14: you sent your Spirit, and they were created.

Let us speak now of another creation. It is commonly understood nowadays that those who are promoted to a higher state, such as the episcopate or another dignity, are said to be “created.”¹ In the same way all those who are promoted and made sons and daughters of God are said to be created, as if they were promoted, as St. James says: by his free will he brought us forth, so that we may be the beginning of his creation (Jas 1:18).

The Lord willed to establish a new creation, as we also read in Wisdom 1:14: God created so that all things would be, namely, in the existence of nature; and he willed to re-create them, namely, so that they would be in the existence of grace. The apostles were the first fruits of this re-creation. We read about this creation in Galatians 6:15: in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor the foreskin is of value, but the new creation.

What does this saying mean? Previously there were gentiles, and with reference to this it says foreskin. Later on the Jews were circumcised. Still this situation of being circumcised was of no value unless they would be re-created through the grace of Christ.¹ This re-creation is an effect of the Holy Spirit.

You should know that this re-creation consists in phases:

(3.1.1) first, concerning the grace of love;

(3.1.2) second, it is extended as far as the wisdom of knowledge;

(3.1.3) third, peaceful harmony; and (3.1.4) fourth, the constancy of strength.

3.1.1. Just as when you see that, when people are brought into being or existence, the first thing they obtain is that they live, so it should be when we are in grace. But what is it that makes a man live when he is in grace? Certainly it is love.¹ Thus John says: we know that we are brought over from death to life, because we love our brothers (1 John 3:14).

Whoever does not love his brother and sister—whatever good works he may do—he is dead (cf. 1 Cor 13:1–3). Love gives life to the soul, for just as the body lives through the soul, so the soul lives through God, and God dwells in us through love. Hence John says: someone who remains in love remains in God (1 John 4:16), et cetera. And in today’s Gospel [we heard]: if someone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come, and we will make our dwelling in him (John 14:23).¹

Now, someone who does not do the will of God does not love him (cf. John 14:24) in a perfect way, for it is proper to friends that their willing and disdaining correspond.¹ Gregory says in a homily on Pentecost: proof of love is the production of the work.²

But you will say: I cannot fulfill the commandments of God.¹ I say that you cannot fulfill them through your own strength, but that you can do it well by means of the grace of God.² Hence [Christ] adds: my Father will love him, so he will not fail him, and we will come to him (John 14:23), meaning: we will be with him and give him the strength to fulfill the commandments of God.

Concerning this love for fulfilling God’s commandments, it is said in Ephesians 2:10: we are his makings, created in Christ Jesus for good works.

From where is this love in us? From the Holy Spirit, as the Apostle says: the love of God is spread in our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who is given to us (Rom 5:5).¹ Someone who imparts light has it from the sun. Likewise someone who has love has it from the Holy Spirit. Therefore, send out your Spirit and they will be created, namely, into the existence of a life of grace through love.

3.1.2. You see that when people are made more loving, they get to know the will of God better. Thus we read in Proverbs: it is proper to friends to be of one heart.¹ Well, God reveals his secrets to his friends (cf. 1 John 3:2).² And this is the second stage of the creation that is from the Holy Spirit: that through Wisdom they get to know God. Thus we read in John 15:15: yet I have called you friends, because everything I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. Hence also the understanding of the truth is from the Holy Spirit.³ In the Gospel [Christ says]: the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you everything (John 14:26).

Yet no matter how much a person may teach outwardly, it is no good unless the grace of the Holy Spirit is within him.¹ Thus it is said in the Gospel: the anointing will teach you about all things (1 John 2:27).

And he does not only teach, but together with this he reminds us (John 14:26). I can teach you, but you do not believe it or do not want to put it into practice.

Now the one who makes you believe and put into practice what you hear, that is the one who reminds (you). This is what the Holy Spirit does, for he bends the heart, so that it agrees and follows what it hears.¹

Therefore, the Lord says: everyone who will have heard and will have learned from the Father will come to me (John 6:45; cf. Matt 11:25, 28).

3.1.3. The third stage of the creation is directed towards a peaceful harmony. James distinguishes in his letter between earthly wisdom and wisdom from above, and, as he discusses the property of the wisdom from above, he says: the wisdom that is from above is indeed first of all chaste, then peace-making, modest, gentle (Jas 3:17), et cetera. Yet earthly wisdom is not chaste, for it corrupts the affection through love of earthly things. Thus we also read in a Letter [of the New Testament]: they are corrupted in all the things that they know (Jude 10).

Furthermore, it makes people divided and full of strife, whereas the wisdom from above consists in attracting us to God, for it is peace-making, modest, et cetera.

