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From the Second Reading
of the Office of Readings, Pentecost
From the treatise
Against Heresies by Saint Irenaeus, bishop
The sending of the
Holy Spirit
The Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of
counsel and strength, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of God came down
upon the Lord, and the Lord in turn gave this Spirit to his Church, sending the
Advocate from heaven into all the world into which, according to his own words,
the devil too had been cast down like lightning.
If we are not to be scorched and made unfruitful, we need
the dew of God. Since we have our accuser, we need an advocate as well. And so
the Lord in his pity for man, who had fallen into the hands of brigands, having
himself bound up his wounds and left for his care two coins bearing the royal
image, entrusted him to the Holy Spirit. Now, through the Spirit, the image and
inscription of the Father and the Son have been given to us, and it is our duty
to use the coin committed to our charge and make it yield a rich profit for the
Lord.
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