Sixth Wednesday of Easter
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- Written by Fr. Wiseman Op
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“Do you not know that the holy disciples had more sense and knowledge of Him after the Master departed than before? Because they so delighted themselves in His humanity that they did not seek any more. But after His presence was parted, they gave themselves to understanding and knowing His goodness. And therefore First Truth said, ‘It is necessary that I go, otherwise the Paraclete would not come to you.’ So I say to you, there is need that I left you, in order that you give yourselves to seek God in truth and not with a means. I tell you that you will have better than before, entering within yourselves to ponder the words and the doctrine which were given you. In this way you will receive the plentitude of grace through that grace of God.” St. Catherine of Siena, Letter 164 to Monna Melina and other women who missed her presence.
“Then He promises that they will be instructed by the coming of the Holy Spirit, who will teach them all truth. For since the Holy Spirit is from Truth, it is appropriate that the Spirit teach the truth, and make those He teaches like the one who sent Him. He says, all the truth, that is, the truth of the faith. He will teach them to have a better understanding of this truth in this life, and a fullness of understanding in eternal life, where we will know as we are known (cf 1 Cor 13:12)… (2102)
Now He excludes a difficulty which could have arisen. If the Holy Spirit will teach them, it seems that He is greater than Christ. This is not true, because the Spirit will teach them by the power of the Father and the Son, for He will not speak from Himself, but from Me, because He will be from Me. Just as the Son does not act from Himself but from the Father, so the Holy Spirit, because He is from another, that is, from the Father and the Son, will not speak from Himself, but whatever He will hear by receiving knowledge as well as His essence from eternity, He will speak, not in a bodily way but by enlightening your minds from within: ‘I will bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her’ (Hos 2:14); ‘Let me hear what God the Lord will speak’ (Ps 85:8) (2103).
Since the Holy Spirit hears from eternity, why does he say He will hear? We should say to this that eternity includes all time. Consequently, the Holy Spirit, who hears from all eternity, is said to hear in the present, in the past, and in the future… (2104).
St. Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on the Gospel of St. John, Part II, trans. James A. Weisheipl, O.P. and Fabian Larcher, O.P. (Petersham, MA: St. Bede Publications), 443-444.
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