Quarrels arise from three things: first, when someone is not modest. Hence it says in Proverbs 28:25: someone who boasts in himself and aggrandizes himself before others stirs up quarrels.¹

Furthermore, some are stubborn in their manner of thinking, so that they do not allow anything to persuade them but stay with what they have in their head.¹ Yet this wisdom [from above] is amenable.

Furthermore, the wisdom of the world does not allow its wise to agree with others, whereas this wisdom is agreeing with good people and hence peace-making.

But who makes the peace?¹ The Holy Spirit, for he is not the God of dissension, but of peace (1 Cor 14:33).² Thus we read in Ephesians 4:3: exert yourselves to preserve the unity of the Spirit in a bond of peace. The Lord exhorts us to preserve this peace in today’s Gospel, saying: peace I leave you; my peace I give to you; not as the world gives, I give it to you (John 14:27).³

Peace is twofold: one is in the present, in which we live peacefully, in such a way, however, that we still struggle against vices. This peace is left to us by God (cf. John 14:27a, 20:21, 26). The other one is the peace which we will have in the future, without struggle. And about this peace he says: not as the world gives, I give it to you (John 14:27b). Some want peace in order to enjoy goods,¹ whence Wisdom 14:22 says: although they live in a great war of ignorance, they consider so many and such great evils peace.²

Which peace, then, is true peace? Augustine says: peace is security of mind, quietness of soul,¹ simplicity of heart, a bond of love, and the company of love.²

True peace is threefold: in relation to yourself, to your neighbor, and to God.

As for peace with yourself, it is required that your reason not be infected by errors or obscured by passions. And in view of this he says: peace is security of mind. There also needs to be quietness in one’s affection, and in view of this he says: quietness of soul.

Furthermore, there ought to be simplicity in one’s intention, and in view of this he says: simplicity of heart.

Peace with your neighbor is a bond of love;

and the peace through which we have a bond with God is the company of love.¹

Is peace, then, very necessary for us? It certainly is. The Lord gave witness of peace, and those who do not want to preserve this testimony cannot receive the inheritance; in the same way, those who do not want to preserve peace cannot arrive at the heavenly inheritance.

Now, someone will say: “I want to have peace with God but not with my neighbor.” This, however, cannot be,¹ as a certain saint has said: no one can have peace with Christ who is at odds with a Christian.²

Hence, the third stage of the creation is being of one heart in peace, as Isaiah puts it: I have created peace as the fruit of my lips (Isa 57:19).

3.1.4. The fourth stage is the constancy of strength,¹ and this comes from the Holy Spirit. Thus the Apostle writes in Ephesians 3:16: may he give you strength through the Holy Spirit to make you strong, et cetera. And in Ezekiel 2:2 we read: the Spirit entered me, and I stood on my feet. And in the Gospel: let not your heart be disturbed, and do not be frightened (John 14:27c), et cetera. And in Wisdom 2:23 we read: God has created mankind imperishable. Therefore, the first effect of the Holy Spirit is that he creates.

3.2. The second effect is renewal, which consists in four things: in accordance with (3.2.1) cleansing grace, with (3.2.2) progressing justice, with (3.2.3) illuminating wisdom, and with (3.2.4) the glory that makes complete.

3.2.1. First, I say that the renewal through the Holy Spirit consists in cleansing grace. Sin is something that has been in the soul for a long time,¹ and man [homo; mankind] is not liberated from it but by justifying grace, through which man is removed from sin.² Thus the Apostle says: just as Christ rose from the dead, so let us, too, walk in the newness of life (Rom 6:4). From where does this newness come? From the Holy Spirit, as the Apostle says in Titus 3:5: he has saved us not by reason of the works of justice that we did but according to his mercy through the bath of regeneration and renewal through the Holy Spirit.³ Through this bath all sins are forgiven, and in this way man is renewed.

3.2.2. Second, this renewal consists in progressing justice.¹ If someone walks and gets tired and becomes weak [and subsequently rests], his strength seems to be renewed. And when a person works with a great concentration, he is renewed when his strength is deployed in work of a different kind. Job 29:20 says about this renewal: my glory will be renewed, and the bow in my hand will be restored. The glory of the saints is the testimony of conscience. A person is renewed when he is prepared to struggle against vices. Isaiah 40:31 says: those who hope in the Lord renew their strength; they will take wings like wings of an eagle; they will fly and not cease,² meaning: they will not cease to run on the way of God’s commandments (Ps 119:32). But who causes them to run? The Holy Spirit, as we read in Isaiah 63:13–14: he has led us through the depths like a horse in the desert that does not stumble; the Spirit of the Lord led him.

