Page:Meditations For Every Day In The Year.djvu/302

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happy is that man whom He satiates; there is nothing left for him to desire."

III. Consider the effects which the presence of the Holy Ghost produces in the soul. " Be filled, " says St. Paul, " with the Holy Spirit, speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual canticles, singing and making melody in your hearts to the Lord." (Eph. v. 18.) Excite in yourself those feelings which prompted that line of conduct in those to whom the Apostle wrote.

WEDNESDAY.

Gifts of the Holy Ghost— I.

I. The Divine Spirit, who does not stand in need of our exertions, bestows, nevertheless, His most precious gifts on those who are disposed to receive them. "These gifts are," as the Angel of the Schools teaches, "certain habits which enable a man to follow promptly the instinct of the Holy Ghost, chiefly in relation to noble and heroic actions." These gifts are, according to Isaias, seven: "The spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the spirit of counsel and of fortitude, the spirit of knowledge and of godliness, and the spirit of the fear of our Lord." (Is. xi. 2.)

II. These gifts supply us with spiritual armor to protect and aid us in all our infirmities. "The spirit," says St. Paul, "also helpeth our infirmity." (Rom. viii. 26.) " Therefore," writes St. Gregory, " He gives us wisdom to counteract our folly; understanding, our dulness; counsel, our rashness; fortitude, our fear; knowledge, our ignorance; piety, our indevotion; and the fear of God, our pride."

III. How frequently you are subject to all these in-