9781644135945

The Light of the World
Would that someone could testify to our fruitfulness as Paul testified to that of his disciples!
Christ, the mustard seed, wishes to take root in our hearts. The Church continues to nourish the
seed which God has planted in our hearts; she nourishes it with the grace which she dispenses
through her sacraments. God grant that we may not prove unfertile soil.
In the Offertory procession the Church expresses her gratitude for the works that the Lord
has accomplished in her. In union with the offering of Christ, she offers whatever the seed of
the Lord’s word has produced in the heart of her children. In the Secreta she asks that “this
offering cleanse and renew us, govern and protect us.” In the Mass, Christ will place Himself
in the hands of the Church to be offered to the Father for all her needs. In the sacrificial repast
of Holy Communion, He will become the food of our souls and will renew them with His life.
Holy Communion now becomes the mustard seed that is sown in the souls of men.
Like the leaven which the woman hid in the meal, the Spirit of God is planted in the erring
soul of man that it may fill that soul with its life. The Spirit of Christ must penetrate all
our thoughts, all our desires, and all our actions. Christ will not rest until He has transformed
us entirely into Himself. Each day, if we cooperate with the grace of Christ, we become an
epiphany, a manifestation of the power of Christ. All who see us will know and recognize the
wonderful power of Christ in us.
In the Holy Eucharist, Christ is the mustard seed and the leaven which the woman hid in
three measures of meal. The Church plants the word of God in the deepest part of our soul; but
it must spread its influence to every part of our being until we can say with St. Paul, “And I live,
now not I, but Christ liveth in me” (Gal 2:20). This should be the fruit of our daily Mass and
Communion: our soul should grow strong on the bread with which it is fed.
Prayer
Grant us, we beseech Thee, O almighty God, ever to fix our thoughts on reasonable things and
to do what is pleasing to Thee both in words and in deeds. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Monday
“The kingdom of God is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field;
which is the least indeed of all seeds; but when it is grown up, it is greater than all herbs and
becometh a tree; so that the birds of the air come and dwell in the branches thereof ” (Gospel).
The kingdom of heaven mentioned in the Gospel is the Church. “Fear not, little flock, for it
hath pleased your Father to give you a kingdom” (Lk 12:32).
It “is the least indeed of all the seeds.” The kingdom which Christ established was indeed unimpressive
and small. It was quite different from the kingdom which the Jews had anticipated. They
had hoped for a Messias who would help them throw off the hated yoke of the Roman power
and establish the kingdom of Israel. They had prepared for a Messias who would come with great
earthly power, pomp, and majesty. Such was their purely human conception of the mission of
the Messias. But the thoughts of God are not the thoughts of man. The kingdom of God was
to be very insignificant in its beginning, as was the life of its divine Founder. Although He was
the Son of God and the splendor of the Father, Christ humbled Himself and became obedient,
158