Twenty-ninth meditation. The descent of the Holy Ghost

First point.

Chosen souls, enter humbly into the cenacle, where the glorious Virgin, the holy apostles, the faithful disciples, and the devout women are assembled in prayer, in recollection, in faith, in hope, expecting their good Master to fulfil His promise, and that you all may be clothed with virtue from on high. Turn away from distractions, in order to receive this perfect gift from the Father of lights, for God will never pour upon you His mercies if He does not find you interiorly recollected and separated from the world. Do you not see that this happy company, though in Jemsalem, remains retired, as it were, in a desert?

Second point.

Ten days after Our Saviour had ascended on high, and after His beloved had been prepared by silence, fraternity, and prayer, suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a mighty wind. It filled the whole house in which they were assembled, and there appeared to them tongues, as it were of fire, that sat upon every one of them. Oh! even in our own day, God imparts His gifts. We have only to desire them in order to receive them.

Third point.

Reflect how greatly the eternal Father loves the holy Church, since He has enriched it with His own treasures. Not satisfied with giving it His Son and His image,

He still further bestows upon it His Holy Spirit, so that, as the Holy Ghost overshadowed the Virgin, of whose pure blood Jesus was to be born, in order to become the Father of the Church, so in like manner does the Holy Spirit descend to embrace it, lately sprung from the blood of the Saviour.

Affections.

Oh! who will give me the grace to maintain interior peace, far from the distractions of the world, so that I may in silence expect the coming of the Holy Ghost? O blessed Virgin! O glorious apostles! obtain for me your devotion, that I may persevere in prayer in order that, should Our Lord delay to come, I may await in patience. I know, O my God! that Thou wilt not leave me an orphan, but if I continue to obey Thee, Thou wilt send me Thy Spirit of truth.

Come, Holy Spirit, fill our hearts with the fire of Thy charity. Come, Father of the poor, come, Giver of gifts, Light of hearts! O sweet J esus, wishing to promulgate Thy law, Thou didst cast upon Thy disciples tongues of fire, showing clearly thereby that evangelical preaching is wholly destined for the inflaming of hearts with heavenly love. O Holy Spirit, who didst bring fire upon earth, what dost Thou wish except that it may burn? Once more I conjure Thee to fill my heart with the fire of Thy charity, of that charity, I repeat, which endures all things, which believes all things, and which is not envious.

O holy Church of the living God, how rich you are*! The blessed laborers in your vineyard are filled with the Holy Spirit. He transforms them into fire, love, and zeal*

They are vessels full of the wine of the Spouse, and so disgusted with terrestrial things, that they consider themselves happy to live ever after in anguish, in persecution, and in a state of death for their dear Jesus. O Holy Spirit! if I receive Thee without resistance, doubtless Thou wilt produce within me great effects. I shall speak only of the marvels of God; I shall seek but His glory and my own abasement; I shall esteem myself favored to suffer opprobrium for the name of the Lord,