Fifty-second Sunday.
THE WAITING-TIME.
FIRST READING.
"I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever."—John 14:16.
OUR Lord had told the apostles that though He was going to heaven, He would send them another Comforter, who would be with them for ever, and in whom He Himself should be present with them—even God the Holy Ghost, who is One with God the Father and God the Son.
Ten days after He had ascended up to heaven, on the great day of the feast of weeks (or, as we call it, Whitsunday), as the disciples were together in one place at Jerusalem, they heard a sound like the noise of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house; and there came flames like tongues divided in the midst, and sat on the head of each disciple—not burning, but shining.
And wonderful knowledge came to all of them—they understood all they could not understand before; and they could speak all sorts of different languages, without ever having learnt them. These wonders were to show them that God the Holy Ghost had come down from heaven to be with them, and to dwell in them, and help them, and make them strong for ever and ever.
