9781644135945

The Light of the World
We, too, live in exile. With hearts full of contrition and humility we confess with the three
children in the furnace of Babylon: “All that Thou hast done to us, O Lord, Thou hast done in
true judgment, because we have sinned against Thee; . . . but give glory to Thy name and deal
with us according to the multitude of Thy mercy” (Introit). With great devotion we cry in the
Kyrie for mercy, forgiveness, and peace. We have determined to respond to the admonition of
the Epistle and to remain without sin throughout our life. We do not cling to the world and its
goods, but “the eyes of all hope in Thee, O Lord” (Gradual). Our whole desire is centered on
heaven, our true home. All our thoughts belong to the Lord. “Thou openest Thy hand and fillest
every living creature with Thy blessing” (Gradual). He shows mercy to the distracted father
and answers his prayers with the consoling assurance: “Go thy way, thy son liveth” (Gospel).
He also grants mercy at the request of the Church, who implores Him: Come down and heal
my erring sons. But He has not yet come. The hour of His arrival has not yet dawned; but He
guarantees it: “Thy son liveth.” The Church believes and continues her journey towards the
great day of salvation. With joy she sings her Credo. She is not deceived.
“There we sat and wept” (Offertory). We are the sick son of the ruler in the Gospel story;
but we hope in the Lord: “Thou givest them meat in due season. Thou openest Thy hand and
fillest every living creature with Thy blessing” (Gradual). We are determined to be “undefiled
in the way” (Introit), to realize in our life the admonition of the Epistle. We renounce sin and
malice and our inordinate desires during the Sacrifice of the Mass; we resolve to mortify our
will, our desires, our unruly passions, and bad habits. We renounce the world and all that is transitory,
our ambitions and desires, in the hope of a blessed eternity. “My heart is ready” (Alleluia).
Soon He will come at the Consecration and bring life and salvation; the Consecration is the
fulfillment of the promise of the Gradual: “The eyes of all hope in Thee, O Lord, and Thou
givest them meat in due season.”
Now during the Mass He will permit us to join Him in His sacrifice in the measure in which we
have renounced sin, the world, and ourselves. He puts Himself at our disposal as our sacrifice.
He gives us His heart, His adoration, His virtues, His merits and graces, that we may come to the
Father in Him and with Him. He gives us Himself, His rich, glorified life in Holy Communion.
“The eyes of all hope in Thee.” Thus our misery is consoled by hope and confidence. Through
this participation in the divine life, we are given strength to bear our life in exile till the Lord
appears again at His second coming to summon each of us and the entire community to the
heavenly home. Then He will open His hand and fill us who have hoped in Him with the
blessing of everlasting life. “Be mindful of Thy word [Thy promises] to Thy servant, O Lord,
in which Thou hast given me hope; this has comforted me in my humiliation” (Communion).
Meditation
The Church year is drawing to a close. The end of this year recalls to the Church the end of the
world and of the long period of waiting that intervenes before the coming of the Savior. “Thy
kingdom come,” the kingdom of blessed salvation and our rescue from exile.
“We have sinned against Thee, and we have not obeyed Thy commandments” (Introit). Thus
prayed Azarius, one of the three children in the furnace, as “they walked in the midst of the flame
praising God and blessing the Lord” (Dn 3:24). The Church is in the furnace of persecution
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