9781644135945

The Light of the World
of the Apostle the Church today addresses us, her children. The faith which she preaches
to us is the starting point: “the substance of things to be hoped for, the evidence of things
that appear not. . . . Without faith it is impossible to please God” (Heb 11:1, 6) and to come
to the sonship of God and to be partakers of the divine life (Council of Trent, Sess. VI,
chap. 8). Faith unites us with Christ, making us partakers of the life of the body of which
Christ is the head. Through acts of faith we move towards Christ, the head, mysteriously
joined to Him in such a way that we, being members of His body, are enabled to partake of
the life of the head. Through faith and baptism together we become members of Christ. 21
If the body of Christ, the Church, is to be continually formed anew through the acquisition
of new members for the mystical body of Christ, faith together with the sacrament
of baptism is essentially necessary. For Christ dwells in our hearts by faith (Eph 3:17).
Only by faith in the revealed word of God, as proposed to us by the Church of Christ,
do we have life in Christ. Only by faith and the gospel which the Church received from
Christ and His apostles, and which she preaches without error, can we be saved. The
Lord planted this faith in our souls that by believing we may be joined to Christ and His
salvation. “And taking him from the multitude apart, He put His fingers into his ears and
said to him: Ephpheta, which is, Be thou opened.”
“Hold fast after what manner I preached unto you” (Epistle). The Apostle means to tell
us that the only thing that matters is that both in spirit and in practical life we hold fast to our
faith after the manner he and the Church continually preach it to us. Our spiritual point of
view has to become ever more like that of the mystical body, the Church. We must accept her
faith and her moral doctrines, and join her in prayer and sacrifice, realizing that we are one with
Christ, the head, united with Him in a true communion of being, sustained by His strength,
and permeated by His life. From this consciousness our faith gains strength and vitality. The
greater and more lively is our faith, the more intimately we become united with Christ and His
Church. The more this faith is the guiding principle of our thoughts and struggles, the more
deeply we grow into Christ, the head, and the more profoundly the life of the body flows down
into us, the members. It is, therefore, our most urgent duty to “hold fast [to the gospel] after
what manner I [the Church] preached unto you.”
“God in His holy place; God who maketh men of one mind to dwell in a house; He shall give
power and strength to His people” (Introit). “He hath done all things well; He hath made both
the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak” (Gospel). With such sentiments of gratitude we address
God today. We thank Him sincerely for the grace of baptism and the gift of faith. Today we must
gratefully acknowledge and confirm our faith, which the Lord freely gave to us, together with
the other members of His Church.
When we for the first time came in contact with our Holy Mother the Church, she asked
us: “What dost thou ask of the Church of God?” We answered: “Faith.” “What doth faith bring
thee?” the Church asked again. We replied: “Life everlasting.” “If then thou desirest to enter into
21
The operation of grace differs in the case of a child and in that of an adult who is being
baptized. The child becomes united with Christ through the sacrament of baptism, and as
it grows older the child perfects this union through acts of faith. When an adult is baptized,
the act of faith constitutes the beginning of the union with Christ. In this case it is perfected
through the sacrament of baptism.
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