The Eternal Father bestowed an incomparable gift upon the world when He gave it His Only Son. Jesus Christ Himself said: 'God hath so loved the world as to give it His Only Son;' and Saint Paul exclaims: 'How has He not with Him given us all things?' - Quomodo non etiam omnia cum illo nobis donavit?
Almighty God, in the ancient Law, had bestowed an infinity of blessings upon His chosen people; but they were given according to measure. In the Law of Grace, however, He had no sooner seen His Beloved Son ascended into heaven than He opened His Hands to pour forth His graces and gifts upon all the faithful, according to the prophecy of Joel, that supra omnem carnem - 'over all men' would He diffuse His Holy Spirit.
If we desire to receive this Divine Spirit, let us beg Our Lord to bestow Him upon us through the merits of his Most Holy Mother, the glorious Virgin Mary, and through the love He bore to her; and we shall thus, like the Apostles, be with Mary the Mother of Jesus. We shall never understand how necessary is this condition. Saint Elizabeth had no sooner spoken to the Most Holy Virgin than she was immediately, says Saint Luke, 'filled with the Holy Ghost.' Nor is this a subject of wonder, because Mary is the Spouse of the Holy Ghost, the Daughter of the Eternal Father, and the Mother of the Eternal Son.
The Evangelist Saint Luke, by observing that men and women were assembled in the room, admonishes us that we must all hope to receive the Holy Ghost; but he mentions in particular the presence of Mary the Mother of Jesus, to insinuate that she was there as the Queen of the Apostles. How mistaken, then, are those who say that we honour the Most Holy Virgin too much! This august Virgin, it is true, had already received the Holy Spirit and the fulness of grace in the Annunciation, but in the upper room she received a great superabundance of grace.
Whoever, then, desires to receive the Holy Ghost, let him unite himself to Mary; because he who separates himself from her, does not gather but scatters. Let us serve her, honour her, that He Who comes into our hearts, by her mediation, may also receive us by the same mediation.
To conclude, we may learn a very useful lesson from the words of Saint Luke about the Disciples when they had received the Holy Ghost: 'All spoke in divers tongues according as the Holy Ghost gave them to speak' - Prout Spiritus Sanctus dabat eloqui illis; that is, that though all spoke, yet they did not speak in the same manner. The Apostles preached the new Law; and those who did not preach publicly, animated one another to praise and magnify the Lord. Let us, however, understand that there is an efficacious method of speaking without even uttering a word, and it is by the good example which we give to our neighbour.
David says: 'The heavens declare the glory of God. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge.' These words signify that the beauty of the heavens invites men to admire the magnificence of the Creator. Indeed, when on a clear night we contemplate the beauty of the heavens, we do not feel less animated to admire and adore the Omnipotence and Wisdom of God, Who has studded it with such beautiful stars, than when we observe the inaccessible light of the sun in its full meridian splendour. What conclusion are we to draw from all this but that we, who are something more than all the rest of creation (since all things were made for us, and not we for them), should, by our good example, announce the glory of God more perfectly than the heavens and the stars. Good example is a silent but a most efficacious influence. In this manner we can all preach, although we have not all received the gift of tongues. Is it a less wonder to see a soul adorned with many sublime virtues than to see the heavens decorated with magnificent stars? How much, my God, do I need the Spirit of strength when I feel myself so weak and infirm! However, I glory in my infirmity that the Power of my God may dwell in me. Let us glory in our weakness, which makes us fitting receptacles of the Power of God. May He grant that this sacred fire, which can entirely change us into Him, may transform our hearts into His pure Love, that we may be all love and not lovers only. May He grant me also to receive and make good use of the gift of understanding, that my mind may be more enlightened to penetrate clearly the sacred mysteries of our holy Faith; for this understanding has a wonderful power to subjugate the will to the service of Him Whom it recognises to be so good and so worthy of love, Yet, as true love is active, we need counsel, that we may be able to discern how to exercise this love; and then our soul is excellently endowed with the sacred gifts of Heaven.
