Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost

On the following day, when the people who were standing on the other side of the sea saw that there was no other boat there, except that one which His disciples had entered, and that Jesus had not entered the boat with His disciples, but His disciples had gone away alone—however, other boats came from Tiberias, near the place where they ate bread after the Lord had given thanks—when the people therefore saw that Jesus was not there, nor His disciples, they also got into boats and came to Capernaum, seeking Jesus. And when they found Him on the other side of the sea, they said to Him, “Rabbi, when did You come here?” Jesus answered them and said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him.” Then they said to Him, “What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?” Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.” Therefore they said to Him, “What sign will You perform then, that we may see it and believe You? What work will You do? Our fathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” Then they said to Him, “Lord, give us this bread always.” And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst. (John 6:22–35)

The Lord had said in the Gospels: “Do not labor for the food that perishes, but for that which endures unto life everlasting, which the Son of Man will give you. For upon him the Father, God Himself, has set His seal. They said therefore to Him, ‘What are we to do in order that we may perform the works of God?’ In answer Jesus said to them, ‘This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.’” When the Lord explained the mystery of His Incarnation and divinity, He also spoke of the doctrine of our faith and our hope, so that we should labor not for the food that perishes, but for that which remains forever, that we should bear in mind that this eternal food was given to us by the Son of God, that we should know that God the Father had set His seal upon the Son of Man, and that we should recognize this as the work of God: to believe in Him whom He has sent. And who is He whom the Father has sent? It is He upon whom the Father has set His seal. And who is it upon whom the Father has set His seal? It is, of course, the Son of Man, that is, He who offers the food of eternal life. And finally, who are they to whom He offers it? It is they who will labor for the food that does not perish. Thus, the labor for this food is at the same time the work of God, namely, to believe in Him whom He has sent.

Hilary of Poitiers, On the Trinity 8.42

But how finely the Divine wisdom has arranged the order of the prayer, in making room, after heavenly things—that is, after the name of God, the will of God and the Kingdom of God—for a petition for earthly needs also! For the Lord had also given the command: “Seek first the Kingdom, and then these things also will be added unto you.” And yet we ought rather to understand Give us our daily bread this day in a spiritual sense. For “our bread” is Christ, because Christ is life and the bread of life: “I am,” He says, “the bread of life,” and a little earlier: “bread is the word of the living God, that descends from heaven”; and further, because His body is also deemed to be in the bread: “This is My body.” Therefore in asking daily bread we ask to live perpetually in Christ and undivided from His body.

Tertullian, On Prayer 6

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Tenth Sunday after Pentecost

For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height—to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen. (Ephesians 3:14–21)

The apostle expresses the sort of prayers he has for the Ephesians: that God give you—he says—the riches of His glory. He also discloses what these riches of the glory of God are: the power to be strengthened by His Spirit in order that they be strong against the flesh and the desires of the flesh, and against the most evil powers of the world. This comes about and is produced by the Spirit of God. But how are they strengthened—that is, rendered strong—by the Spirit of God? In the interior person for Christ to dwell, says he. For when Christ begins to dwell in the interior person, i.e., in the soul, people are rendered strong in power by the Spirit, all adversities are expelled. Now Paul adds how Christ dwells in the interior person: by faith in your hearts, he says. So it is a simple and fine thing—simple, in that faith alone provides so great a service, so great a benefit. What? That Christ would dwell in our hearts. What do we acquire with Him indwelling? That we would be stronger through the Spirit and thus have the riches of the glory of God; and that having been rendered strong we might sustain no harm, might despise the world, and conquer all the most evil powers. These are the riches of God. We look forward even to glory and the promise, rooted and grounded in love. This most important precept has been laid down everywhere by Paul and has been presented by me quite frequently by way of admonition: for the stability and foundation, the whole status of the soul with respect to eternity, is in love. This love, I have often said, is love for God, for Christ, and toward men. This love makes our faith rooted and grounded.