3.2.3. Third, the renewal comes by means of illuminating wisdom. When a person from the beginning gets to know more about the goods of God, he is renewed. In Colossians 3 it is said about this renewal: clothe yourselves with the new man who is created according to God (Eph 4:24).¹

Christ is called the new man, for his conception is new: not from the seed of a man (cf. John 1:13, 1 Pet 1:23), et cetera.¹ Also, his birth is new, since his mother remained a virgin after birth.² It is a new suffering, since it is without guilt.³ It is a new resurrection, since it is quick and renewing: quick, because he also rose in glory.⁴ It is a new ascension, since he went up by his own strength, not by someone else’s like Enoch and Elijah.⁵ Thus it says in Sirach 36:6: renew the signs and change the wondrous deeds.⁶

And because through Christ all things are renewed, we use new vestments on solemn feast days in the Church, so that we sing a new song to the Lord¹—as if we say that someone who puts on a new garment by means of an exterior cleanness renews the mind internally through grace. The Apostle says in Colossians 3:9b–10: take off the old man, that is, the habit of the sinners with their deeds, and clothe yourselves with the habit of virtue which is not without deeds,² the new man, a rational mind, that is. This new man is renewed in the knowledge of God, et cetera. He continues: clothe yourselves with the new man (Col 3:12), as I said above.³ In Romans 13:14 we read: be clothed with the Lord Jesus Christ.

And from where is this wisdom? From the Holy Spirit. Job 32:8: as I see it, the Spirit is in people, and the inspiration of the Almighty gives understanding.¹

3.2.4. Fourth, the renewal is through glory that makes complete, namely, when the body will be renewed, away from the old punishment and the old guilt. In Isaiah 65:17 it says about this: behold, I create new heavens and a new earth.¹ And from where does this renewal come? From the Holy Spirit; he himself is the pledge of our inheritance,² and he leads us to the heavenly inheritance. Someone who longs to be created and renewed will obtain it from the Holy Spirit.

4. But who receives that renewal? the face of the earth (Ps 104:30), that is, the whole world, which once was full of idolatry. But on this day the Lord has bestowed the gifts of the charismata (cf. 1 Cor 12:31) on the apostles. Isaiah 27:6 (Vg) says about this: those who enter with incitement, of the Holy Spirit, will fill the face of the earth with the seed from Jacob. The face of the earth is also the human mind, for just as we see with our face in a corporeal way, so we see with the mind in a spiritual way. Hence it says in Genesis 2:7: God created man from the clay of the earth and blew the breath of life into his face.¹

Well, in order to receive this renewal, the human mind ought to have four [characteristics]: it should be (4.1) clean, (4.2) uncovered, (4.3) directed, and (4.4) stable and firm.

4.1. In Matthew 6:17 it says about the first: when you fast, however, anoint your head and wash your face, meaning: with tears of a moved heart,¹ and then you will be able to receive the renewal of the Holy Spirit. The psalmist says: create a clean heart in me, God, renew my spirit; make it righteous within me (Ps 51:12).

4.2. Second, the face of the mind ought to be unveiled and uncovered. The prophet says: thickness has concealed his face (Job 15:27). Some have the face of their mind covered by a mist of ignorance. Job 23:17 reads: mist has not concealed my face. And the Apostle says: yet we who behold the glory of God with an unveiled face—meaning: free from attraction to earthly things—are transformed into the same image from clarity into clarity, as through the Spirit of the Lord (2 Cor 3:18).¹

4.3. Third, the face of the mind ought to be directed towards God. Thus we read in Tobit 3:12: now I turn my face to you, and I direct my eyes to you.

How do we turn our face to God? Through an upright intention, and thus we obtain the renewal of the Holy Spirit,¹ whence it is said in the Gospel according to Luke 11:13: he will give the good Spirit to those who beseech him.²

Furthermore, if you are converted through obedience,¹ he will give the Holy Spirit to those who obey him (cf. Acts 5:32).

Furthermore, we ought to turn our face to our neighbor as well, as we read in Tobit 4:7: do not turn away your face from your neighbor for then, likewise, the face of the Lord will not be turned away from you. Therefore, the apostles received the Holy Spirit while they were together (cf. Acts 2:1).

4.4. Fourth, the face of the mind ought to be firm. We read about Anna, the mother of Samuel: she did not look in different directions any more (1 Sam 1:18; cf. Ps 121:1). And therefore she received the Holy Spirit (cf. 1 Sam 1:19, 2:1–10). Job 11:15 reads: then you will be able to lift up your face.

To those people the Holy Spirit is given, as we read in the Gospel: while meeting with them, he instructed them not to leave Jerusalem, but to await the promise of the Father ‘about which you have heard through my mouth; for John baptized with water, yet you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit’ (Acts 1:4–5).¹

If they had left, they would not have received the Holy Spirit. Thus we read in Matthew 24:13: someone who perseveres till the end will be saved.¹ We will ask the Lord, et cetera.