The Spirit and the Bride

Dom Anscar Vonier, Abbot of Buckfast, was among England’s greatest homilists and theologians of the early twentieth century. His works include "A Key to the Doctrine of the Eucharist" and "The Personality of Christ." In this work of remarkable eloquence, Abbot Vonier explores the reality of the Church as a permanent sign of the Holy Spirit dwelling on Earth. Through a sustained reflection on the miracle of Pentecost, Vonier shows that the same presence of the Spirit, revealed in miracles on that day, abides in the Church even now—a truth clearly seen in the Church’s power to heal the sins of her members, as “a function of Christ’s risen life.” Vonier’s powerful, Biblical theology of the Church features impressively clear explanations of continuity and change in the Church, renewal, liturgy, and the sacramental life, which anticipate many of the great theological insights that would later animate the Second Vatican Council. He writes, “We are all plunged into one river of life, the Spirit; we all drink the same cup of life, the Spirit; through the Spirit we are as one life. Such unity never existed before: it is the miracle of Pentecost, a miracle that will last through all eternity.”