The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1914-05-30
THE DESCENT OF THE HOLY
~ NJ
GHOST.

The apostles were assembled to-
gether in one place, awaiting in
recollection and prayer the effect of
the promises of Jesus, writes Father
Monsabre, o. P, in his Meditations
on the Rosary. Christ had said: "And
if l go and prepare place for you, I
will come again and will take you to
myself that where l am you also may
be-. And l will ask the Father,
and He shall give you another
Paraclete comforter or advocate),
that he may abide with you forever;
the Spirit of truth, whom the world
cannot receive, because it seeth Him
not nor knoweth Him. but you shall
know Him, because He shall abide
with you and be with you" John xiv.
8, 16, I'D. Ten days after the Ascen-
sion of our Lord a mighty event took
place. 1t was the fulfilment of the
promise, and is thus recorded in the
Acts of the Apostles "And suddenly
there came a sound from heaven as of
a mighty wind coming, and it filed
the whole house where they were
sitting. And there appeared to them
cloven tongues as it were of fire, and
it sat upon each one of them; and
they were all filled with the Holy
Ghost, and they began to speak with
divers tongues, according as the Holy
Ghost gave them to speak" (Acts ii)
o wonderful prodigy! But moment
ago these men were ignorant and
could not clearly understand the doc
trine of their Master; now they pos
sess a full knowledge of the most
sublime truths. At one moment they
express themselves in weak and
stammering manner; the next they
are filed with marvellous eloquence.
At one moment they are weak and
timid even to the extent of cowardice,
they hide themselves, so as not to
be involved in the misfortunes of their
Master; the next they come forth
boldly, and fearlessly proclaim their
faith and love, and this, too, before a
people who load them with injuries
and drag them before the tribunals.
They seem at one moment ungrateful
and almost without hope; the next
they are devoted to the words of their
Master, even unto death. Now they
are sad and downcast; all at once
their hearts abound in hope and joy.
What has happened? The Holy Ghost,
having descended from heaven, has
brought to perfection in the souls OF
the disciples the spirit and form OF
the Christian life, which until now
were only in crude, Indicative state.
This is His special mission. The holy
Fathers have sometimes called Him
the "perfective force"
Learn from this, o Christian soul!
that the effusion of the Holy Spirit is
as necessary for thy salvation as is the
application of the blood and merits of
Jesus Christ.
'The end of man, which is to see
God and possess Him eternally, is be-
yond the powers of nature" says st.
Thomas of Aquin; our reason cannot
conduct us to it, if it's natural move
ment does not bring to its aid the
instinct and motion of the Spirit of
God" 1t is so necessary for us that
without it we possess only the rudi-
ments of the Christian and supernat-
ural life.
Jesus, the divine Architect, makes
of our souls His temples, having puri-
fed them with His precious blood. 1t
is the Holy Ghost who consecrates us
in marking us with His character, and
comforting upon us the JUNCTION of His
love and the illumination of His gifts.