9781644135945

The Light of the World
the Samaritan woman, who found Christ at the well of Jacob; henceforth we shall live by
His grace and His spirit.
Now during the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, Jesus stands at the well of Jacob, the fountain of grace.
There He waits for me, the Samaritan, that He may teach me by means of the Epistle and Gospel.
He has been waiting for me at the well of Jacob that He might lead me to the Father through
the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, that He might apply to my soul through this means the graces
that He has merited for me, and that He may even give Himself to me in Holy Communion. In
the Communion we sing: “He that shall drink of the water that I will give him, saith the Lord,
it shall become in him a fountain of water springing up unto life everlasting.” He gives us this
water to drink in Holy Communion. Thus we have within ourselves the fountain which springs
up into life everlasting.
“Show me, O Lord, a token for good; that they who hate me may see and be confounded,
because Thou, O Lord, hast helped me and has comforted me. Incline Thy ear, O Lord, and hear
me, for I am needy and poor” (Introit). The Church wends her way over the long desert road of
her earthly pilgrimage, poor and helpless, deprived of all human support, persecuted, and hated
by the devil, the prince of this world, and by all his minions. She has only one support: the rock
that she finds in the desert, the life-giving rock, Christ in the Holy Eucharist. God entrusted
to her the Holy Eucharist as a sign of His goodness. She will not fail, but she will live, pursuing
her way confidently to eternal life, serene in the possession of Christ in the Eucharist. “In God
hath my heart confided, and I have been helped; and my flesh hath flourished again, and with
my will I will give praise to Him” (Gradual).
Here with Jesus in the splendor of the radiant host, our flesh flourishes again. We come here
with the people of Israel, languishing and near death from the trials of the desert; we come with
the sinner, the Samaritan woman. Here He works each day a sign of His goodness.
“Hearken to the voice of my prayer, O my King and my God; for to thee will I pray, O Lord”
(Offertory). He heard the prayer of the people of Israel in the desert; He heard the prayer of the
sinner at the well of Jacob. He will also hear the Church and us, her children, daily in the Holy
Sacrifice of the Mass. “Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses. . . . And
lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” Only with the Lord is there salvation and
life. “Come to me, . . . and I will refresh you” (Mt 11:28).
Prayer
Look down with merciful approval on our fasts, we beseech Thee, O Lord, that as we abstain
from food with our body, so too may we refrain from sin in our minds.
Grant, we beseech Thee, almighty God, that we who trust in Thy protection, may by Thy
help overcome all things standing in our way. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Saturday
Today we devote ourselves entirely to penance. We acknowledge the sins by which we have
proved ourselves unfaithful to God, and we pray to the Lord in the Introit of the Mass: “Give
ear, O Lord, to my words; understand my cry; harken to the voice of my prayer, O my King
and my God.”
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