Marius Victorinus, Commentary on Ephesians 1.3.16–17

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Ninth Sunday after Pentecost

Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh—who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands—that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father. Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. (Ephesians 2:11–22)

Through His Mystery, surely, we have been reconciled to God and are no longer aliens nor adversaries. For when we were worshiping other gods and serving idols, it was as if we were at war with the Father, that is, with God. But a middleman, Christ, reconciled us in Himself by His Mystery and passion.… Christ, says Paul, is our peace, whom elsewhere he calls mediator. For Christ has put Himself between the separated realms: because souls born from the fount of God are held in this world—or were being held; and a middle wall, a kind of barrier and partition, was intruding through the allures of the flesh and worldly desires. Christ, by His Mystery, passion, cross, and teaching, broke down the middle wall. That is, conquering the flesh (and teaching that it is to be conquered) and breaking down the desires of the world (and teaching that they are to be broken down), Christ razed the middle wall. But it is in the flesh, Paul is saying, that Christ is certainly breaking down the hostilities. Therefore it is not of our labor (as I have pointed out) that we break them down; rather, faith alone in Christ is salvation for us. For He has broken down all the hostilities in His flesh. So too He broke down the law of commandments, nullifying it in its decrees—as He did not nullify it as far as works or sabbaths are concerned (for these have been decreed in the law and are themselves commandments). Christ did not nullify the law, I say, as far as precepts regarding such observances understood in a fleshly sense are concerned. Once the [other decrees] were nullified, the middle which had intruded was razed; and souls are no longer hindered by the world as if by a barrier (that is, by worldly, i.e., fleshly, cravings, thoughts, and desires) from seeing, recognizing, and following God, and even being joined to God.

This deed is the Mystery of the cross: that all things inimical to souls and to our spirit (i.e., worldly desires, cravings of the flesh, and the flesh itself which is somehow corrupted and weak) might be carried off to their punishment. Through the cross, then Christ eliminated the hostilities—that is, everything opposing souls. And where did He eliminate them? In His own self. For this reason Christ assumed flesh: that He might overcome the flesh in His own self; and that in this way, He might through the flesh be of use to the flesh by eliminating its corruption, by assuming pure and eternal flesh, and the whole body of Deity through the resurrection—since all things are made spirit, as Paul teaches in many places and is self-evident.

Marius Victorinus, Commentary on Ephesians 1.2.14–16

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Eighth Sunday after Pentecost

Mercy and Truth have met together, Righteousness and Peace have kissed each other by Evelyn de Morgan

I will hear what the Lord God will speak in me,
because he will speak peace for his people
and for his holy ones
and those who turn their heart to him.
But his salvation is near to those who fear him,
so that glory would dwell in our land.
Mercy and truth met together.
Righteousness and peace embraced.
Truth grew up from the land,
and righteousness looked down from heaven.
Indeed, the Lord will give goodness,
and our land will give its fruit.
Righteousness will go before in front of him,
and it will place his steps on the way. (Psalm 84:9–14 LXX [Ps 85:8–13])

He passes to the third section, in which he proclaims the coming of the Lord Savior with a most beautiful figure. For after praying that the Lord would appear to him, he is filled with sudden enlightenment, as though he has obtained his request, and he says: I will hear, that is, I shall not hinder myself by speaking, for I now realize that I have heard what I am to believe. We recognize that this type of utterance is peculiar to divine Scripture, for in my opinion nothing like it is found in secular books. You see the power of prophecy made manifest by these words. The Lord, that is the Holy Spirit, speaks within so that the psalmist may appear to be able to speak without. He listens inwardly so that he may be listened to outwardly. The prophet silently learns what the people can hear when it strikes their ears. Next comes: For he will speak peace to his people and to his saints. God’s Peace is the Lord Christ; he says that the Holy Spirit will speak of this Peace, for He is to tell of His Incarnation. When the psalmist spoke of the people, he said his people, not the uncommitted. He referred to the holy men who pleased the Lord by their edifying manner of life. The Lord Christ is their Peace, but He is a stumbling block and a foolishness to the unfaithful; they endure war in their sacrilegious hearts, for they do not follow the Author of peace along upright paths. But let us scrutinize this verse a little more attentively, for he refutes sinful minds by witnessing to the truth itself. Here the nature of the holy Spirit is clearly stated: He is the Lord God. Where are they who say that the holy Spirit is inferior to Father and Son, and is so lowly that He is thought not to have discretion over His own will? Let us listen to the holy Spirit who of His own accord said through His prophet that He was the Lord God.…

