Let us consider the meaning of the words, that 'Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost'--_Et repleta est Spiritu Sancto Elisabeth_--that Elizabeth, who had already received the Holy Ghost with all His gifts, received a new fulness and a new increase of grace by this visit. Although the Lord grants His graces to the just _in full measure_, yet, as the Gospel says, this measure can be so augmented as to overflow on all sides: _Mensuram bonam confertam et coagitatam et supereffluentem dabunt in sinum vestrum._ Let us well understand this important truth. The grace of the Holy Ghost can never be granted to us in this life in such full measure that it cannot be augmented; therefore, let us beware of saying: 'It is enough; I am sufficiently enriched with graces and virtues. _Mensura conferta est_--the measure is filled up, further progress in mortification is unnecessary.' He who should speak thus would only show too clearly his misery, or, rather, his presumption, and the great danger to which he exposes himself. _Omni habenti dabitur et abundabit, ei autem qui non habet et quod videtur habere auferetur ab eo_. This text signifies that to him who has received much--that is to say, who has laboured much, and never gives up--much shall be given. Such a one believes that he has never done enough; but, conscious of his own misery, he continues to labour with holy and sincere humility. _He, then, who possesses much, shall receive with usury, and superabundantly;_ but from him who profits not by the grace received, letting it lie idle and fruitless, because he believes he is rich enough, _from him shall be taken that which he thinketh himself to possess and that which he does not possess_. This means, that graces already received shall be taken away, because he has not traded with them, and those which have been prepared for him shall not be bestowed upon him, since he has rendered himself unworthy of them by his negligence. All this, however, is not to be understood of _sufficient_ grace, which is never denied by God to anyone, but of _efficacious_ grace, which, by a just judgment of God, is not granted to tepid and ungrateful souls. The thirst for riches and honours, by which worldlings are tormented, never allows them to say, _Enough_. And yet they ought to be contented with a little, for experience teaches us that the highest dignities and honours and great wealth frequently occasion the loss of souls. It is in regard of such temporal matters that we should say, _I have sufficient_. But, with regard to spiritual goods, let us never believe that we possess them in sufficient abundance, so long as we remain in this land of exile, but let us make every possible effort _to advance day by day from virtue to virtue_.