Ezekiel 3:14

Ver. 14. The Spirit also lifted me up, and took me away, and I went embittered in the indignation of my spirit. LXX: And the spirit lifted me up, and took me, and I went up in the impetuosity of my spirit. After being lifted up by the spirit, and taken by it, then he went in the indignation and bitterness of his spirit, understanding the indignation of God, and what the vision signified, pondering in his mind. Whether he was carried up on the heights by the impetuosity of his own spirit, desiring to go where the Lord commanded. But by 'his spirit' we understand not the Holy Spirit, but the spirit of man, of which it is said in many places, as in Isaiah: At night my spirit rises within me, O God (Isa. XXVI, 9). And the prophet is transported (not, as some think, in spirit, but) in his own body, as we read of Habakkuk according to Theodotion (Dan. XIV).

So Ahab, that wicked king, when rebuked by the prophet and hearing the divine sentence against himself, was terrified and weighed down with great grief, so that the Lord said to his prophet: "Have you not seen how Ahab has humbled himself before me? Because therefore he has humbled himself for my sake, I will not bring evil in his days." In these words of the Lord we must consider how pleasing to him is the grief of bitterness in his elect who fear to lose the Lord, if repentance so pleased him even in a reprobate who feared to lose the present world? Or how pleasing to him is voluntary affliction for sins in those who please him, if this pleased him even temporarily in one who displeased him? But we must know that no one can do these things from the whole heart out of love for the almighty Lord except one whose soul the Holy Spirit has taken hold of. For when is a man able by his own strength to despise earthly things, to love heavenly things, to seek peace with God, to engage in strife with himself, to reprove himself in thought, and to punish himself with groans? No one can do these things except one whom divine grace has strengthened.

"For the hand of the Lord was with me, strengthening me." We cannot perfectly rise to good things unless the Spirit both lifts us up by going before and strengthens us by following after. But we must ask, since it was written above concerning the scroll that he had received: "And it became in my mouth sweet like honey," for what reason is it said afterwards: "I went away bitter in the indignation of my spirit"? For it is indeed very strange if sweetness and bitterness should come together. But according to the sense given above, we must understand that when the word of God has begun to be sweet in the mouth of someone's heart, without doubt his soul becomes bitter against himself. For the more subtly he learns in it how he ought to reproach himself, the more harshly he chastises himself through the bitterness of repentance, since he displeases himself all the more, the more he sees in the sacred volume about almighty God that he should love. But because man cannot advance to these things by his own strength, it is rightly now said: "The hand of the Lord was with me, strengthening me." For the hand of the Lord in sacred Scripture is sometimes also called the only-begotten Son, because all things were made through him. And concerning his ascension the almighty Father speaks through Moses, saying: "I will raise my hand to heaven." This hand, which strengthens the hearts of his elect, said to the disciples: "Without me you can do nothing." In everything therefore that we think, in everything that we do, we must always pray that we may think by his inspiration and act by his help, who lives and reigns with the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God forever and ever. Amen.

But we must ask, since the spirit does not elevate the mind unless it has taken hold of it, why did it first elevate and afterward is said to have taken hold? But in this place "taken hold" means "held firmly." For there are some whom it elevates but does not take hold of, whose understanding indeed flashes forth to spiritual things, yet whose life, remaining in carnal deeds, does not accord with their understanding. For Balaam was elevated by the spirit of prophecy, but was not taken hold of, because he was able to foresee truly things far in the future, and yet was unwilling to separate his mind from earthly desires. But because the holy prophet was elevated in knowledge and likewise taken hold of in his life, let us now hear in what manner he proceeds to preach: "And I went away bitter in the indignation of my spirit." Ponder, dearest brothers, for whom the gifts of the Holy Spirit had increased, why he departed embittered? Does every heart which the same Spirit takes up become embittered in the indignation of his spirit? Hence it must be known that for one to whom the present life is still sweet, even if he seems to speak the word of God, he is not an elevated and taken-up preacher. For the mind which the Holy Spirit fills, He moves into bitterness toward temporal things through delight in eternal things. For it is sweet to be among human affairs, but only for one who has not yet tasted any joys from heavenly things, because the less one understands eternal things, the more pleasantly one rests in temporal things. But if anyone has already tasted with the mouth of the heart what that sweetness of heavenly rewards is, what those hymn-singing choirs of angels are, what the incomprehensible vision of the Holy Trinity is, for this one the sweeter that becomes which he sees within, the more everything he endures outwardly turns to bitterness. […]

But it should be known that the more hearers advance in charity and understanding, the greater grace of the Spirit is given to the holy preachers. Hence, when the prophet had first said: "The spirit took me up, and I heard behind me the voice of a great commotion," after the voice of the great commotion of wings and wheels, and again of a great commotion, he immediately adds: "The spirit also lifted me up and took me." Why does he who had said he was already taken up by the spirit narrate that he was again elevated and taken up? But the mind of preachers advances to higher things when through them the senses of their hearers are moved to desire for almighty God. These holy preachers advance for this reason: that through their ministry the gifts of grace may be multiplied in holy Church, as it is written of this same holy Church: "Making its channels drunk, multiply its generations; in its drops it shall rejoice when it springs forth." For the channels of the Church are the holy preachers, who water the earth of our heart. But when the channels are made drunk, the generations of the Church are multiplied, because when preachers receive a more abundant grace of the spirit, the number of the faithful increases. Holy Church rejoices in its drops. For in a drop, water falls from the roof to the earth, which had fallen from heaven onto the roof. Now the roof of the Church is the holy preachers, who protect us by interceding and fortifying us with admonitions. But because their heart is divinely poured upon in preaching, water comes, as it were, from heaven onto the roof. Because we are watered by their words, water flows down, as it were, from the roof to the earth. Therefore holy Church, when it springs forth, rejoices in its drops, because when it is born in faith and good works, it considers the gifts it has received and exults in the words of preachers. […]