For though mercy and truth, peace and justice are abstractions, he allotted footsteps to two and embraces to the other two, both being bodily attributes. After he has stated from what nation the Lord was to be born, he now explains what benefits the coming of the holy incarnation has imparted. Through the Lord’s gift, the two Testaments have been united in an interlinked chain. In the New Testament comes mercy, by which the human race is freed through grace; in the Old stands truth, in which the Law and the proclamation of the prophets are contained, as was already said at Psalm 70. These two have met each other not to maintain their opposition, but to fulfill the grace of promised perfection; for it is clear that what was seen to be divided by eras has become one. So as to emphasize clearly the nature of the alliance, he restated with varied repetition of terms the fact that the two states, justice and peace, had lastingly entered into reciprocal harmony by a kind of loving embrace. Such an embrace tends to occur when people see each other after a long time; in loving enthusiasm they hug each other with arms entwined.

Cassiodorus, Explanation of the Psalms 84.9, 11

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Seventh Sunday after Pentecost

This was the vision of the likeness of the Lord’s glory. And I saw and fell on my face and I heard the voice of one speaking. And he said to me, “Son of man, stand upon your feet and I will speak to you.” And the spirit came upon me and took me up and lifted me up and made me stand on my feet, and I heard him speaking to me. And he said to me, “Son of man, I am dispatching you to the house of Israel who provoke me, they and their fathers who have provoked me up to the present day. And you shall say to them, ‘This is what the Lord says!’ whether they hear or are terrified, because it is a rebellious house, and they will know that you are a prophet in their midst. And you, son of man, do not be frightened by them or confounded by them, because they will incite and gather against you, and you dwell in the midst of scorpions; do not be frightened by their words or be confounded by their face, because it is a rebellious house. And you shall tell them my words, whether they hear or are terrified, because it is a rebellious house. (Ezekiel 2:1–7 LXX)

It is a sign of great mercy that God sends him to people like these, and that He does not give up hope for their salvation; and it is also a sign of the prophet’s boldness that he does not fear to go to such as these. Now we should understand of a hard face and of an obstinate heart in accordance with what is said to the sinner: “Your neck is an iron sinew and your forehead brazen.” They are the ones who are rebuked in what follows for having a stony heart, which God says He will remove and shall put in its place a fleshly one, so that it might receive God’s precepts with their own softness.

Jerome, Commentary on Ezekiel 1.2.4

But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own country, among his own relatives, and in his own house.” Now He could do no mighty work there, except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them. And He marveled because of their unbelief. Then He went about the villages in a circuit, teaching. (Mark 6:4–6)

Can and cannot may denote something which is contrary to the will, as in the text: He could do no deed of power there because of unbelief, that is, the unbelief of those who should have received Him. For since a healing requires both faith in the patient and power in the Healer, when one of the two was absent the other was impossible. But probably this use of cannot is related to the sense of something unreasonable. For healing is not reasonable in the case of those who would afterwards be injured by unbelief. The same sense applies to the saying, The world cannot hate you, as well as to the saying, How can you speak good things, when you are evil? For how is either of these things impossible, except that it is contrary to the will? There is a somewhat similar meaning in the texts which imply that a thing impossible by nature is possible to God if He so wills—as that a man cannot be born a second time, or that the eye of a needle will not let a camel through it. For what could prevent either of these things happening, if God so willed? And besides all this, there is the absolutely impossible and inadmissible, such as what we are now examining. For as we assert that it is impossible for God to be evil or not to exist—for this would indicate weakness in God rather than strength—or for the non-existent to exist, or for two and two to make both four and ten, so it is impossible and inconceivable that the Son should do anything that the Father does not do.

Gregory Nazianzen, On the Son, 2 10–11

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Sixth Sunday after Pentecost

The Lord is good to those who wait for him;
to the soul who will seek him, it is a good thing.
And it will remain and keep quiet for the salvation of the Lord.
It is good for a man when he carries a yoke in his youth.
He will sit alone and be silent, for he lifted it up upon himself.
He will give his cheek to the one who strikes him; he will be fed with reproaches.
For the Lord will not thrust away forever.
For He who humbled will have pity, even according to the abundance of His compassion.
He did not answer from His heart, and He humbled the sons of a man. (Lam 3:25–33)

