Almighty God, in the ancient Law, had bestowed an infinity of blessings upon His chosen people; but they were given according to measure. In the Law of Grace, however, He had no sooner seen His Beloved Son ascended into heaven than He opened His Hands to pour forth His graces and gifts upon all the faithful, according to the prophecy of Joel, that _supra omnem carnem_--'over all men' would He diffuse His Holy Spirit. If we desire to receive this Divine Spirit, let us beg Our Lord to bestow Him upon us through the merits of his Most Holy Mother, the glorious Virgin Mary, and through the love He bore to her; and we shall thus, like the Apostles, be with _Mary the Mother of Jesus_. We shall never understand how necessary is this condition. St. Elizabeth had no sooner spoken to the Most Holy Virgin than she was immediately, says St. Luke, 'filled with the Holy Ghost.' Nor is this a subject of wonder, because Mary is the Spouse of the Holy Ghost, the Daughter of the Eternal Father, and the Mother of the Eternal Son. The Evangelist St. Luke, by observing that men and women were assembled in the room, admonishes us that we must all hope to receive the Holy Ghost; but he mentions in particular the presence of _Mary the Mother of Jesus_, to insinuate that she was there as the Queen of the Apostles. How mistaken, then, are those who say that we honour the Most Holy Virgin too much! This august Virgin, it is true, had already received the Holy Spirit and the fulness of grace in the Annunciation, but in the upper room she received a great superabundance of grace. Whoever, then, desires to receive the Holy Ghost, let him unite himself to Mary; because he who separates himself from her, does not gather but scatters. Let us serve her, honour her, that He Who comes into our hearts, by her mediation, may also receive us by the same mediation. To conclude, we may learn a very useful lesson from the words of St. Luke about the Disciples when they had received the Holy Ghost: 'All spoke in divers tongues according as the Holy Ghost gave them to speak'--_Prout Spiritus Sanctus dabat eloqui illis;_ that is, that though all spoke, yet they did not speak in the same manner. The Apostles preached the new Law; and those who did not preach publicly, animated one another to praise and magnify the Lord. Let us, however, understand that there is an efficacious method of speaking without even uttering a word, and it is by the good example which we give to our neighbour.