Magnificat Vol. LVI, No 5 115 all these abysses, previously unfathomable to the most perfect creatures, were no longer obscure for the Apostles. As for their hearts, divine love penetrated them so deeply that it banished every trace of anything impure and filled them with the choicest graces and the most sublime virtues. In a word, the Holy Spirit turned the Apostles into new men. The authentic proof of this interior change is the exterior miracle of their conduct. Look now at these twelve Galileans, these uneducated fishermen, speaking and writing with an eloquence, a dignity and a wisdom that holds genius in admiration; quoting, when needed, with precision and accuracy, and applying with perfect discernment the most difficult passages of the sacred books. All this showed very evidently to the most incredulous that they were not speaking on their own initiative. What it showed no less clearly was their courage and their zeal for the glory of God. What a strange sight! Behold twelve fishermen; a few days ago, the boldest of them denied his Master three times at the voice of a maidservant. Behold these men, who confront magistrates, kings, the whole world conspiring against them. Saint John Chrysostom says: “You see how valiantly they behave! They triumph over every obstacle as fire triumphs over straw. Whole cities rise up against them; nations band together to destroy them; wars, wild beasts, the sword and the stake threaten them. They are not moved by any of these dangers, as if they were harmless dreams or painted pictures. They are unarmed, and they stand up to armed legions. Illiterate men, they dare to pit themselves against a multitude of orators, sophists and philosophers, and they confound them. Paul alone lays low the pride of the Academy, the Lyceum and the Portico: the disciples of Plato, Aristotle and Zeno are struck dumb before him.”6 These wonders, which the Holy Spirit wrought on the memorable day of His coming, He still works in well-disposed souls. Exterior gifts have never ceased in the Church: only they are less common, because they are no longer needed as much. But we can always obtain the interior gifts, of which we are always in need. The Church invites us to ask for them especially on Pentecost Day. It is right in doing so; for now, more than ever before, the Holy Spirit is indispensable to the world. That is why, in the office of this great day, the tender mother of Christians, the protectress of society, the Catholic Church, places on the lips of her children and sings with them the following prose, so proper for attracting the Holy Spirit into hearts: 6. Saint John Chrysostom, Homily IV on the Acts of the Apostles. “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth was a Man approved by God among you... This Jesus whom you crucified, God has made Him Lord and Christ... This Jesus God has raised up, and we are all witnesses of it. Therefore, exalted by the right hand of God, and receiving from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured forth this Spirit which you see and hear.”
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