But all those who call their lands by their own names and have wood and hay and stubble in their thoughts; such as these, since they are strangers to difficulties, become aliens from the kingdom of heaven. Had they however known that “tribulation perfects patience, and patience experience, and experience hope, and hope makes not ashamed,” they would have exercised themselves, after the example of Paul. He said, “I bring my body into subjection, lest when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.” They would easily have borne the afflictions that were brought on them to prove them from time to time, if the prophetic admonition had been listened to by them: It is good for a person to take up your yoke in his youth. He shall sit alone and shall be silent, because he has taken your yoke on him. He will give his cheek to him who strikes him. He will be filled with reproaches. The Lord does not cast away forever. When He abases, He is gracious, according to the multitude of His tender mercies. For though all these things should proceed from the enemies, stripes, insults, reproaches, yet shall they avail nothing against the multitude of God's tender mercies; for we shall quickly recover from them since they are merely temporal, but God is always gracious, pouring out his tender mercies on those who please Him. Therefore, my beloved, we should not look at these temporal things but fix our attention on those that are eternal. Though affliction may come, it will have an end; though insult and persecution, yet are they nothing to the hope that is set before us. For all present matters are trifling compared with those that are future; the sufferings of this present time not being worthy to be compared with the hope that is to come. For what can be compared with the kingdom? Or what is there in comparison with life eternal? Or what is all we could give here, to that which we shall inherit yonder? For we are “heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ.” Therefore it is not right, my beloved, to consider afflictions and persecutions but the hopes that are laid up for us because of persecutions.

Athanasius, Festal Letters 13.4

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Fifth Sunday after Pentecost

And after Elihu stopped speaking, the Lord spoke to Job through a whirlwind and clouds,

“Who is this who, hiding counsel from me and constraining words in his heart,
        thus thinks to conceal them from me?
Gird your loins like a man,
        for I shall ask, and you shall answer me.
Where were you when I established the earth?
        Just tell me, if you are capable of understanding.
Who assigned its measurements, if you know?
        Or who was it who laid a measuring string upon it?
Upon what were its rings established?
        And who was it who placed a cornerstone upon it?
When the stars came into being,
        all of my angels praised me with a great voice.
And I shut up the sea with a gate
        when it rushed coming out from its mother’s womb.
And I made the cloud its clothing,
        and swaddling-clothes for it with a mist.
And I assigned limits to it,
        setting out barriers and gates.
And I said to it, ‘As far as this you shall come, and you may not go beyond.
        But your waves shall be broken within yourself.’” (Job 38:1–11 LXX)

The foundation of this earth is laid, when the first cause of firmness, the fear of God, is breathed in the secret places of the heart. This man does not as yet believe the eternal truths which he hears; when faith is given him, a foundation is now laid for the building up of the subsequent work. He now believes eternal truths, but yet fears them not; he despises the terror of the coming judgment: he boldly involves himself in sins of the flesh and of the spirit. But when the fear of future things is suddenly infused into him, in order that the edifice of a good life may rise up, the foundations are now erected. When the foundation then of a wholesome dread has been laid, and the fabric of virtue is being raised on high, it is necessary for every one to measure his strength, as he is making progress. So that though he has already begun to be great by the Divine building, he may without ceasing look back to what he was; in order that humbly remembering what he was found in merit, he may not arrogate to himself what he has been made by grace. Whence also blessed Job is now brought back to himself by the voice from above, and, that he may not dare to boast of his virtues, he is reminded of his past life. And it is said to him, Where were you when I was laying the foundations of the earth? As if the Truth openly said to the justified sinner, "Attribute not to yourself the virtues which were received from Me. Exalt not yourself against Me by reason of My own gift. Call to mind where I found you, when I laid the first foundations of virtue in you, in My fear. Call to mind where I found you, when I confirmed you in My fear. In order then that I may not destroy in you that which I have built up, you must not cease to consider with yourself, what I found in you." For whom has the Truth not found either in sins or excesses? But after this we can well preserve that which we are, if we never neglect to consider what we were. But pride is yet sometimes wont to steal secretly even into careful hearts, so that the thought of good deeds, though slight and feeble, as it advances to a great height of virtue, forgets its own infirmity, and does not recall to mind what it was in sins. Whence also Almighty God, because He sees that our weakness is increased even by salutary remedies, places limits to our very progress, that we may have some excellencies of virtues, which we have never sought for, and that we may seek after others, and yet be unable to possess them. In order that our mind, when unable to attain these things which it desires, may understand that it possesses not of itself those even which it does possess, and that, from those which are present, those which are wanting may be thought of, and that, by means of those that are profitably wanting, those goods that are present may be humbly preserved.

