9781644135945

The Light of the World
“The kingdom of heaven is like to leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal
until the whole was leavened.” In the kingdom of Christ, the Church, this leavening process is
accomplished by the operation of grace. God has placed in her custody the holy sacraments,
which are the normal channels through which grace is given to men. How fortunate we are to
be members of God’s instrument of salvation, the Church! Let us remain ever faithful to her.
Grace is the leaven that will prepare our souls for heaven; however, our cooperation also is
required. Unless we permit ourselves to be leavened by it, grace cannot accomplish its purpose
in us. If we place no obstacle in the way of grace, it will transform us and lift us up to God. The
obstacle we most frequently place in the way of grace is the attitude of indifference.
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.
Saturday
At the close of the season of Epiphany, the Church begs God for the grace to be spiritually
disposed to accomplish whatever He requires of it.
Grant, O God, that we may ever meditate on spiritual truths; for “it is the spirit that quickeneth;
the flesh profiteth nothing. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life”
( Jn 6:64). The liturgy attempts to enlighten our mind and heart and to elevate them to God.
Liturgical prayer is the effort of the soul to lift its eyes to the source of all enlightenment, to
Christ, the splendor of the Father. “For you were heretofore darkness, but now light in the
Lord. Walk, then, as children of the light” (Eph 5:8). When we were baptized, the priest
prayed: “O almighty and eternal God, . . . drive out from him all blindness of heart, . . . that
having been impressed with the sign of Thy wisdom, he may progress from day to day.
Enlighten him with the light of Thy wisdom, . . . and give him true knowledge.” In the daily
celebration of the Mass this same theme is presented to us in the Epistles and Gospels in
order that the supernatural light may penetrate our soul; thus we come eventually to view
all things as they appear in the eyes of God and of our blessed Savior. “Therefore, if you be
risen with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is sitting at the right hand
of God. Mind the things that are above, not the things that are upon the earth; for you are
dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God” (Col 3:1–3).
We should be spiritually minded, as our Lord pointed out to us in the beautiful Sermon
on the Mount. “Blessed are the poor in spirit; . . . blessed are the meek; . . . blessed are they that
mourn; . . . blessed are they that hunger and thirst after justice; . . . blessed are the merciful; . . .
blessed are the clean of heart; . . . blessed are the peacemakers; . . . blessed are they that suffer
persecution for justice’ sake” (Mt 5:3 ff.). He is spiritual who plucks out his eye or who casts
away his hand if they lead him into sin. He is spiritual who, when his coat is taken, offers his cloak
also. The spirit of God abides in the man who truly loves his neighbor, and who for the love of
Christ loves not only his friends, but his enemies also, and who finds the courage to love even
those who persecute him (Mt 5:29 ff.). We are spiritual when we have become followers of the
Lord, when we receive with joy the word of the Gospel in spite of persecution, when we turn
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