Chapter 84: Of the sending of the Holy Ghost upon the disciples of Christ at the Feast of Pentecost

I BLESS You, and give thanks to You, O Lord Jesus Christ, kind Comforter of the sorrowful, most sweet Visitor of the sick, most powerful Helper of those in trouble, for Your true and faithful promise of Divine gifts to be sent down from Your Home in Heaven, and from the Father of Lights. I thank You for Your inestimable bounty, and for the wondrous outpouring of the multiform grace of the Holy Spirit upon Your disciples gathered together in Jerusalem. They were assembled in the Upper Room, praying and waiting anxiously for the consolation of the Holy Ghost from Heaven: they were not thinking about the things of this life; but, like devout monks dwelling apart from the tumult of the world, in quietude and silence, they had cast all earthly cares out of their minds, and with their hearts fixed upon those joys which last for ever, they were preparing themselves by fervent prayer for receiving yet fuller gifts of grace.

I praise and glorify You, O most glorious Jesus Christ, King of the Holy Angels, for the right joyous festival of this day, and for the benediction and hallowing year by year by the Priest (in the power of the Holy Ghost) of the sacred Font, in which those who are baptized in the Name of the Holy Trinity are cleansed from all their sins, become partakers of everlasting life, and by the grace of the Holy Spirit are made meet to be accounted heirs of the Kingdom of Heaven, and fellow-citizens of the Angels.

I praise and glorify You for having adorned this most holy day with many miracles and signs and gifts, and for having commanded it to be for ever observed by the faithful with joyous devotion. It was on this day that in old time the Law was given by Moses upon Mount Sinai to Your people Israel, when they had been delivered from the heavy yoke of bondage, and had come forth from the land of Egypt to sacrifice to You in the Wilderness, where You gave them for food sweet manna from Heaven. And it was for the perpetual remembrance of this deliverance that You did command a special sacrifice of thanksgiving to be year by year offered to You of the newly gathered fruits of the harvest.

But now, under the New Covenant, after You had with great power ascended into Heaven far above all Angels, You did with yet fuller grace and bounty distinguish, bless, and consecrate this holy day; and in place of sweet manna You did send, by a visible sign from Heaven, the Holy Ghost upon Your Apostles — with a loud noise, fiery tongues appearing upon each of them — in order that inwardly they might be inflamed with love, and outwardly might be ready and eloquent of speech, so as boldly to proclaim, as the Holy Spirit inspired them and gave them utterance, all the mighty works which in the land of the Jews You had wrought for our Salvation. Very many indeed were they, and such as to men were impossible; but to God all things are possible and easy. Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by the famous Prophet Isaias, saying: " The law shall come forth from Sion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem." Never before had such marvels been heard of as those of this day, when all at once so many faithful men and women received the Holy Ghost by a visible sign, that is, by tongues of fire; prophesied so that all could understand; interpreted Holy Scripture, and spoke the languages of all nations; when men unversed in books or letters were, in the school of God, at once and perfectly instructed by the Holy Ghost, and besides receiving so much knowledge, were also made illustrious by working many miracles and prodigies.

How wondrous and beyond description is the power of the Holy Spirit! He makes all whom He visits, and into whom He enters, zealous and learned, humble and devout, joyous and strong. Learning comes at once where the Holy Spirit is the inward Teacher, revealing the secret things of God even to babes, as seems to Him expedient for their salvation and for the good of others. Especially does He teach His own disciples and secret friends to despise the world, not to set their minds on high things, but ever to condescend to things that are lowly; to think meanly of themselves; to avoid distractions; to take count of their faults and to bewail them; to amend speedily, and humbly and unreservedly to confess, whatever is on their conscience and disturbs them, as being contrary to the working of the Holy Ghost, and so needing confession, no matter how small or trivial a thing men may think it ta be.