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The Light of the World
This life gives us the ability to bear our trials and adversities with calmness and resignation
for the love of God, and to make use of them for our own improvement. This cultivation of
the interior life is our best guarantee that God’s blessing will rest upon our work, and that our
efforts will bear fruit.
“The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the protector of my life;
of whom shall I be afraid? My enemies that trouble me have themselves been weakened and
have fallen” (Introit). Thus speaks the man who lives a true interior life. He sees God in everything
that happens to him. By his intentions he directs all his actions to God; he never relies
on himself, but depends entirely and completely on God, trusting in His merciful protection.
“Enlighten my eyes that I may never sleep in death” (Offertory). Give us a wholesome understanding
of the true interior life, which sees God in everything, which directs all its actions
to God and for the love of God. This prayer we place on the paten at the Mass today: “Draw our
rebellious wills unto Thee” (Secreta), that in all our actions and works we may live for Thee;
that we may seek Thee and Thy holy will and Thy glorification.
The Lord wishes to continue His life in us — the vine living in its branches. He comes to
us in Holy Communion in order to fill us yet more with His life and His spirit. He desires to
make our souls His mansion. In His earthly mission He performs a threefold task: He lives His
life of seclusion in the tabernacle, He lives in the prayers and virtues of His saints, He lives a life
of continuous suffering in the souls of men. To cultivate this interior life is our primary task, for
the fruitfulness of our activity depends on it. A worthy reception of Holy Communion spurs
us on to a higher interior life.
Prayer
Grant, we beseech Thee, O Lord, that the course of this world may be so peaceably ordered
by Thee that Thy Church may joyfully serve Thee in quiet devotion. Through Christ our
Lord. Amen.
Thursday
“And going up into one of the ships that was Simon’s, He desired him to draw back a little from
the land; and sitting He taught the multitudes out of the ship” (Gospel).
Jesus teaches the multitudes, who are always attracted to Him. Do they not have scribes and
Pharisees to teach them? Yes, indeed; but Christ teaches in a manner quite different from
that of the scribes and Pharisees. “He was teaching them as one having power,” and all “were
in admiration at His doctrine” (Mt 7:28 f.). He accommodates Himself to the simple by the
use of parables. The kingdom of heaven He likens to a sower who went out to sow his seed,
and as he sowed, some fell by the wayside and was devoured by the birds of the air; some fell
upon a rock and could not grow; some fell among thorns and was choked; some fell upon
good ground and brought forth fruit a hundredfold (Mt, chap. 13). Christ spoke of merciful
love: “You have heard that it was said to them of old: Thou shalt not kill. And whosoever shall
kill, shall be in danger of the judgment. But I say unto you, that whosoever is angry with his
brother shall be in danger of the judgment” (Mt 5:21 f.). “And you have heard that it was said
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