Evenings With Bede are taken from the Sunday solemn Plainsong Evensong services of Saint Paul’s, New Smyrna Beach, Fla., where I am Rector. The format is a Scripture passage, then a passage of commentary from the Venerable S. Bede, then a short homily by yours truly expounding upon both. The audio for all three is found above. The text of the two passages is found below.

A Lesson from the Gospel according to S. John 15.26

Jesus taught the disciples in the Upper Room, saying “When the Counselor comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness to me; and you also are witnesses, because you have been with me from the beginning. I have said all this to you to keep you from falling away. They will put you out of the synagogues; indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God. And they will do this because they have not known the Father, nor me. But I have said these things to you, that when their hour comes you may remember that I told you of them.”

A Lesson from a Homily by the Venerable S. Bede (Homily II.16)

The Holy Spirit, upon His coming, bore witness concerning the Lord. Breathing into the hearts of the disciples, He revealed to them by His bright light everything about which mortals were to have knowledge concerning the Lord, namely, that He was equal and of the same substance with the Father before the ages; that He became of the same substance as we at the end of the ages; that He was born of a virgin and lived in the world without sin; that He went forth from the world when He wished and by the kind of death that He wished; that by rising from the dead He truly destroyed death and raised up the true flesh in which He had suffered, and at His Ascension took it up into heaven, and established it at the Right Hand of His Father’s glory; that all the writings of the prophets bear witness to Him; that the confession of His Name was to be extended even to the ends of the earth, and that the rest of the mysteries of His Father were unlocked for His disciples by the testimony of the Holy Spirit. Nor was whatever they correctly discerned conceded to them alone by the gift of the Spirit, but also to all who believe in the Lord through their word. And Jesus says, “He will bear witness to me; and you also are witnesses.” Once they had put aside their initial fear, they ministered outwardly by telling others what they had received inwardly by the Spirit’s teaching. The Spirit Himself both illumined their hearts by knowledge of the truth, and by the preeminence of His power roused them to teach what they knew. Hence in Isaiah the Spirit is rightly called “of strength and knowledge.” He is indeed the Spirit of knowledge, since it is by His help that we rightly acknowledge what we must do and even think; He is also the Spirit of strength, since it is by His help that we receive the strength to carry out what we know well that we should do, lest we be driven away by some adversity from the good deeds we have begun.

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