The hearts of all Catholics are fully aware that
this day's Solemnity is to be venerated among the greatest of the Feasts. We
have no uncertainty as to the reverence due to this day, made sacred by the
Holy Spirit in the surpassing miracle of the gift of Himself. For this is the
tenth day that has shone upon us from that on which the Lord mounted above the
heaven of heavens, to sit at the right hand of God the Father, and the fiftieth
from His Resurrection in Whom the day begins. And it holds within it great mysteries
which relate both to the OId and the New Dispensations, wherein it is most
clearly revealed to us, that grace was foretold by the law, and that the law is
made perfect through grace.
For as of old on the fiftieth day after the
Sacrifice of the Lamb, the Law was given on Mount Sinai to the Hebrew people,
now delivered from the Egyptians, so, after the Passion of Christ, in which the
True Lamb of God was slain, on the fiftieth day after His Resurrection, the Holy
Spirit descended upon the Apostles and upon the people who believed; so that an
earnest Christian might know beyond any uncertainty, that the sacred rites of
the Old Testament had served as foundations for the Gospel, and that by this
same Spirit was the Second Covenant laid down, by Whom the first had been
established.
For as the history of the Apostles bears witness,
when the days of the Pentecost were accomplished, they were all together in one
place: and suddenly, there came a sound heaven, as of a mighty wind coming, and
it filled the Whole house where they were Sitting. And there appeared to them
parted tongues as 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, according as the Holy Ghost gave them to speak. How swift the word of
wisdom; and how quickly when the Lord is our instructor do we learn what He
teaches! There was no need of an interpreter to understand, nor for usage to
give them facility, nor of time for study, for the Spirit of Truth, breathing
where it willed, the particular tongues of every nation are shared together in
the mouth of the Church.
From that day forth the trumpet of the preaching
of the Gospel has sounded. From that day the rain of spiritual graces, the
streams of blessings, have watered every desert, and the whole parched world;
for the Spirit of God moved over the waters to renew the face of the earth, and
the brightness of new light began to flash forth to scatter the old darkness,
when, in the splendor of those ardent tongues, the shining word, the burning
eloquence of the Lord was received; which holds within it both the power of
making light, to give understanding, and the power of fire, to burn away all
sin.
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