9781644135945

The Light of the World
Prayer
To Thee, O Lord, have I lifted up my soul. In Thee, O my God, I put my trust; let me not be
ashamed. Neither let my enemies laugh at me; for none of them that wait on Thee shall be
confounded. . . . Show, O Lord, Thy ways to me and teach me Thy paths. Direct me in Thy
truth and teach me; for Thou art God my Savior, and on Thee have I waited all the day long.
Remember, O Lord, Thy bowels of compassion, and Thy mercies, that are from the beginning
of the world. The sins of my youth and my ignorances do not remember. According to Thy
mercy remember Thou me; for Thy goodness’ sake, O Lord. (Ps 24:1–7.)
Wednesday
“Lift up your heads because your redemption is at hand” (Gospel). These are the glad tidings
of Advent. “We look for the Savior” (Phil 3:20), in the “blessed hope and coming of the glory
of the great God and our Savior, Jesus Christ” (Ti 2:13). Christmas will bring us redemption
and pardon for our sins.
“He shall save His people from their sins” (Mt 1:21). By committing sin men have inflicted
insult on God. Sin is a disgraceful attack upon God, a foolish attempt to cast Him from His
throne and to banish Him from the world which He created. He, the almighty Creator, is to
have no place in the world He created. Who is capable of making satisfaction to Him for this
insufferable insult? No man is capable of it. How, then, is satisfaction of an infinite value to be
made for the infinite offense? The good works of all men and of all generations would not suffice.
What reparation they would be capable of making would be limited and therefore inadequate,
and could not repair the offense to the infinite majesty of God. Even God Himself could not
satisfy for the sins we have committed. Infinite majesty cannot lower itself sufficiently to make
satisfaction commensurate to the offense. And so we should have remained in our sins, the
children of wrath, unless there was found one who is at one and the same time God and man,
and who is willing to take our sins upon Himself.
Christ “emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men,
and in habit found as a man. He humbled Himself, becoming obedient unto death, even to the
death of the cross” (Phil 2:7 f.). By His death He blotted out “the handwriting of the decree that
was against us, which was contrary to us. And He hath taken the same out of the way, fastening
it to the cross” (Col 2:14). He offers His blood as the price of our redemption. All the tears, the
prayers, the works of penance, the sufferings, and the satisfactions of the entire race cannot be
compared in value with one drop of His precious blood. Christ and Christ alone can redeem
us from our sins.
He could have left us in our sins. We were all eternally lost and eternally separated from
God. But Christ’s love for us constrained Him to come and make reparation for His people.
How deep should be our gratitude! “I will heal thee of thy wounds” ( Jer 30:17). Christ comes
to heal our wounds. He is the good Samaritan who finds the poor man that was left half-dead
by the wayside. He pours the oil of His grace into the wounds of the sufferer and gives Himself
no rest until the victim of this attack is completely recovered.
Christmas heals the mortal wound of our spiritual blindness, which for so long has
kept us occupied with earthly things and has driven us to the worship of false gods, which
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