9781644135945

The Light of the World
positions of rank, and who wield great power and influence. It seeks always its own interests;
it knows well the art of making profit at all times and under all circumstances; it is a master at
carrying out its own designs and serving its own interests. It usurps a large part of the life even
of pious and spiritual persons. Under the pretense of serving God, it is continually seeking itself
and its own natural desires, its own comfort, its own honor. In all matters of the spirit it follows
the prudence of the flesh and preaches moderation and mediocrity. It is one of the chief causes
of negligence, and is a fruitful source of quarrels, disputes, coolness towards others, envy, and
of an unwarranted solicitude for its own good reputation. It destroys tranquility, peace of soul.
It gives men an exaggerated sense of their own importance. With good reason the masters of
the spiritual life have called it “the greatest evil” on earth. What a host of men there are who are
ruled by this tyrannical spirit of independence!
The Holy Ghost is the Spirit of Christ, and He has communicated Himself to the soul
of man with all His gifts and graces. “The spirit of the Lord is upon Me. Wherefore He
hath anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He hath sent Me to heal the contrite
of heart” (Lk 4:18). By the “spirit of Christ” we understand especially the principle that
moved and motivated His will and His judgment. All of His actions were controlled by His
burning desire to accept the will of His Father and perform it at all times. He was driven
by the urge to overcome all things and accomplish all that was necessary for fulfilling the
will of the Father and for redeeming mankind. In Christ the head and in us the members,
the “spirit of Christ” is the spirit of love for the Father, the spirit of humility, of obedience,
of recollection, of prayer, of suffering, and of sacrifice. This spirit causes the Christian to
live and act according to the eight beatitudes, to rejoice in God, to desire to be as nothing
in the eyes of the world, to be spurned and rejected by the world. This spirit inspires us to
desire a life of renunciation and detachment, and complete union with God. It makes us
seek only God’s will and honor. This is the Spirit “whom the world cannot receive because
it seeth Him not nor knoweth Him” ( Jn 14:17).
“The Spirit of the Lord hath filled the whole world, alleluia” (Introit). This is the joyful message
of Pentecost. Let us cast off, then, the spirit of independence, the spirit of the world, with its
purely natural inclinations. The Holy Ghost, the Spirit of Christ, will take possession of us,
guide us, inspire us, and direct us. He will give us the treasures of His light. He will give our
wills a Christian nobility, an unconquerable strength, and the stability which we will need in
order to live a life of virtue. He will overcome the resistance of our self-will, and subdue our
rebellious nature. He will make us the willing instruments of the will of God and the salvation
of souls. How foolish of us to refuse to lay aside the treacherous spirit of worldliness! “Come,
Holy Ghost, fill the hearts of Thy faithful.”
“And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost,” with the Spirit of Christ (Acts 2:4).
This was true of the apostles; it is likewise true of the priest at his ordination; it is true of
all of us at our confirmation. The spirit of Christ must live in us. We Christians, especially
the priests and religious, must conform ourselves to the great concepts of Christ as laid
down in the gospel.
We must form our lives according to His principles and motives, and make them evident
in our own personality. If only we were filled with faith in the abiding presence of the Holy
Ghost, and with trust in His assistance! If we but had a clear vision of the efficacious life of the
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