Page:Meditations For Every Day In The Year.djvu/305

 Holy Ghost. Learn to  appreciate  these  fruits,  and  beg God to  make  you  acquainted  with  them. Remember the admonition of  St.  Paul,  "  If  we  live  in  the  spirit,  let  us also  walk  in  the  spirit.,  (Gal.  v.  25.)  The  Holy  Ghost cannot  exist  in  our  souls  without  displaying  Himself  in our  external  actions.

III. One of  the  principal  dispositions  requisite  for  our receiving the  Holy  Ghost,  is  to  cherish  a  pure  intention of serving  God  in  all  things,  for  His  own  sake,  and  not from worldly  respects;  "  for,"  as  the  Wise  Man  says,  "  the Holy  Spirit  of  discipline  will  flee  from  the  deceitful., (Wis.  i.  5.)  Endeavor,  therefore,  to  please  God  in  all things,  and  conform  yourself  to  the  discipline  requisite for  your  calling  or  situation,  and  do  not  suffer  this  conformity to  be  an  effort  of  the  exterior  man  only,  but sanctify  it  with  purity  of  intention.

I. "  They  were  persevering  in  the  doctrine  of  the Apostles,  and  in  the  communication  of  the  breaking  of bread,  and  in  prayers." (Acts ii.  42.)  By  these  three means is  our  spiritual  life  preserved  and  nourished:  1. By hearing  or  reading  the  word  of  God. 2. By  frequenting the  sacraments,  and  particularly  the  sacrament  of the  altar. 3. By  continued  prayer. These were  the means that  the  first  Christians  employed  to  increase  in virtue  and  perfection,  and  by  these  alone  can  you  hope to emulate  their  example.

II. They lived  in  common. "All they  that  believed were  together,  and  had  all  things  common." (Acts ii.  44.)