9781644135945

The Light of the World
and shall see his brother in need, and shall shut up his bowels from him, how doth the charity
of God abide in him?” (1 Jn 3:17.)
Prayer
Let Thy continual pity cleanse and defend Thy Church, we beseech Thee, O Lord; and because
it cannot continue in safety without Thee, govern it evermore by Thy help. Through Christ our
Lord. Amen.
Friday
“Brethren, if we live in the spirit, let us also walk in the spirit. . . . Bear ye one another’s burdens”
(Epistle). When the Apostle was admonishing the Galatians to bear one another’s burdens,
he had in mind particularly the burden of faults and sins, which they so easily noticed in their
neighbors. He has in mind, first of all, those who are being tempted to prove unfaithful to their
God, to their faith, and to their Church. He has in mind, too, those who have already given way
to temptation. Even the latter he would urge, “Bear ye one another’s burdens” lest they continue
to fail. If they have already fallen, they may still be helped to rise, “and so you shall fulfill the
law of Christ” (Epistle).
Throughout the year at the hour of Sext, except during Advent, Lent, and Eastertide, the
liturgy admonishes us: “Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so you shall fulfill the law of
Christ.” It was at the sixth hour, the hour of Sext, that Christ ascended His cross on Good
Friday, where He bore all of our burdens and sins, “blotting out the handwriting of the decree
that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He hath taken the same out of the way,
fastening it to the cross” (Col 2:14). He has taken upon Himself the sins and the burdens
of the whole world, and has done penance in our stead and redeemed us from sin. Thus the
liturgy continually represents Him to us, urging us: “Bear ye one another’s burdens” after
the example of your crucified Savior, “who for us men and for our salvation came down
from heaven” (Credo) to do penance for us. He came to offer to God an infinite satisfaction
which we could not offer for ourselves; He is our representative, “the Lamb of God . . . who
taketh away the sin of the world” ( Jn 1:29). He takes upon Himself our sins just as if they
were His own. How heavily our sins press upon Him! If you would know how bitter was
that burden, contemplate the scene at the Mount of Olives, at the pillar of the scourging,
on the cruel journey to Calvary, and during the final bitter hours on the cross. He has truly
borne the burden of our sins.
“Go, and do thou in like manner” (Lk 10:37). What is our attitude toward our brother in
Christ, whom we find in danger of falling into sin? We well know his weakness in this crisis or
that temptation. We see that he is threatened by a grave danger, but do we help him? We live
with others and know their weakness, their unfaithfulness and their faults, but we are impatient
with them because of their faults; we despise them and their conduct. We presume to judge
them with a lack of fraternal charity, and we go out of our way to make our displeasure with
them evident. Is this the way to “bear one another’s burdens”? Should we not concern ourselves
more with the spiritual needs of our fellow men? Should we not rather have compassion on
them, and seek to lead them in the right way, and strive to win them for God? Yet how seldom
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