1956 Then when he says, whom the Father will send in my name , he refers to the mission of the Spirit. We should not think the Spirit comes by a local motion, but rather by being in them in a new way in which he was not before: "When you send forth your Spirit, they are created," that is, with a spiritual existence (Ps 104:30). Notice that the Holy Spirit is sent by the Father and the Son. To show this Christ sometimes says that the Father sends him, as he does here; and he sometimes says that he himself sends him, "I will send him to you" (16:7). Yet Christ never says that the Spirit is sent by the Father without mentioning himself. So he says here, whom the Father will send in my name . Nor does Christ say that the Spirit is sent by himself, the Son, without mentioning the Father: "the Paraclete, whom I shall send to you from the Father" (15:26).
1957 Why does he say, in my name ? Will the Holy Spirit be called the Son? One could answer that this was said for the reason that the Holy Spirit was given to the faithful when they invoked the name of Christ. But it is better to say that just as the Son comes in the name of the Father ‑ "I have come in my Father's name" ‑ so the Holy Spirit comes in the name of the Son. Now the Son comes in the name of the Father not because he is the Father, but because he is the Son of the Father. In a similar way, the Holy Spirit comes in the name of the Son not because he was to be called the Son, but because he is the Spirit of the Son: "Any one who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him" (Rom 8:9); "God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts" (Gal 4:6), because he is the Spirit of his Son, and not because he was to be called the Son: "he predestined [them] to be conformed to the image of his Son" (Rom 8:29). The basis for this is the consubstantiality of the Son with the Father and of the Holy Spirit with the Son.
Further, just as the Son, coming in the name of the Father, subjects his faithful to the Father ‑ "and has made them a kingdom and priests to our God" (Rev 5:10) ‑ so the Holy Spirit conforms us to the Son because he adopts us as children of God: You have received the spirit of adoption, by which we cry out 'Abba!' Father" [Rom 8:15]. [47]
1958 Next he mentions the effect of the Holy Spirit, saying, he will teach you all things . Just as the effect of the mission of the Son was to lead us to the Father, so the effect of the mission of the Holy Spirit is to lead the faithful to the Son. Now the Son, once he is begotten Wisdom, is Truth itself: "I am the way, and the truth, and the life" (14:6). And so the effect of this kind of mission [of the Spirit] is to make us sharers in the divine wisdom and knowers of the truth. The Son, since he is the Word, gives teaching to us; but the Holy Spirit enables us to grasp it.
He says, he will teach you all things , because no matter what a person may teach by his exterior actions, he will have no effect unless the Holy Spirit gives an understanding from within. For unless the Spirit is present to the heart of the listener, the words of the teacher will be useless: "The breath of the Almighty makes him understand" (Job 32:8). This is true even to the extent that the Son himself, speaking by means of his human nature, is not successful unless he works from within by the Holy Spirit.
1959 We read before that "Every one who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me" (6:45). Here he is expanding on this, because one does not learn without the Holy Spirit teaching. He is saying in effect: one who receives the Holy Spirit from the Father and the Son knows the Father and the Son and comes to them. The Spirit makes us know all things by inspiring us from within, by directing us and lifting us up to spiritual things. Just as one whose sense of taste is tainted does not have a true knowledge of flavors, so one who is tainted by love of the world cannot taste divine things: "The sensual man does not perceive those things of the Spirit of God" [1 Cor 2:14].
1960 Since to remind a person of something is the task of an inferior, like an agent in divine affairs, shall we say that the Holy Spirit, who brings things to our mind, is inferior to us? According to Gregory, we should say that the Holy Spirit is said to bring things to our remembrance not as though he brought us knowledge from below, but because in a hidden way he aids our ability to know. [48] Or, one could say the Spirit teaches because he makes us share in the wisdom of the Son; and he brings things to our remembrance because, being love, he incites us. Or, the Spirit will bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you , that is, he will recall them to your memory: "All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord" (Ps 22:27).
