When the Holy Ghost came upon the apostles, they were all
filled with wisdom and understanding and they were gifted with
the gift of Fortitude, in order that with courage they could execute
all that the understanding has perceived about the holy and wonders of God.
All
the people were filled with wonder and astonishment at these events. They
looked and asked each other, saying: “What is this that we hear? Are not all
these that speak Galileans? How then do we hear them speaking in our own
language? Jews, Proselytes, Romans, Latin, Greeks, Cretans, Arabs, Medes and
all the rest of us from different parts of the world.”
This
miracle, in hearing the Apostles spoke in their own language, caused great
astonishment. All the Apostles, on account of the plenitude of science and of
gifts received, were able to speak in the languages of all nations, because
that was necessary for the preaching of the Gospel, yet on that occasion they
all spoke the language of Palestine. Using only this idiom they were understood
by all the different nationalities there present, as if they had spoken in the
several idioms. This miracle the Lord wrought at the time in order that they
might be understood and believed by those different nations, and in order that
Saint Peter might not be obliged to repeat in the different languages of those
present what he preached to them concerning the mysteries of faith. He preached
only once and all heard and understood him, each in his own language, and so it
happened also with the other Apostles.
So when
the Holy Ghost descent on someone, He first of all fill him with the seven
gifts (Isaiah 11:1-3)
making him ready to work for Christ with the same zeal
which filled the apostles when they spread round the world preaching to all
nations. He that receives these gifts is filled with the graces of God. When God’s
grace touches a man, it urges him to labour for the reward. He who does not
labour to maintain the life of grace and make use of it for his own good and
the good of others, steals from the body of the faithful something which belongs
to it, and thereby become a robber in the community. The signs that accompany one
filled with Holy Ghost are the fruits produced in those persons. There are
twelve fruits of the Holy Ghost. They are:. charity, joy,
peace, patience, benignity (kindness),
goodness, longanimity (generosity), Mildness
(gentleness), faith, modesty,
continency (self control), and
chastity. (Gal. 5:22-23. Douay - Rheims version). So these and many others are the signs of the Holy Ghost when
He descents on someone, not what many are mistaking for signs these days.
