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The Light of the World
“To Thee I have lifted up my soul. In Thee, O my God, I put my trust” (Introit). With these
words we express our joy as we fix our eyes on the Gospel which promises us the Redeemer.
“Show, O Lord, Thy ways to me and teach me Thy paths” (Introit), for Thou alone canst redeem
me. The Kyrie is an ardent expression of sorrow for sin and of our intense longing for the
coming of the Savior and the kingdom of God. “Stir up Thy power, O God, and come.” Only
a divine power can accomplish our redemption and rescue us, individually and as a race, from
the perils threatening our salvation. Great indeed are the things that the work of redemption
is to accomplish in us.
In the Epistle we learn that we must cast off the works of darkness. We must put aside rioting,
drunkenness, chambering and impurities, contention and envy. Having rid ourselves of these
things, we are to put on Jesus Christ. When Christ has been so firmly established in our hearts
that we can say with St. Paul, “I live, now not I; but Christ liveth in me,” then truly the kingdom
of God has been perfectly established in our souls. May God give all of us the grace to reach that
state of perfection. In the Gradual and in the Alleluia verse we pray that this may come to pass.
Our hearts should be filled with joy at the good tidings that Advent brings to us. “Lift up your
heads, because your redemption is at hand.” In the quiet weeks of Advent we become aware
of the mystery that surrounds the Blessed Virgin. She prepares for the journey to Bethlehem.
In the city of David a Savior will be born unto you, “your redemption is at hand.” The Virgin
approaches us again now in the Holy Sacrifice in another way, but with an equal measure of
grace. Blessed is the moment when the priest bends low over the host and, falling on his knees,
adores the fruit of his priestly words. At that moment both the priest and the altar become
sanctuaries of the Most High. “Your redemption is at hand.” With earnest longing we approach
the Redeemer with the words, “To Thee I have lifted up my soul.”
With our gift of bread and wine we offer up to Christ the Lord our soul with all its powers
and all its aspirations. We are no longer engaged in the “works of darkness,” for we have rejected
everything that is opposed to the operation of grace in our souls. We have “put on Christ” and,
having thus united ourselves to Him in spirit, we become priests and victims of the sacrifice.
Clothed with the sacred garment of His priesthood, His purity, His virtues, His complete submission
to the divine will, our minds and hearts must be in harmony with the will of the eternal
and holy Father. With this thought in mind, we can say in all sincerity: “Hallowed be Thy name;
Thy kingdom come.”
“To Thee I have lifted up my soul.” In the mind of the Church the participation of the
faithful in the celebration of the Mass should not be an empty ceremony. She desires that they
cooperate with all their mental and spiritual powers. She seeks to lay hold on the whole man,
on his heart, his inclinations, on all that is dearest to him, and to offer them up to God as a
holocaust. Only in this way can she free us from the entanglements of the world and the flesh.
“The kingdom of God, your redemption, is at hand.”
A wonderful blessing results from the devout attendance at Mass. “Your redemption is at
hand” when you begin to make a fervent use of Holy Communion. “The Lord will give goodness,
and our earth shall yield her fruit” (Communion). This prayer makes a delicate allusion to the
Mother of God. She was united in her first great communion with God at the moment when
the angel announced to her that she was to be the mother of Christ. In the person of Mary, the
earth, that is, the human race, brings forth its most precious fruit, Christ. When we receive the
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