9781644135945

The Light of the World
know in part; but then I shall know even as I am known. Now there remaineth faith, hope, and
charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity” (Epistle).
These virtues are the treasures of the Church: She possesses faith; she has hope; she has, in the
person of many of her children, knowledge and the gifts of prophecy and of miracles. But above
all these treasures is the gift of love — the pure and perfect love of God. This love fulfills perfectly
the will of God, not out of fear or because it is constrained, not for the sake of any reward, but
simply in order to be pleasing to God and to give joy to Him who has first given Himself to us.
This love controls all thoughts and desires, directs them to God in prayer, in work, and in service.
This love makes its possessor strong and eager to bear all sacrifices and trials for love of Him.
This love of God makes the Church inexhaustible in her works of charity. The history of
the Church is one uninterrupted epic of heroic fraternal charity. She has been unremitting in
her service of the orphans, the poor, the widows, the slaves, the exiled, the imprisoned, the
wretched, and the helpless. What is the life of her priests, her missioners, her religious of both
sexes, but a marvelous story of lives devoted to the spiritual and corporal works of mercy.
We should examine ourselves carefully according to the maxims of the Epistle. Have we
the spirit of charity? In baptism the spirit of charity was planted in our soul. By the offering of
the Holy Sacrifice and the reception of Communion the flame of charity is stirred to life and
increased. Do we live and practice fraternal charity? Have we not lost many opportunities to
practice it? Let us beg our Lord, “Enkindle in us the fire of Thy love.”
Prayer
Graciously hear our prayers, we beseech Thee, O Lord, and guard us from all adversity, who
have been loosened from the bonds of sin. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Tuesday
Today we stand silent before the beginning of the lenten season. The Church has prepared us
for it in three stages. In the lessons at Matins she presents the three great patriarchs, Adam,
Noe, and Abraham. Adam, who is the author of Original Sin, is also a figure of Christ; Noe,
having been rescued from the Deluge by the ark, is a figure of mankind rescued from sin
through the Church by means of baptism. Abraham, offering up his son on Mount Moriah, is
a figure of the sacrificial death of Christ on Calvary. Three great figures of the New Testament
appear in the three stational churches on each of these three Sundays, St. Lawrence, St.
Paul, and St. Peter. Three main thoughts dominate the Gospels for these three Sundays: the
invitation to the laborers to work in the vineyard of the master (Septuagesima); the sowing
of the seed of the word and of grace in the Church (Sexagesima); the healing of the blind
man (the Church) by baptism, the beginning of our enlightenment in the eternal Easter of
heaven (Quinquagesima).
“At that time Jesus took unto Him the Twelve and said to them: Behold, we go up to Jerusalem,
and all things shall be accomplished which were written by the prophets concerning the Son
of Man; for He shall be delivered to the Gentiles and shall be mocked and scourged and spit
upon; and they will put Him to death, and the third day He shall rise again” (Gospel). With
208