9781644135945

The Light of the World
think that he doth a service to God” (Gospel). But the devout participation in the Mass makes
the Christian not only a heroic witness to Christ, but also a victorious hero with Christ. “I will
come to you” in Holy Communion.
“I pray, not that Thou shouldst take them out of the world” with its illusions, its deceptions,
its mockery, and its persecutions, “but that Thou shouldst keep them from evil” ( Jn 17:15).
This is the noble fruit of sacrifice and of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. We are given the grace
to persevere, to conquer the world and sin and hell.
Prayer
Almighty and eternal God, grant that our will may be ever devoted to Thee, and that we may
serve Thy majesty with a sincere heart. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Meditation
The Lord has ascended into heaven. The Church gazes fondly upward and promises, “Thy face,
O Lord, I will seek” (Introit). 18 But the Church does not forget the commission given her by
the Lord: “You shall give testimony [to Me]” (Gospel). The Church bears testimony to Christ
by the fact that she loves Him and suffers for Him.
The Church loves. Her very being and existence consists in her accomplishment of this task of
fraternal charity assigned to her by God. Because the Church is the kingdom of God on earth,
it is an organism of fraternal love. “This is My commandment, that you love one another as I
have loved you” ( Jn 15:12). “By this shall all men know that you are My disciples, if you have
love one for another” ( Jn 13:35). By this same characteristic it will be clear to all men that she
is the Church of Christ. “Dearly beloved, be prudent and watch in prayers. But before all things
have a constant mutual charity among yourselves; for charity covereth a multitude of sins.
Using hospitality one towards another without murmuring; as every man hath received grace,
ministering the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. If any man
speak, let him speak the words of God. If any minister, let him do it as of the power which God
administereth; that in all things God may be honored, through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Epistle).
What more noble vocation could one have than that of giving testimony to Christ? We fulfill this
vocation to the degree that we practice charity in our thoughts, in our words, and in our works.
The Church suffers. “And you shall give testimony, because you are with Me from the beginning.
These things have I spoken to you that you may not be scandalized. They will put you
out of the synagogues; yea, the hour cometh that whosoever killeth you will think that he doth
a service to God. And these things will they do to you because they have not known the Father
nor Me. But these things I have told you, that when the hour shall come you may remember that
I told you of them” (Gospel). The Church indeed suffers. She shares the lot of her bridegroom.
“If they have persecuted Me, they will also persecute you” ( Jn 15:20).
St. Peter was crucified; St. Paul was beheaded. Uncounted thousands, champions of
Christian faith and virtue, have given their lives in testimony of Christ. Bishops, priests, deacons,
18
Formerly the Mass today was celebrated in the church of St. Mary of the Martyrs in
Rome, which was once the Roman Pantheon. Here the veil of Veronica, which bears the
image of our Lord’s face and is now preserved in St. Peter’s, was once kept.
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