XIII. The Descent of the Holy Ghost - Mary the Source of Grace

Before ascending into heaven Jesus said to His disciples: "You shall not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father which you have heard by My mouth." Faithful to this command, "they retired to an upper room, where they were persevering with one mind in prayer with the women and Mary, the Mother of Jesus, and His brethren." Behold what we read in the first chapter of the Acts of the Apostles. From the most venerable traditions we learn that, when the Holy Spirit descended from heaven, He first rested on the head of our Holy Virgin Mother as a shaft of light, which immediately spread itself on the heads of the whole assembly in the form of tongues of fire.

Precious indications and blessed image of Mary's mediation!

Her intercessory power is thus solemnly recognized by Her children in the very cradle of the Church. They are still deeply affected by the remembrance of their want of courage during the sad days of the Passion; they feel their unworthiness and the need they have of uniting their prayers with those of the ever-faithful Virgin. Was She not associated on Calvary in the painful birth into the world of a holy nation and a purchased people? Is She not the Mother of the regenerated family which is to renew the face of the earth? No one so well as She can bend to Her the ear of God. The maternal rights which She possessed over Him whom She bore in Her womb, and who obeyed Her during His life on earth, are not surrendered; She can revive them any time. The more perfect is the Son, the more powerful is the Mother. Mary does not command; She entreats. Every prayer united with Hers, passing through Her maternal heart and virginal lips, is tinged with Her love and Her purity, and entering effectually, nay, victoriously, into the heart of the great Mediator, becomes in a measure divine and irresistible.

All graces may be obtained by Mary; all graces come to us through Her. The holy Fathers represent Her to us as the mysterious channel through which the benefits of the Divinity are spread upon the earth. In the mystical body of the Church She is that movable aqueduct, full of fertilizing channels, which unites the head to the trunk. She is the deep bosom in which all goods are stored and from which they are distributed. She is the medium through which God's gifts must pass. In Herself full of all graces, Saint Bernard says She is superabundant for us.

Let us admire this marvel of divine mercy, and have recourse earnestly and confidently to this superabundance.

We are much more ungrateful and disloyal than the apostles were during our Lord's Passion, and are, in consequence, much more unworthy to address ourselves to the Blessed Majesty of God. Let us, like them, "pray with Mary, the Mother of Jesus." Let us, like infants, commit our feeble hearts to the keeping of Her heart and ask every grace through Her all-powerful intercession.

We should, however, be reasonable and discreet in our demands. The altars of Our Mother are often besieged by an eager throng of supplicants, who force upon Her tender beneficence the temporal interests in which, alone they are preoccupied. Our health, our affairs, our affections, our troubles, and our sufferings certainly deserve the attention of the Virgin most clement. But these affect the great affair of our salvation and of our perfection only in a distant way. Purity of soul, the conflicts of virtue, our advancement in the knowledge and love of God, are far more worthy to fix the attention of the Mother of divine grace.

Let us, then, beg of Her, above and before all else, the graces of newness of life as well as of progress in good and union with God, which the divine Paraclete will, at Her request, pour forth upon our souls. True it is that She cannot send the Holy Spirit upon us of Her own authority, for He obeys but the Father and the Son. But if She calls Him for us, if Her sweet and strong voice should make the heavens resound with the invocation, Veni Sancte Spiritus, the miracle of Pentecost will renew itself in our lives. Wisdom, understanding, knowledge, counsel, fortitude, piety, and the fear of the Lord - all the gifts of the Holy Spirit - will become our portion if we pray with Mary and through Her.