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The Easter Cycle
essence of a good Christian life. The devout Christian submits to the holy will of God
in all things. Are we so disposed? Do we seek first the will of God and look to Him for
guidance in all things?
At the Offertory of the Mass today we place our heart and our will on the paten. We will die
to ourselves in order to rise again with Christ and live according to the divine will. In Holy
Communion He inspires us with His spirit and supports us by His strength. We conform
ourselves to Him who followed, not His own will, but the will of His Father. “My meat
is to do the will of Him that sent Me.” In our lives, as in the life of Christ, there must be a
complete conformity to the will of the Father. This should be the fruit of our reception of
Holy Communion.
Christians often show irreverence to God and a distrust of His providence by their neglect
of His commandments. They often attach too little importance to them, readily transgress
them, and show them little reverence. Thus they enter on a path which leads them to sin and
to eventual ruin. This ruin, which is caused by sin, affects not only the individual soul, but also
families and nations. “O Lord, be merciful to me for Thy name’s sake” (Offertory). Make known
to me the ways of life when You come to me in Holy Communion; “fill me with joy with Thy
countenance” already here on earth, then forever in heaven (Communion).
Prayer
Grant us, we beseech Thee, O Lord, that being disciplined by salutary fasting and abstaining
from baneful vices, we may the more easily obtain Thy merciful forgiveness.
Grant, we beseech Thee, O almighty God, that we who seek the favor of Thy protection,
may be delivered from all evil and serve Thee with a quiet mind. Through Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Thursday
Today at the tomb of the holy physicians, Cosmas and Damian, the Church implores God that
we may have the strength to keep holy the second half of Lent, and continue our penance with
courage and fidelity.
Jesus enters into the house of Simon Peter. “Simon’s wife’s mother was taken with a great fever,
and they besought Him for her. And standing over her, He commanded the fever, and it left her.
And immediately rising, she ministered to them” (Gospel). Christ was moved to perform this act
of charity by the pressing desire of His heart to help those who suffer. He is in name and by His
very essence a Savior. St. Augustine, in explaining this Gospel, says that we are afflicted by the
fever of avarice, passions, lust, ambition, and anger. We are sick and acknowledge with humility
that we are weak and that we have been guilty of sins and imperfections of all kinds. Only Christ
can cure us. We hasten to Him now in the Mass and at the time of Holy Communion, in the
reception of the sacrament of penance, by our acts of contrition. “The eyes of all hope in Thee,
O Lord; and Thou givest them meat in due season. Thou openest Thy hand and fillest every
living creature with blessings” (Gradual). Thou art the Savior. Thou dost come to us during the
holy season of Lent, and particularly at the time of Mass and Holy Communion, to be a savior
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