Flower of Devotion

According to the apparitions of Venerable Mary of Jesus
In the company of the great Heaven Queen, the apostles were with the rest of the disciples and faithful, in a cheerful disposition, in the dining hall. They were waiting for the fulfillment of the Savior’s promise to send them the Holy Spirit, the comforter, who would teach them all things and remind them of all that they had heard in His teachings. They were all of the same mind, and so agreeable by love, that not even one of them had a single thought, not a single feeling, not a single act of the will to oppose the other. They were all in their thinking and in their deeds as if they were of one heart and one soul.
In the fullness of her wisdom and graces, Mary, Queen of Angels, first knew the time and hour which God’s will had appointed for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles. When Pentecost was over, that is, fifty days after the Resurrection of our Saviour, the Blessed Virgin exhorted the apostles, disciples, and holy women, of whom there were 120 in all, early in the morning of the feast day, to pray and trust with all the greater fervour, because the Spirit of God would soon visit them.
While they were all thus united with the Queen of Heaven in common prayer, about three o’clock there was heard in the air a violent sound, like a terrible thunder, and a strong wind combined with great brightness.
Soon the light filled the dining room, and the fire of God spread over the entire congregation. A tongue of fire appeared over the head of each of the one hundred and twenty present, and at the same moment the Holy Ghost descended upon them. He filled each and every one of them with supernatural gifts, and at the same time produced very different effects in the dining-room and in Jerusalem as a whole, according to the different dispositions of the persons who took part in this mystery.

In the Blessed Virgin these consequences were of the divine kind, and were so high in the admiration of the angels and of the court of heaven that we mortals can neither comprehend nor express them. She received for herself more from the gifts and efficacy of the Holy Ghost than all the other saints combined, and her glory at that time surpassed the glory of both the angels and the blessed.
The Apostles were also filled with the Holy Spirit, for they had acquired a high degree of justifying grace. By virtue of the privilege which had come to them alone, they were at the same time so firmly established in grace that they could never lose it again. At the same time, each of them received in a corresponding degree the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, namely, wisdom, understanding, knowledge, godliness, counsel, power, and fear of God. By this great and wonderful benefit the apostles were so exalted and restored that they were now useful servants of the New Law, equipped to establish the Gospel Church throughout the world.
And in the other disciples and faithful who received the Holy Spirit in the dining hall, the Lord made comparatively the same gifts, only they were not as established in grace as the apostles. For they have received graces and gifts in greater and lesser measure, according to the preparation which each one has brought with him and the office which has fallen to him in the holy Church.
The signs that accompanied the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles shook all Jerusalem. All the inhabitants were astonished at this extraordinary event. And as the news of the phenomena which had taken place in the dining-room spread like wildfire, a great multitude of people rushed thither to inquire what had happened. The Jews were celebrating one of their important feasts on this day, and for this reason, and still more because of God’s special arrangement, Jerusalem was filled with strangers from all the nations of the world. For to all these God wished to reveal His miracles, and to show that the kingdom of the new law and the new grace had begun.
When the holy apostles, inflamed with love, saw that so many people were gathered before the door of the dining-room, they came out of the upper room and began to preach before the whole crowd the secrets of the holy faith and eternal life. Whereas they had been fearful before the descent of the Holy Spirit, they were now empowered by supernatural strength and courageous. The words went out of their mouths like rays of light and fire, so that they astonished their hearers. And since they also spoke foreign languages and were understood by all, even people of foreign nations, the admiration of the crowds was all the greater. Many of them, deeply moved by the words of the Apostles, asked St. Peter and the other Apostles what they must do in order to be saved. St. Peter answered, “Do penance, and let every one of you be baptized, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of your sins; so you will receive the gifts of the Holy Ghost.”
As a result of that talk, about three thousand people accepted the faith of Jesus Christ that day.