9781644135945

The Light of the World
Prayer
May Thy healing work in our souls mercifully free us from our perverse inclinations, O Lord,
and lead us ever to do that which is right in Thy sight. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Wednesday
The Church admonishes us: “Come, children, hearken to me; I will teach you the fear of the
Lord. Come ye to Him and be enlightened; and your faces shall not be confounded” (Gradual).
These words are, as it were, the answer of our Holy Mother the Church to the words of the
Epistle: “Being made free from sin and become servants to God, you have your fruit unto
sanctification, and the end life everlasting.”
Having “become servants to God,” and therefore His entire and exclusive property, our whole
being, thinking, willing, and doing can belong only to Him. In baptism we have declared: “I
believe in God”; I believe that I am God’s, with all that I am and possess. We are servants of
God. Therefore only one thing matters: the will of our heavenly Father. Our life is Christian
only in so far as it has been made to serve God’s will. We must therefore renounce our own will
and the desires of our heart, and overcome our inordinate passions and our self-love. We must
do solely whatever God desires, accept what He sends, suffer what He permits, and submit to
His commands. Neither may we refuse to accept the humiliations He sends us or the troubles,
inconveniences, disappointments, and sufferings we encounter. “Not as I will, but as Thou
wilt” (Mt 26:39). As the drop of water which the priest pours into the chalice at the Offertory
becomes one with the wine, so the will of the Christian likewise must become one with the will
of God in all things and under all conditions. “Unless the grain of wheat falling into the ground
die, itself remaineth alone. But if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit” ( Jn 12:24 f.). Unless our
entire seeking and striving has become one with the divine will, it cannot bring forth much fruit.
Easter and Pentecost seek to lift us up to these heights. “Come, children, hearken to me; I will
teach you the fear of the Lord. Come ye to Him and be enlightened; and your faces shall not
be confounded” (Gradual). We are taught how to strive after a life of unspeakable happiness
and holy peace in union with God.
“God hath sent the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying: Abba, Father. Therefore now
he is not a servant, but a son” (Gal 4:6 f.). So we are sons of God, not servants or slaves. A slave
serves out of fear of being punished. He obeys his master, but not out of love; he obeys because
he is forced to do so, but reluctantly and without interest for his master’s cause. The son, however,
serves the father because he loves him, because it pleases him to make his father happy. He
is sincerely interested in everything that might be his father’s business, knowing only one fear:
that he may fail to do everything to his father’s satisfaction. We serve God as His children out of
love for Him, not because we fear the terrible threat of eternal punishment. Fear is wholesome
and necessary in order to keep alive within us the spirit of penance and mortification. Fear is
necessary since we too often are exposed to dangerous occasions and temptations; but holy
love must be the predominant motive in all our actions. Our Lord and Father deserves to be
obeyed out of nobler and more sublime motives than fear. We have been baptized in the love of
God; and we are commanded to “love the Lord Thy God” (Mt 22:37). Fear restrains us from
doing evil; but love prompts us to do only what is pleasing to the Father, what may best serve
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