Gregory the Great, Morals on the Book of Job 28.20

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Fourth Sunday after Pentecost

Because this is what the Lord says: “I will also take some of the choice ones of the cedar from the top; I will nip off their hearts, and plant them on a high mountain and hang him on a high mountain of Israel, and I will plant him, and he will bring a sprout forth, and it will make fruit and become a great cedar, and every bird will stop under it, and every winged creature will stop under its shade; its branches will be restored. And all the trees of the field will know that I am the Lord, who brings a lofty tree down and raises a humble tree up and who dries up green wood and makes dry wood sprout. I, the Lord, have spoken and I will do it.” (Ezekiel 17:22–24)

There is one who dishonors the curse of God, and there is another who honors it. Undoubtedly, in the passage before us God is complaining about that one who has dishonored his curse. For when someone has been handed over to punishments to be reproved, and has not endured what was commanded, he dishonors the curse of God. But if one has endured it with all docility and blessing and thanksgiving to God, that person honors God’s curse and since he has honored the curse, he will of necessity also secure God’s blessing. [A]nd broke my covenant, with him he will die in the midst of Babylon; and not with a great force, nor with a great multitude, will Pharaoh wage war. Pharaoh is not able to provide help for one who has transgressed and dishonored God’s curse; instead, that one will die in the midst of Babylon for his own disobedience.

Then, he continues and tells what the sinners are going to suffer; and after that, he calls to mind all the more favorable things, saying: I shall take from the choice parts of the cedar, and I shall wrench one away from the summit of their heart, and I will plant it on a high mountain. After the curses which I have recounted earlier, God brings forward an assurance of blessedness and a very sweet promise at the end of the speech—because at this point, those who needed punishments had fully suffered torments for their sins. As I consider within myself and carefully ponder the meaning of this passage, I think it is giving a prophecy about the Apostles. For they are from the choice parts of the cedar, from the height, from the top; and God gave them for the sake of the world’s flourishing greenness, scraping off their hearts and planting them on an exalted mountain—Jesus Christ our Lord. And I will suspend it on a high mountain of Israel, and I will plant it, and it will bring forth shoots and bear fruit. They did produce shoots; they did bear fruit. And it will become a great cedar. Consider the greatness and the exaltation of the Church of Christ, so that you may understand that it was in accordance with the promise of God that what is said here was accomplished: And it will become a great cedar, and every bird will rest under it, and every flying thing will rest in its shade. Take up for yourself the wings of God’s Word, and you will be able to repose under this tree which has been planted on an exalted mountain.

See how the prophecy concludes on a positive note; for there follows: And all the trees of the field will recognize that I am the Lord, who makes low the tall tree. The “tall tree” is the Judaean nation, which, having been brought low, is paying the penalty for its sin, because it dared to lay a hand on our Lord Jesus Christ. And I have lifted up the humble tree. You were the “humble tree,” the cast-down tree, the tree clinging to the earth; but God has exalted you. And I dry out the green tree. The “green tree” refers to the people of the circumcision, who at one time were sprouting and flourishing, but now have wasted away with excessive desiccation. For where now is their lively speech, where is their chorus of virtues? And I cause the dry tree to flourish again. You were the “dry tree”; and the coming of Christ caused you to flourish again. I, the Lord, have spoken; and I shall do it. Since these things were said so that we too would flourish again, so that we would have the strength to bear fruit, so that we would be made into a budding tree, not a dry one, so that the axe that is announced in the Gospel would never be placed at our roots, let us pray more earnestly to Jesus Christ our Lord, along with his Father, to whom belong the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.

Origen, Homilies on Ezekiel 12.4–5

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Third Sunday after Pentecost

Then the multitude came together again, so that they could not so much as eat bread. But when His own people heard about this, they went out to lay hold of Him, for they said, “He is out of His mind.” And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, “He has Beelzebub,” and, “By the ruler of the demons He casts out demons.” So He called them to Himself and said to them in parables: “How can Satan cast out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. And if Satan has risen up against himself, and is divided, he cannot stand, but has an end. No one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. And then he will plunder his house. “Assuredly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they may utter; but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is subject to eternal condemnation”—because they said, “He has an unclean spirit.” (Mark 3:20–30)

