9781644135945

The Light of the World
narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many
there are who go in thereat. How narrow is the gate and strait is the way that leadeth to life, and
few there are that find it” (Mt 7:13–14).
Prayer
Be gracious to Thy people, O Lord, and as Thou dost make them devoted to Thee, mercifully
cherish them with Thy benign assistance.
Hear us, O merciful God, and show to our minds the light of Thy grace. Through Christ
our Lord. Amen.
Ember Saturday
The liturgy of the Mass today again recalls the early ages of the Church. The stational church is St.
Peter’s in Rome, and the divine services begin at night. Early Sunday morning, at sunrise, we bring
the service to a close with the Eucharistic sacrifice and the reception of Holy Communion. Thus
we pass the lenten night of our earthly existence to our real life after the resurrection of Easter.
The liturgy attempts to arouse in us a longing for redemption and the brightness of Easter
morning. We return to the hour when for the first time, at the moment of our baptism, the
heavenly light shone upon us. We cast off at that moment the darkness of sin and freed ourselves
of Satan and his pomps. We turned to Christ, the light of men, the sun of life, and promised:
I believe; I dedicate myself to God; I dedicate myself to Jesus Christ; I dedicate myself to the
Holy Spirit and to the Church. Today we relive that moment. “This day the Lord thy God hath
commanded thee to do these commandments and judgments [baptismal vows], and to keep
and fulfill them with all thy heart and with all thy soul. Thou hast chosen the Lord this day to be
thy God, and to walk in His ways, and keep His ceremonies and precepts and judgments, and
obey His commands. And the Lord hath chosen thee this day to be His peculiar people and to
keep all His commandments, . . . that thou mayest be a holy people of the Lord thy God” (First
lesson). As the people of the Lord, we make our journey through the night of our earthly life
toward the light. We are surrounded on all sides by hostile adversaries (Second and third lessons).
We see ourselves menaced by Satan, by the world, by our base passions, by the perversity of
our own heart. We therefore cry out to God, “Have mercy upon us, O God of all, and behold
us in the light of Thy mercies” (Fourth lesson). “Look down, O God our protector, and grant
us who are burdened with the weight of our sins, to obtain mercy and thus serve Thee with a
tranquil mind” (Second Collect). The liturgy here expresses its longing for light, freedom, and
resurrection from the death and bondage of sin. It longs for the coming of the angel of the Lord,
who will snatch us from the darkness of the night and lead us to the brightness of eternal day,
as he saved the three young men from the fiery furnace (Fifth lesson).
The Mass shows us how this longing may be fulfilled. In the Gospel we are led up to
Mount Tabor so that with Peter, in whose church we celebrate the holy mysteries today, we
may be witnesses of the transfiguration of the Lord. The path of our life leads through the
night of our earthly pilgrimage, and as we follow it we must embrace the cross, mortification,
humiliation, and suffering; but it will lead us finally to the heights of Mount Tabor and
transfiguration. Christ is the head and we are the members of one body. Today He appears
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