Thus she taught them the lesson she would teach all her children--that the only thing to do in times of desolation and sorrow is to follow closely the commands of JESUS: "Whatsoever He shall say to you, do ye." It is no use to stand gazing after what has gone; this is no time for regrets; He gave a clear command: "Go to Jerusalem and wait." We shall always find that there is no balm for sorrow like fidelity to duty. It costs something; human nature longs to stay and hug its sorrow; but it is far wiser to turn away from the loved spot and go bravely hand in hand with the Mother of Sorrows to do the next thing to which duty--that is the voice of JESUS--calls us. _Point II._--MARY ON THE DAY OF PENTECOST Nine days they spent with Mary the Mother of JESUS, persevering with one mind in prayer, (Acts i. 14), and going constantly to the Temple to praise and bless GOD. (St Luke xxiv. 53.) It was a Novena of prayer and thanksgiving. It was Mary's first official act as Mother of the Church. She kept the little flock together, kept them close to her Son by obedience to His last command, by intercession for the great gift that He had promised to send them, and by thanksgiving for all that He had been to them and done for them. It was the first Retreat, and they made it with Mary, the Mother of GOD. What must Mary's prayers have been during those nine days! She was now more united than ever to her Son; her eye of faith saw Him at the Right Hand of GOD in Heaven; she saw eye to eye with Him; she knew all His interests and intentions; she had still a Mother's right to command Him; she knew that nothing in their relationship was changed, and that He would not refuse her behests in Heaven any more than He had done on earth. And so, as her eyes swept the wide horizon which was now hers, the Mother of the Church made a Novena for Pentecost, praying with all her knowledge and all her power, for the Holy Ghost to come down upon her children--to come and fill that Church of which she was the Mother, that Church which her Son had founded, for which He had given His life. These first Retreatants had no books. They needed none--their lives were so closely bound up with the life of JESUS; the Holy Spirit prayed within them; and Mary was ever with them directing, and setting them an example. In proportion as these things are true of us are we independent of _exterior_ help in our prayers. And the more we are able to dispense with exterior help, the more interior and real will be our prayers. Then "when the days were accomplished"--when the Novena was over--the Holy Ghost came down as JESUS had promised that He should--came down as a tongue of fire upon each one: a proof that He had entered into each one of those expectant, faithful souls, filling each according to his capacity, and giving each the power needful to carry on the work that was appointed for him to do.