THE FEAST OF PENTECOST.

"And when the days of Pentecost were accomplished, they were all together in one place, and suddenly there came a sound from heaven as if of a mighty wind coming, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. . . . And there appeared to them parted tongues as if it were of fire, and it sat upon every one of them; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they began to speak with divers tongues."—ACTS, ii. 1,2, 3, 4.

To nourish the faith and inflame the devotion of her children, the Church has interspersed through the different seasons of the year the solemn commemoration of the principal mysteries of our religion. From the birth to the final triumph of our Redeemer, every interval is filled up by some festival which recalls the memory and celebrates the fruits of the different stages of His life. Nay, she extends her gratitude to the celebration of the other mysteries which are connected with the Incarnation, and among those, the descent of the Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost has been particularly honoured by the institution of this holy anniversary. In the other festivals which we have commemorated we have contemplated the gradual development of the treasures of redemption; in this we behold as if the consummation of that great work. In the other mysteries we participate in the fruits of our justification; in this we ascend to its source and trace it to that divine fountain from which it is derived. I shall, therefore, in the following discourse attempt to impress upon your minds some idea of this mystery by dwelling on the effects which were wrought by the first descent of the Holy Spirit,

effects which are still renewed in the minds of the faithful who labour to dispose themselves for a participation in His graces.

Of the effects produced by the Holy Spirit, one of the most stupendous is that which was wrought in the Apostles. Nursed in the bosom of a religion whose charity was cold, and whose prospects were carnal, their prejudices could not yield to the spiritual instructions of our Redeemer. During the latter years of His life the Apostles were His companions, to whom He imparted, in frequent and familiar conversation, the choicest treasures of His wisdom. Yet, notwithstanding such access to the source of inspiration itself, they retained all the prejudices of their nation concerning the restoration of their earthly kingdom. The hope of sharing in its principal honours animated the Apostles until the last moment of the Redeemer's life. Like the Pharisees, they contended for the first places, and the mother of the sons of Zebedee sought in their behalf the most honourable seats near the throne of the Messiah. Nor was this illusion removed by Christ's resurrection. Though He had conversed with them forty days, during which interval He unveiled the shadows of ancient prophecy; yet we find that they clung to the hope of worldly conquest and dominion to the day of His ascension. While they were assembled together, previous to that glorious event, they thus addresed Him in language which fully betrayed the leaven of their earthly views : "Lord, wilt Thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? But He said to them: It is not for you to know the times or moments which the Father hath put in His own power. But you shall receive the power of the Holy Ghost coming upon you, and you shall be witnesses unto Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and Samaria, and even to the uttermost part of the

earth." You behold, then, that as yet the Apostles breathed a carnal spirit, and though witnesses of the glory of the resurrection, their minds could not comprehend the nature of Christ's kingdom. But when the days of Pentecost were accomplished, and the Holy Ghost, with the "sound of a mighty wind," and in the "form of cloven tongues of fire sat upon each of them," they then went forward, manifesting the transformation their hearts had undergone. No longer restrained by apprehension from the Jews, whose fury they had before dreaded, they intrepidly announced the divinity of Christ, and the wonders of which they themselves were witnesses. But a few days before, they deserted their Master, and consulting for their own safety by an ignominious flight, cruelly abandoned Him to the vengeance of His enemies. Yet now, with an undaunted firmness, they brave all their menaces, and Peter, whose faltering voice trembled to acknowledge his Master, now proclaims to the assembled people: "Ye men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by Him in the midst of you, as you also know; this same, being delivered up by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, you, by the hands of wicked men, have crucified and slain, whom God had raised up, having loosed the sorrows of hell, as it was impossible that He should be holden by it. . . . This Jesus hath God raised again, whereof all we are witnesses. Being exalted, therefore, by the right hand of God, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, He hath poured forth this which you see and hear." Astonished by the inspiration that burned in every expression, the multitude saw and felt the mighty

effects of the Holy Spirit. But while the impiety of some would fain mock the divine mystery, by ascribing to the effects of wine the inspiration that was manifest, St. Peter, in a still more astonishing effusion of the Holy Spirit, converting their blasphemy into evidence of its influence, "lifted up his voice and spoke to them: Ye men of Judea, and all you that dwell in Jerusalem, be this known to you, and with your ears receive my words; for these are not drunk as you suppose. . . But this is that which, was spoken of by the Prophet Joel And it shall come to pass in the last days (saith the Lord) I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy. . . And upon my servants, indeed, and upon my handmaids will I pour out in those days, of my Spirit, and they shall prophesy. And I will show wonders in the heaven above, and signs on the earth beneath." Yes, the Apostles now amply realised this prediction, in the words which they spoke, and the wonders which they accomplished. No matter what might have been the country or the dialect of each individual, the language of the Apostles reached the hearts of all: "Now there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven, and when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded in mind, because that every man heard them speak in his own tongue. Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and inhabitants of Mesopotamia . . and strangers of Rome ... and Arabians," and they were all astonished, because they heard them speak in their own tongues "the wonderful works of God." The fruits of the Holy Spirit corresponded with its vigour, seizing the hearts of those on whom it descended, it extinguished all their passions

'Acts, ii. 14, &c.

Acts, ii. 5, &c.

and purified their affections. Henceforward no timidity could check the ardour of their zeal ; no worldly views to divide their hearts or weaken their holy energies; no compromise with error; no capitulation with self-interest; no wavering indecision between God and the world. No; that jealous God, who endures no rival, so covered their hearts by the effusion of His ample Spirit as to leave no room for any other interest. Inflamed by its devouring fire, and impelled by its omnipotent action, they feel no obstacles, and resistance vanishes before them. In vain did the priests and princes of the people endeavour to arrest their career, and extinguish their religion in its birth. In vain did they cite them before their tribunals, and endeavour to intimidate them by the infliction of torture. In vain they "charged them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus." For Peter and John said to them: "If it be just in the sight of God to hear you rather than God, judge ye: for we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard." In vain were they cast into prison, since the Spirit which spoke by their mouth unlocked their dungeon, and sent them forth again to give fresh attestations of the power that inspired them. The obstacles which they combated only gave new impulse to their zeal, and the ease with which they conquered them renewed their confidence of victory. Disdaining any longer the narrow limits of Judea, they rubbed the dust off their feet against the ungrateful cities which spurned their proffered favours, resolved to carry the glad tidings of salvation to the remotest regions of the earth. In this glorious enterprise of rescuing mankind from the bondage of sin, they gave the most signal evidence of the Divine Spirit which sustained them. Like the unfortunate age which preceded the flood, mankind had become a mass of depravity, and in the language of the inspired 1 Acts, iv. 18, 19.