A Homily for the Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost

+ “Do not be inebriated with wine in which is debauchery, but be filled with the Holy Ghost.” The parallel here is stark. One who is inebriated with wine is not able to think correctly: his passions dominate and control his every act. His every focus is on getting whatever seems pleasurable now. There is no thought for the consequences, temporal let alone eternal. These acts are in absolute contradiction to the workings of the Holy Ghost: yet by making the comparison the Apostle allures to aspects which can in fact be spoken of as being in common.

For just as the inebriated will only focus on the immediate, so he who is filled with the Holy Ghost will focus on eternity. As wine directs all man’s attention to himself, so the Holy Ghost will direct all his attention onto the other, to God and to his neighbour – even if that sometimes means allowing oneself some time to recuperate strength. We can, moreover, take the parallel further: as the one inebriated is incapacitated in his use of reason, so the one filled with the Holy Ghost will allow Himself to be drawn beyond the capacity of his reason to follow the inspirations of God.

Apostolic example, moreover, shows us that our being filled with the Holy Ghost can look to others like being drunk. The Apostles were accused of being drunk on the morning of Pentecost for reason of their fervour in preaching Christ Crucified. But they had had no wine for it was only the third hour of the day (Acts 2:12-14,22-24). Similarly, at Lauds each ferial Monday, we sing in the hymn “Let Christ be our food, and our drink be faith: may we joyfully drink the sober inebriation of the Spirit.”

“Sober inebriation” provides us an image that can fill us with no end of material to contemplate, but it is all the more complete when it is considered within the context of the entire hymn which is filled with the burning power of faith to overcome sin and vice. It is filled with a seeking for the purity and truth with which to fulfill the commands of Christ in sincerity and chastity. How different is the inebriation of the Spirit to that of wine! Truly then will He lead and rule our minds and hearts.

Our Lord, providing an example of how to be filled with the Holy Ghost, rebukes the ruler in Caphernaum for his refusing to believe Christ is the Son of the Living God, unless he sees signs and wonders. Even on hearing the news that his son had recovered – he still needed to confirm with his servants it was actually related to the words of Our Lord. This scepticism in demanding tests is not of God. Signs as those he wanted to see can be worked by the devil. Scripture bears witness to this in relating how Pharaoh’s wise men worked similar marvels to those of Moses on his first demands on behalf of God to let His people go and worship in the wilderness (cf. Exodus 7:11-12). Whilst these signs and marvels can aid faith, they cannot be made the content of our faith: this can only be in God Himself alone.

Inebriation with the Holy Ghost, therefore, excludes many things from our attention as not coming from God, or as giving precedence to the works of God over God Himself. This is different from a careful examination of God’s works so as to develop a greater depth of wonder at the Triune God, and thereby, a greater love. Inquiry born from faith, and moving to love, correcting our sin and vices according to the will of God, is not in vain. Many great saints have been filled with the Holy Ghost to write of God such that we can learn from them the nature of God. Such is the teaching of St Benedict to his monks: “The books to be read at Matins shall be the inspired Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, and also the commentaries on them which have been made by well known and orthodox Catholic Fathers” (RB ch. 9). But there are many other works besides which lead us on “the straight road to our Creator” (RB ch. 73).

Being nourished with the example and teaching of the saints who are filled with the Holy Ghost and all they have had to do in the face of evil around them, we can realise of the lengths to which we must go to hold on to the Catholic and Apostolic faith. For this is the content of that sober inebriation which comes from the Holy Ghost. Not only should our faith be held onto in spite of every adversity which is placed before us, but that it should be visible through our life of charity and hope in the Resurrection where all suffering is destroyed. +
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