9781644135945

The Light of the World
Prayer
O God, who seest that we put not our trust in anything that we do of ourselves; mercifully grant
that by the protection of the Doctor of the Gentiles, we may be defended against all adversities.
Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Tuesday
The stational church for Sexagesima Sunday is the basilica of St. Paul in Rome. We assemble
there in the house of the holy Apostle and feel ourselves united to him in the closest fellowship
as “companions of the saints.” He is filled with the spirit of Christ, burning with zeal for Christ,
and prepared to undergo all sufferings and hardships for Him (Epistle).
“I know a man in Christ” (Epistle). This man is St. Paul himself. We are amazed when we read
today his account of the sufferings and labors he undertook to win souls to Christ. He has suffered
in many labors, in frequent imprisonment, from abuse without measure; often in danger of death,
five times he was beaten with rods. Once he was stoned, three times he suffered shipwreck; his
travels were endless; he endured hunger, thirst, fastings, cold, blows, and unrelenting persecutions.
This is the “man in Christ” who was “caught up into paradise and heard secret words which it is
not granted to man to utter” (Epistle). To this same man is given a sting of the flesh, an angel of
Satan to buffet him. “Gladly therefore will I glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may
dwell in me.” This is “a man in Christ,” a man of courage, of self-sacrifice, of heroic zeal for souls.
What kind of men are we? We are so weak, so querulous, so timid in our piety, so self-centered,
so miserly in our dealings with God and our fellow man, so unskilled in the practice of virtue.
How has Paul acquired this breadth and profundity of holiness? He has identified himself
with Christ and united himself to Him in all things. He feels the strength of Christ in his veins;
Christ’s aims and objectives live in him; he is inflamed with a love of Christ and of souls which
gives him no rest, but drives him on to undertake all sacrifices, sufferings, and labors; and each
new trial and persecution only serves to renew the fire of that love. St. Paul is no longer conscious
of anything but Christ; everything else is vanity in his eyes. He has only one ambition,
and that is to gain Christ and to have Christ take complete possession of him. “For to me, to
live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Phil 1:21).
By baptism we too have been incorporated in Christ and have become living members of His
body, the Church. “I am the vine, you the branches. He that abideth in Me and I in him, the
same beareth much fruit” ( Jn 15:5). By the daily reception of Holy Communion this union is
intensified and perfected. In this manner the “man in Christ” is created.
The true Christian has a profound faith in his incorporation with Christ, and is sincerely
grateful for the favor of having been made a branch of the vine, and for the privilege of sharing
the life and strength of the vine. “I can do all things in Him who strengtheneth me,” in Him
whose life fills me and vitalizes me. He shares His life with me through Holy Communion.
Today we assemble in the house of St. Paul to join him in offering the Holy Sacrifice and
in receiving Holy Communion, and to become like him, a “man in Christ.” We return to our
daily tasks and carry with us to all our undertakings the strength of St. Paul and Christ. “I can
do all things in Him who strengtheneth me” (Phil 4:13).
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