May the Holy Spirit, Who favours us with His gifts, form our whole consolation, and be eternally adored by my mind and by my heart! May He be always our wisdom and our understanding, our counsel and our fortitude, our knowledge and our piety, and fill us with the spirit of the fear of the Lord.
Spiritual Flowers
Mary is the root of Jesse, upon whom the Holy Spirit rested. The Son of the Virgin is the flower thereof; a red and white flower, chosen amongst thousands - the flower upon which the Angels gaze with continuous desire; a flower whose fragrance renews life; a flower of everlasting bloom, whose beauty is incorruptible, and whose glory will never fade. - Saint Bernard
Mary is the root of that beautiful flower upon which the Holy Spirit rests with the fulness of His gifts. Whoever then desires to obtain the seven gifts of the Holy Ghost, must seek the flower upon the stem; because we reach the flower through the stem, and through the flower we find the Holy Spirit, Who thereon reposes. Let us go to Jesus, through Mary; and by means of Jesus, we find the grace of the Holy Spirit. - Saint Bonaventure
Give your soul to God a thousand times in the day; fix your interior eyes upon His sweetness, in imitation of Mary; place Him upon your breast as a delicious nosegay, and make every possible effort to excite within you an impassioned love for this Divine Spouse. - Saint Francis of Sales
There is no doubt that he who perfumes the world by the odour of his good example, thus teaching others the way of justice, will one day shine in eternity as a most splendid star in the firmament. - Saint Francis of Sales
Example
The Prayer 'Memorare'
Saint Francis of Sales had received, in his youth, a miraculous proof of the protection of Mary. Being assaulted by a violent temptation to believe himself reprobated by God, he experienced such anguish that he compared it to the sorrows of death and the torments of hell. After a month passed in these desolating trials, earnestly desiring to be delivered from them, he humbly prostrated himself before a statue of the Blessed Virgin, and with great confidence recited the Memorare, beseeching Our Lady to obtain from her Divine Son that, if he should ever have the misfortune of being eternally separated from his God, he might at least love Him during the present lifetime with all his powers.
The Most Holy Virgin could not be deaf to such a petition, and Francis quickly recovered the peace of heart he had lost. From that time he had the greatest confidence in this prayer, and recited it in every difficult undertaking, and recommended it warmly to all whom he directed.
'I remember,' says the Bishop of Belley, 'to have learnt this prayer from him, and in order to impress it more deeply in my heart, and to make use of it in all my afflictions, I wrote it down at the beginning of my breviary. I know, moreover, that he commended it much to the Nuns of the Visitation. He wished it to be repeated above all in times of great temptations, because the Mother of God is as terrible to the enemy as an army in battle array; the blessed fruit of her womb having crushed the head of the infernal serpent.'
It is generally believed that Saint Bernard was the author of this prayer.
Prayer to ask for the Seven Gifts of the Holy Ghost - August Spouse of the Holy Ghost, Most Holy Virgin Mary, the inexhaustible source of grace, deign to obtain for me from your Divine Spouse the gift of Wisdom, which may detach me from the goods of the world, and make me love those of heaven; the gift of Understanding, which may teach me my duties; the gift of Counsel, which may enlighten me in the way of salvation; the gift of Fortitude, which may sustain my weakness; the gift of Knowledge, which may teach me the eternal truths; the gift of Piety, which may render the service of God sweet to me; and the gift of Fear, which may inspire me with a holy respect and tender love towards the God of infinite mercy. Ah! my continued resistance to the inspirations of the Holy Spirit have rendered me unworthy of such a benefit, but, aided by your prayers, I confidently hope to obtain from the author of every perfect gift the graces that are necessary to live holily in this life, and thus one day attain to the eternal beatitude of heaven. Amen.
Ejaculation - Pray for me, O Spouse of the Holy Ghost.
Practice - Accustom yourself in every difficulty to say at once: O Mother of Good Counsel, inspire me!
- text taken from the book A Month of Mary According to the Spirit of Saint Francis de Sales, by Father Gaspar Gilli