We should notice that of all the things Christ said to his disciples, some were not understood, and others were not remembered. Thus our Lord says, he will teach you all things , which you cannot now understand, and bring to your remembrance all that you cannot remember. How could John the Evangelist after forty years have remembered all the sayings of Christ he wrote in his Gospel unless the Holy Spirit had brought them to his mind?
LECTURE 7
27a "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you."
1961 Above, our Lord promised his disciples what they would gain from the presence of the Holy Spirit. Here he promises them a gift they will obtain from his own coming and presence.
Note that if we consider the characteristic feature of the persons of the Son and the Holy Spirit, our Lord seems to interchange their gifts. Since the Son is the Word, it seems that the gifts of wisdom and knowledge are appropriate to him. But peace is appropriate, appropriated, to the Holy Spirit, since he is love, which the cause of peace. Nevertheless, because the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of the Son, and what the Holy Spirit gives he has from the Son, our Lord here attributes this gift of knowledge to the Holy Spirit, saying, he will teach you all things . Yet, this gift is still appropriate to the Son. And because the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Son, actions which are appropriate to the Holy Spirit are attributed to the Son. This is the reason why Christ attributes peace to himself, saying, Peace I leave with you . First, he promises his gift of peace, which he is leaving; secondly, he distinguishes this peace from the peace of the world.
1962 He says, Peace I leave with you . Peace is nothing else than the tranquillity arising from order, for things are said to have peace when their order remains undisturbed. In a human being there is a threefold order: that of a person to himself; of a person to God; and of a person to his neighbor. Thus, the human person can enjoy a threefold peace. One peace is interior, when he is at peace with himself, and his faculties are not unsettled: Great peace have those who love your law" (Ps 119:165). Another peace is peace with God, when one is entirely conformed to his direction: "Since we are justified by faith, let us have peace with God" (Rom 5:1). The third peace is with our neighbor: "Strive for peace with all men" (Heb 12:14).
There are three things which have to be put in order within us: the intellect, the will and sense appetency. The will should be directed by the mind or reason, and sense appetency should be directed by the intellect and will. Accordingly, Augustine, in his The Words of our Lord, describes the peace of the saints by saying: "Peace is a calmness of mind, a tranquillity of soul, a simplicity of heart, a bond of love and a fellowship of charity." [49] Calmness of mind refers to our reason, which should be free, not tied down, nor absorbed by disordered affections; tranquillity of soul refers to our sense appetency, which should not be harassed by our emotional states; simplicity of heart refers to our will, which should be entirely set toward God, its object; the bond of love refers to our neighbor; and the fellowship of charity to God. The saints have this peace now, and will have it in the future. But here it is imperfect because we cannot have an undisturbed peace either with ourselves, or with God, or with our neighbor. We will enjoy it perfectly in the future, when we reign without an enemy and there can never be conflicts.
Our Lord here promises us each kind of peace. The first kind when he says, Peace I leave with you , that is, in this world, so that you can conquer the enemy and love each other. This is a kind of covenant established by Christ which we should keep: "A covenant of peace was established with him" (Si 45:24). As Augustine says, one can not gain the inheritance of the Lord who is unwilling to observe his covenant, nor can he have a union with Christ if he lives in strife with a Christian. [50] He promises the second kind of peace when he says, my peace I give to you , that is, in the future: "I will bring her," the heavenly Jerusalem, "a river of peace" [Is 66:12].
1963 Since whether in this world or in our native land, all the peace possessed by the saints comes to them through Christ - "in me you shall have peace" [16:33] ‑ why does our Lord, when speaking of the peace of the saints in this life not say, "my peace I give to you," instead of reserving this for the peace of our native land? We should say that each peace, of the present and of the future, is a peace of Christ. But our present peace is the peace of Christ because he is only its author. The future peace is the peace of Christ both because he is its author and because it is a peace such as he possesses it. He always had this second kind of peace, because he was always without [interior] conflict. Our present peace, as was said, is not without conflict, and although Christ is its author, he does not possess it this way. This explanation makes use of the distinction between the peace of this time and the peace of eternity. According to Augustine, both statements can refer to the peace of this time. Then Christ is saying, Peace I leave with you , by my example, but my peace I give to you , by my power and strength.