No one who is indwelt by the Holy Spirit can imagine saying “anathema” to Jesus. No one in the Spirit would deny that Christ is the Son of God, or reject God as Creator. No believer would utter such things contrary to Scriptures, or substitute alien or sacrilegious ordinances contrary to moral principles. But if anyone shamelessly blasphemes against this same Holy Spirit, he “does not have forgiveness, either in this world or in the world to come.” For it is the Spirit who through the apostles offers testimony to Christ, who in the martyrs manifests unwavering faith, and who in the lives of the chaste embraces the admirable continence of sealed chastity. It is the Spirit who, among the whole church, guards the laws of the Lord's teaching uncorrupted and untainted, destroys heretics, corrects those in error, reproves unbelievers, reveals impostors, and corrects the wicked.

Novatian, The Trinity 29

He is the subject, not the object, of hallowing, apportioning, participating, filling, sustaining. We share in him; he shares in nothing. He is our inheritance, he is glorified, counted together with Father and Son. He is a dire warning to us, the “finger of God.” The Spirit is, like God, a “fire.” This means that the Holy Spirit is of the same essential nature as the Father. The Spirit is the very One who created us and creates us anew through baptism and resurrection. The Spirit knows all things, teaches all things, moves where and when and as strongly as he wills. He leads, speaks, sends, and separates those who are vexed and tempted. He reveals, illumines, gives life, or better said, he is himself light and life. He makes us his temple, he sanctifies, he makes us complete. He both goes before baptism and follows after it. All that the Godhead actively performs, the Spirit performs.

Gregory of Nazianzus, Oration 31, “On the Holy Spirit” 29

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Second Sunday after Pentecost

Keep the Sabbath day to sanctify it, the way the Lord your God commanded you. Six days you shall work and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. You shall not do any work on it, you and your sons and your daughter, your servant and your female servant, your bull and your draft animal, and any of your livestock, the sojourner who lives near with you; for in six days the Lord made both the heavens and the earth and the sea and all the things in them, that your servant and your female servant might rest, just as you also. And you shall remember that you were a household slave in the land of Egypt and the Lord your God led you out from that place with a strong hand and with a mighty arm; on account of this, the Lord your God appointed you; therefore keep the Sabbath day and sanctify it. (Deut 5:12–15)

And He said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath.” (Mark 2:27–2)

The third precept is: Remember to keep holy the Sabbath day. In this third commandment is suggested a certain idea of freedom, a repose of the heart or tranquillity of the mind which a good conscience effects. Indeed, sanctification is there because the Spirit of God dwells there. Now look at the freedom or repose; our Lord says: Upon whom shall I rest but upon the man who is humble and peaceable, and who trembles at my words? Therefore, restless souls turn away from the Holy Ghost. Lovers of strife, authors of calumnies, devotees of quarrels rather than of charity, by their uneasiness they do not admit to themselves the repose of a spiritual sabbath. Men do not observe a spiritual sabbath unless they devote themselves to earthly occupations so moderately that they still engage in reading and prayer, at least frequently, if not always. As that Apostle says: Be diligent in reading and in teaching; and again: Pray without ceasing. Men of this kind honor the sabbath in a spiritual manner. However, restless souls are continually involved in earthly activity, and of them it is written: “The burdens of the world have made them miserable.” They are unable to have a sabbath, that is, repose. In reply to their restlessness, it is said that they should have, as it were, a sabbath in their heart and the sanctification of the Spirit of God: Be swift to hear, it says, but slow to answer. Cease your uneasiness, let there not be a tumult in your heart because of phantoms flying about to corrupt you, disturbing and pricking you like flies. You are to realize that God is saying to you: Desist! and confess I am God. By your restlessness you do not want to be still; blinded by the corruption of your contentions you demand to see what you cannot. Notice the opposite third plague which is contrary to this commandment. Sciniphs sprang up out of the mud in the land of Egypt, very tiny flies, exceedingly restless, flying around in confusion, rushing into one’s eyes, not allowing a man to rest, coming back while they are being driven away, returning again even when expelled. Restless men are like these little flies, when they refuse to observe the sabbath in a spiritual manner, that is, to be zealous for good works and to engage in reading or prayer. Doubtless, such are the phantoms of quarrelsome hearts; just as the human body is tormented by those flies, so their hearts are disturbed and pricked by opposing thoughts. Keep the commandment, but guard against the plague.

Caesarius of Arles, Sermon 100.4