WDTPRS – Pentecost Sunday – Vetus Ordo: Savvy?

In Acts 2 Peter addressed the crowds and unfolded to them the ramifications of what had been done to Christ and the consequences of his Resurrection in the light of the descent of the Holy Spirit like illuminating tongues of fire.

The darkness of their minds and hearts was dispelled as their eyes were opened and they saw and they stepped into the light of the Light from Light.

At Easter man was redeemed by Christ.  At Pentecost the redeemed were claimed by the Spirit.

The Collect for Pentecost Sunday sings as follows:

Deus, qui hodierna die
corda fidelium Sancti Spiritus illustratione docuisti:
da nobis in eodem Spiritu recta sapere,
et de eius semper consolatione gaudere.

This ancient prayer, from at least the time of the Liber sacramentorum Gellonensis and probably older, survived the Consilium’s expert scalpels to live in the Novus Ordo only as the Collect for a Votive Mass of the Holy Spirit. It is also recited after the Veni Sancte Spiritus.

That sapio (infinitive sapere) means firstly “to taste, savor; to have a taste or flavor of a thing”. Logically, it is extended to “to know, understand a thing”.  It is often paired in literature with the adverb recte, “rightly”, when wisdom is indicated.  Think of the English word “insipid” (the sap- shifts to sip-) for something without flavor as well as a person without taste or wisdom.  A homo sapiens is someone of “good taste”, who knows the savor of life, as it were.  Sapiens is thus connected with Greek sophos, or “wise”, or “sage” which is also a savory herb.  Sapientia, “Wisdom”, is a figure for the Holy Spirit as well as the greatest of His Gifts.  The Holy Spirit, Parácletus, is our Counselor, leading us rightly, and He is Comforter, bringing us consolation.

LITERAL TRANSLATION:
O God, who on this day
taught the hearts of the faithful by the light of the Holy Spirit,
grant to us, in the same Spirit to know/savor things that are right,
and always to rejoice in His consolation.

That hodierna die connects this oration directly with similar language on Easter, showing the continuity between them.  Haec est dies quam fecit Dominus!

I love that play of meanings in sapere.  We know and we savor what we know. We relish what is right.  We taste and see.  Savvy?

O taste and see that the Lord is good;
happy are those who take refuge in him (Ps 34:8).

The theme of sight is also thrilling within the Collect.

The Holy Spirit brought illustratio to the “hearts of the faithful”.

The Apostles were believers but the multitudes there, around the Temple precincts during the festival of Shevuoth, were not.  They came to believe from preaching.  They became part of the fideles as their hearts were illuminated by grace from the Holy Spirit and teaching from Peter informed their minds.  The illumination received allowed them to savor and savvy even deeper the words Peter preached.  In ancient rhetoric descriptive speech brought vivid images to the “eyes” of the listeners.  This vivid presentation, such as what Spirit-breathed Peter thunders – in the Temple – imparts evidentia (note the root – vid– “to see”) in his argument, illustratio (note the root – lux – “light”).  They had to know something before they could believe it.  As they were illuminated, they believed.  When they believed, they then understood the deeper meaning of what Peter explained and, with the movement of grace, they became believers in the deeper sense.  As we hear in Acts 2, they were “added”.  There is an Augustinian concept expressed in Latin, nisi credideritis non intelligetis… unless you will have first believed you will not understand.

With illustratione ringing in your ear, we are then struck consolatione.  Consolatio is the Third Person of the Trinity, just as He is Illustratio. The Gospel reading today say in John 14:26s:

Paráclitus autem Spíritus Sanctus, quem mittet Pater in nómine meo, ille vos docébit ómnia … But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything….

In the Latin Vulgate the Lord calls the Holy Spirit the “Paraclitus”, from the Greek parákletos (para “beside” + kaleo “call”), which is Counselor, Advocate, one who stands by you and intercedes.   In Matthew 2:18 and 5:4 we have two uses of the passive form of the same verb ????????. Both times, the context is mourning.  The meaning is ‘to be comforted’. The Hebrew equivalent of parakletos, menahhem, means “comforter”.   The RSV version translates parákletos as “Counselor”.  The KJV says “Comforter”.   Parákletos is a multi-layered term and title.   Across many different translations, “Comforter” is strongly represented.  English “Comforter” is rooted in Latin fortis, “strong”.  That points to the role of the Spirit in the Sacrament of Confirmation.   A “Counselor” or Advocate” makes you and your case stronger.  The Spirit of Truth is the Strengthener, the Fortifier.  Hence, it was to the advantage of the disciples that the Lord should depart and the Fortifier Comforter Advocate would come!   It is to our advantage that we can be confirmed with the Holy Spirit as so many are at this time around Pentecost.

You would do well in this grace-filled time of the Octave of Pentecost, to make a review of the effects of the Sacrament Confirmation.  There are good points in the Catechism of the Catholic Church as well as many other venerable and still useful compendia.  I’m certain that you will find them both illuminating and consoling