1964 Then when he says, not as the world gives do I give to you , he distinguishes this peace from the peace of the world. The peace of the saints is different from the peace of the world in three ways. First, the purpose of each is different. Temporal peace is directed to the quiet and calm enjoyment of temporal things, with the result that it sometimes helps a person to sin: "They live in strife due to ignorance, and they call such great evils peace" (Wis 14:22). But the peace of the saints is directed to eternal goods. The meaning, therefore is: not as the world gives do I give to you , that is, not for the same end. The world gives peace so exterior goods can be possessed undisturbed; but I give peace so that you can obtain eternal things.
They also differ as the pretended or deceitful from the true, because the peace of the world is a pretended peace since it is only on the outside: "The wicked... who speak peace with their neighbors, while mischief is in their hearts" (Ps 27:3). But the peace of Christ is true, because it is both on the outside and the inside. So the meaning is, not as the world gives do I give to you , that is, I do not give a pretended peace, as the world does, but true peace. Thirdly, they differ in perfection, because the peace of the world is imperfect since it is not concerned with the interior tranquillity of a person but only with externals. "There is no peace, says my God, for the wicked" (Is 57:21). But the peace of Christ brings tranquillity both within and without. "Great peace have those who love your law" (Ps 119:165). So the meaning is: not as the world gives , that is, not such an imperfect peace.
LECTURE 8
27b "Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. 28 You heard me say to you, 'I go away, and I will come to you.' If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I go to the Father, [who is greater than I]: for the Father is greater than I. 29 And now I have told you before it takes place, so that when it does take place, you may believe. 30 I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no power over me; 31 but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. Rise, let us go hence." [51]
1965 Above, our Lord consoled his disciples by mentioning what directly affected them: he promised them that they could approach the Father, that the Holy Spirit would come, and that he himself would return. Here he consoles them by mentioning what directly concerns himself. These give them two reasons for being consoled: one is from the fruit which will follow Christ's leaving; the other is from the reason for his death (v 30).
1966 Now the fruit which would follow from Christ's leaving would be such things as his exaltation, which would console them. For it is usual among friends that when one departs to go to his exaltation, the others feel less desolate. And so our Lord mentions this reason for their consolation. First, he casts a certain uneasiness from their hearts; secondly, he recalls something which somewhat consoled them, yet partly troubled them; thirdly, he gives a reason which will completely console them; fourthly, he answers an unspoken question.
1967 He casts out uneasiness from their hearts when he says, Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid . Here, trouble means sadness, and being afraid refers to fear. Sadness and fear are similar in that both are concerned with an evil. Yet they are different because sadness is over an evil which is present, while fear is over an evil which is to come. Our Lord said, Let not your hearts be troubled , about evil which is present: "For the righteous will never be moved" (Ps 112:6). Neither let them be afraid , of what is future: "Who are you that you are afraid of man who dies?" (Is 51:12), which refers to human fear, for he does not reject divine fear.
1968 Then when he says, You heard me say to you, I go away , they were troubled because he was leaving them. But they were somewhat consoled because he added, and I will come to you . This did not completely console them because they were afraid that perhaps in the meantime, when the shepherd was gone, the wolf would attack the flock, according to "Strike the shepherd, that the sheep may be scattered" (Zech 13:7). Thus he said to them, Let not your hearts be troubled because I go away, neither let them be afraid because I will come to you .
He goes by his own power, by dying; and he comes by arising: "The Son of man will be delivered to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death... and he will rise on the third day" [Mt 20:18]. Again, he went by his ascension: "The beautiful one in his robe, walking in the greatness of his strength" [Is 63:1]; and he will come to judge: "They will see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory" (Lk 21:27).