salem, and remain there until the promise should be fulfilled.* The Apostles, accordingly, during the ten days following our Blessed Lord's Ascension, assembled together in an upper room in the city of Jerusalem, and remained there, occupied in prayer, along with the Blessed Virgin and the holy women, awaiting the coming of the Holy Spirit. At length, upon the tenth day, the Jewish feast of Pentecost, while they were all assembled together, "suddenly there came a sound from 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.†

This, my dear children, is the account related in the Holy Scripture of the coming down of the Holy Ghost on the Apostles. By this wonderful miracle, they were changed in a moment into new men. Before the Holy Ghost descended upon them, they were timid and cowardly, and had all run away from our Blessed Lord when he was led to execution. Now they were brave and courageous, and not afraid of even torture or death in the service of their Divine Master. Before, they were dull and ignorant, and could not understand many of our Lord's instructions; now, they all of a sudden understood the meaning of his Divine words, and, enlightened by the Holy Ghost, became not only perfectly instructed themselves, but able to teach and instruct others. They received also, at the same time, the gift of miracles, that is, the power of healing the sick, raising the dead to life, and doing other wonderful things which man cannot do of his own natural power. They also received the gift of tongues, by which all who

heard them speak, of whatever nation they might be, seemed to hear them speak in their own language. It was for this reason, no doubt, that the Holy Ghost came upon them in the form of tongues of fire, to show them that, in going out to preach over the world, they should be able to speak to their hearers in every different language, and so enkindle the flames of love in the hearts of all.

Q. Why did He come down upon them?

A. To enable them to preach the Gospel and to plant the Church.

But what was the reason why God gave such great and extraordinary graces to the Apostles, when he sent the Holy Ghost upon them on the feast of Pentecost? It was, as your catechism tells you, to enable them to preach the Gospel and to plant the Church. For if they had not been enlightened to know and understand Divine truths, they could not have instructed others; if they had not been made bold and courageous, they durst not have done so; if they had not received the power of working miracles, many would not have believed them; and if they had not had the gift of tongues, a very great number would not have understood them. Thus, you see, God gives us grace, or is ready to give it, if we ask it, in proportion to the need we have of it. Now, as we also stand in need of the grace of the Holy Ghost, he has provided for us the Sacrament of Confirmation, in which we may receive this Blessed Spirit. In this Sacrament the Holy Ghost descends into our hearts, as he did into the hearts of the Apostles, to enable us to know, and understand, and firmly hold fast the truths of religion, and to give us grace and courage to profess and practice them. It is true that we do not receive the power of working miracles or of speaking in different languages, for

these gifts are nowise necessary, nor were they intended for us. They were given to the Apostles, as they have been at times to Saints in later ages, that the strange and idolatrous nations, to whom they had to preach, might be better able to understand and more easily led to believe them.

THE PREACHING OF THE APOSTLES.

No sooner had the Holy Ghost filled the souls of the Apostles, than, fired with a holy zeal, they left the upper room, where they had shut themselves up for fear of the Jews, and went out boldly into the streets to preach. "And they began to speak," as the Scripture says, "in divers tongues, according as the Holy Ghost gave them to speak.

"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. And they were all amazed and wondered, saying, 'Behold! are not all these that speak Galileans? And how have we heard every man our own tongue wherein we were born? Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and inhabitants of Mesopotamia, Judea, and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphilia, Egypt and the parts of Lybia about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews also, and proselytes, Cretes and Arabians; we have heard them 'speak in our own tongues the wonderful works of God.' And they were all astonished and wondered, saying to one another, 'what meaneth this?' But others, mocking, said, 'These men are full of new wine.'

"But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice and spoke to them, 'Ye men of Judea, and all you that dwell in Jerusalem, these are not drunk, as you suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day. But this is that which was spoken of by the prophet Joel, It shall come to pass in the last days, saith the Lord, I will pour out of my spirit upon all flesh. Do penance, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of your sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all that are far off whomsoever the Lord shall call.'"-Acts of the Apostles ii.

COURAGE OF ST. PETER.

The noble courage displayed by the Apostle St. Peter after he had received the Holy Ghost, is a striking example of the grace which the Holy Spirit gives to those who receive him worthily. You remember that, at the time of cur Blessed Lord's Passion, St. Peter had, at the voice of a poor servantmaid, been so struck with terror, that he had thrice denied that he so much as knew his Divine Master. Now he went boldly out into the streets to preach Christ crucified, and openly reproached the Jews for having put to death their long-expected Redeemer. By his first sermon, St. Peter converted no less than three thousand souls, and by the second as many as five thousand. The chief priests and elders of the people, enraged at his success, called him before them, and forbade him to preach any longer the name of Jesus; whereupon he, along with St. John, boldly made answer, "If it be just in the sight of God to hear you rather than God, judge ye. We cannot but speak the things that we have heard and seen." Cast into prison a second time for preaching the gospel, he was this time cruelly scourged, but went away from the judgment seat with the other Apostles, rejoicing, as the Holy Scripture says, that he was "accounted worthy to suffer reproach for the name of Jesus."—Acts iv., v.

FIFTEENTH INSTRUCTION.

Ninth Article. The Catholic Church. Jesus Christ the invisible Head of the Church. successor of St. Peter, its visible Head.

The Pope, the

Q. What is the ninth article of the Creed? A. The Holy Catholic Church, the Communion of Saints. We have now gone through the first eight articles of the Creed, all of which relate to one or other of three Persons of the Blessed Trinity. The last four articles, which we are coming to, contain four of the most important truths revealed to us by God.

The most important of all is contained in the ninth article, The Holy Catholic Church, the Communion of Saints.

But why do I say that this truth is more important than any of the others? Because, if we believe in the Holy Catholic Church, we believe in all that she teaches, that is to say, in all the other truths of religion. All that is contained in the other articles of the Creed is, therefore, contained in this single one, The Holy Catholic Church.

There is another reason, my dear children, why this article comes in that place in the Creed which it occupies, immediately after the eighth article, which treats of the Holy Ghost. It is because the Church of Christ is the special work of the Holy Spirit. You remember that our Blessed Lord, while he was yet on earth, ordained his Apostles priests, and bade them go and baptize all nations, teaching them all that he had taught to them.* But they were not to begin their great mission until after the coming of the Holy Ghost; wherefore he told them to return to Jerusalem after he had ascended, and remain there until they should be "endued with power from on high." On the feast of Pentecost, this promise was fulfilled. The Holy Ghost came down upon them, enlightening their minds with a wonderful knowledge of heavenly things, inflaming their hearts with a holy zeal, and bestowing upon them those miraculous powers which they required in order to prove to their hearers that they were sent by God. From that day the Old or Jewish Law was done away with, and the New Law, the teaching of Jesus Christ, of which the Jewish Law had been only a figure, remained in its place.

No sooner had they received the Divine Spirit, than the Apostles went forth from that upper room to Luke xxiv. 49; Acts i. 4.

*Matt. xxviii. 19.