November 12
Daily Gleanings of the Saintly LifeSeventeenth Tuesday after Trinity
Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Ephesians 4:3.
THE Apostles by fiery tongues, which they saw, were admonished when the Spirit, which they could not behold, was upon them. In like manner it is with us. Christ and His Holy Spirit, with all their blessed effects, though entering into the soul of man, we are not able to apprehend or express how, do notwithstanding give notice of the times when they use to make their access, because it pleaseth Almighty God to communicate by sensible means those blessings which are incomprehensible—the union between Christ and His Church. Our blessed Lord prays for this union “that they may be one as We are One.” As the whole body and all its members are held together by one soul, the spirit of life, so it is with the Church of God. There is one body and one Spirit, the Spirit which quickens that body, or else it would be more bodies than one. This sanctifying Spirit is the free gift of God coming and going when He wills. His effect is known by its fruits, but He comes and goes unseen; He comes to those who wait for Him in brotherly love “with one accord;” He reveals to the heart the mysteries of heaven.
O Holy Ghost! Thou fire Divine! From highest heaven on us down shine; Comforter, be Thy comfort mine!
Thy will be ours in all our ways; O melt the frozen with Thy rays; Call home the lost in error’s maze, And grant us, Lord, who cry to Thee, And hold the faith in unity, Thy precious gifts of charity, That we may live in holiness, And find in death our happiness, And dwell with Thee in lasting bliss.