When the disciples returned to Jerusalem, after the ascension of Our Lord, they chose for their habitation the cenacle in which the Last Supper had taken place. There they spent the eight days previous to the feast of Pentecost, in a retreat of prayer and meditation. There they waited patiently for the realization of the promise made by Our Lord, that the Paraclete would come. Their souls were filled with that peace which the Lord had given them; they had learned the lesson of charity and submission, they had now one heart and one mind. No doubt, with them in prayer, were Mary the Mother of Jesus and the pious women who also were to receive the Holy Spirit. What a consolation was not the presence of Mary to the apostles! She was now their Mother; Christ Himself desired that she should be their comfort. The apostles loved the Mother of Jesus, consulted her about the future of the Church, and no doubt learned from her the secrets of divine love that filled her soul, learned from her the love that Jesus bore to His holy Church. They honored her with reverence, because she was the Mother of Him Whom they now knew to be God. It was the beginning of the devotion to the Blessed Virgin—a devotion which has continued in the Church ever since with unabated ardor. Prayer. Come, Holy Ghost, fill the hearts of Thy faithful, etc., etc. Fifteenth Day. The apostles persevered in prayer in the holy cenacle. They had learned the necessity of prayer from Our Lord Himself. He inculcated it by command and example, and now they put His precepts into execution; they made prayer the chief preparation for the coming of the Holy Ghost. God was present among them, and heard them, for they were assembled in the name of Jesus. These long hours of supplication penetrated heaven and filled the earth with consolation; bringing upon them the graces and benedictions of Jesus. They had time to enter into themselves, and to cure their souls of the weakness of human nature. They had much cause for anxiety. What a battle, and apparently what a hopeless battle, was before them! They were to preach to the world; to conquer and to teach it the maxims of the Christian religion. They knew that the world was not willing to receive the Gospel, and yet they had to observe the injunction of Our Lord, to teach all nations, and to command them to observe all that Christ had taught. The apostles were filled with a great love for the salvation of mankind, and in the cenacle they began to be apostles of prayer, by which they were to be victorious over all difficulties. Prayer. Come, Holy Ghost, fill the hearts of Thy faithful, etc., etc. Sixteenth Day.