Daily Meditation - Pentecost Monday: Descent of the Holy Ghost I

Excerpt from the book Meditations for Everyday of the Year

Descent of the Holy Ghost - I

I. The time which God had ordained having expired, and the Apostles being duly disposed by prayer, the Holy Ghost descended upon them whilst "they were all together in the same place." (Acts 2:1) Learn, hence, to be constant in prayer, to be united with your brethren, and to avoid singularity, if you wish to be visited by the Holy Ghost. Besides, He came suddenly, because His visitations have no fixed time, and therefore ought to be sought for without intermission, and to be waited for with long expectation.

II. "And it filled the whole house where they were sitting." (Acts 2:2) Ponder the unbounded liberality of the Divine Spirit which left nothing void in His gifts. "The earth is filled with the knowledge of the Lord, as the covering waters of the sea." (Isaias 9:9) Although they were all filled, yet one received more than another in proportion to his capacity. Hence, the blessed Virgin received more than all the rest. Enlarge, therefore, your heart, that you may deserve to receive a large proportion of His divine gifts. "Open thy mouth," He says by the Royal Psalmist, "and I will fill it." (Psalm 80:11)

III. "And there appeared to them cloven tongues as it were of fire." (Acts 2:3) The Holy Ghost appeared in the shape of fiery tongues, "because," as St. Gregory remarks, "those whom He replenishes He renders both fervent and eloquent." Desire Him to produce both effects in you, the first for your own good, and the second for the benefit and edification of others.

From the book Meditations for Everyday of the Year by Reverend Roger Baxter, S.J. (Benzinger Brothers, 1823, pages 299-300).