Tuesday after Pentecost
Summary of Today’s Meditation
We will meditate today on the marvelous action of the Holy Spirit upon the primitive Christians at Jerusalem, and we shall see that He made of them models: First, of detachment; second, of piety; third, of charity. We will then make the resolution: First, to practice during the day an act of mortification or of detachment; second, to observe, in the whole of our behavior, a great modesty, as a means whereby to form within us a spirit of recollection; third, to exercise the most perfect charity towards all with whom we have any relations. Our spiritual nosegay shall be the beautiful eulogium which the Holy Spirit pronounced on the primitive Christians: “The multitude of believers had but one heart and one soul.” (Acts 4:32)
Meditation for the Morning
Let us adore the Holy Spirit forming in the primitive Christians the most accomplished models of holiness; let us praise Him for this masterpiece of His power and His love, and offer Him for it all our thanksgivings.
FIRST POINT
Detachment of the Primitive Christians
The Holy Spirit, having descended upon them, showed them the vanity of all things here below, the nothingness of all that passes away, and repeated to them in the bottom of their hearts the words of the Savior: He who does not renounce himself wholly, cannot
be My disciple. Go, sell what thou hast, and give to the poor. Immediately, docile to the interior voice, these generous Christians renounce everything. They renounce worldly possessions, for Holy Writ says that they sold their possessions and laid the price of them at the feet of the apostles, who divided them amongst all, according as everyone had need (Acts 2:45; 4:31 et seq.). They renounced honors, glory, the esteem of men, for, in public opinion, they were looked upon as apostates from a religion which was certainly divine, as madmen who adored a man crucified, and as disciples of poor fishermen. They renounced their friends and their relations, who wept over their desertion, and would not any longer hold intercourse with them. They renounced themselves and placed their wills in the hands of the apostles, whom they obeyed in perfect simplicity of spirit. Thus, freed from all attachments, they enjoyed perfect liberty of mind, and an unchangeable tranquility of soul, by means of which they served God without hindrance, prayed to Him with love, and enjoyed Him with delight. Let us examine what is the point we have reached in regard to this complete detachment, and what are the fibers which still attach us to earth.
SECOND POINT
Piety of the Primitive Christians
Every day they met together in the temple, says Holy Writ, in the union of one same spirit, persevering in prayer and in communion, which they received praising and glorifying God with joy and simplicity of heart (Acts. 2:42 et seq.). Let us admire the spirit of prayer which animated these primitive Christians; they had rightly understood the words which Jesus had spoken to His disciples: “We ought always to pray and never to faint” (Luke 18:1), and those of God to Abraham, “Walk before Me and be perfect.” (Gen. 17:1) For not only were they recollected, but it was in a proper manner; their recollection had nothing in it which was sorrowful or severe, nothing constrained or affected; it was, on the contrary, accompanied by great simplicity of heart and that wholly joyful gladness which divine love brings with it into the soul (Acts. 2:46,47); a beautiful model, which teaches us to communicate often and to make the spirit of prayer and recollection precede and follow communion; because if communion accompanied by the spirit of recollection is the most nourishing aliment of piety and virtue, communion allied with a dissipated life and devoid of the spirit of prayer would redound to our loss. Let us here examine ourselves.
THIRD POINT
Charity of the Primitive Christians
They were, says the book of the Acts, all united together as one and the same family all of whose members are united together by strict charity. Between them there was no mine and thine; all they had was in common (Acts 2:41), and the multitude of the believers formed but one heart and one soul (Ibid. 4:32). Although they were an assemblage of persons belonging to various countries, and who were of different positions, differing in character, and who had diverse interests, charity made of all these members one sole body, of all these hearts one sole heart, of all these souls one single soul. Sweet and happy union, fore taste of Paradise, of which we might say with the Psalmist: “Behold, how good and pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!” (Ps. 132:1) This beautiful spectacle was the admiration of all who were witnesses of it (Acts 5:13), a great number were converted by means of it (Ibid. 14), and even those who were not converted were obliged to praise and bless the Christians (Ibid. 2:47). Let us hence learn to love one another, not with the icy love which confines itself to not hating or wishing evil to anyone, but with the sincere love which has its root in the heart, which wills all possible good to its brethren, and shares their troubles as well as their joys; that tender love which has a wholly cordial manner of acting, and which avoids even the slightest words or actions capable of giving pain; that generous love which, forgetting itself in order to give pleasure to others, accommodates itself to all characters, makes all kinds of sacrifices, and is full of delicate attentions for everyone. Resolutions and spiritual nosegay as above.
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