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The Light of the World
time of our baptism, so now in the celebration of the Mass we renounce all that is not godly and
persevere in walking in the ways of God. With holy Job, at the Offertory we abandon ourselves
into the hands of God, even though He may deliver us into the hands of our enemies, send us
tribulations, deprive us of our possessions, and inflict bodily sufferings upon us. His will be
done. We are a complete holocaust in the hands of God and we wish to remain so. The more
completely we abandon ourselves into His hands, the more certain we can be that He will take
us to Himself and save us (Communion).
Prayer
Watch over Thy household, we beseech Thee, O Lord, with continual mercy, that through Thy
protection it may be freed from all adversities and be devoted to good works. Through Christ
our Lord. Amen.
Monday
Today the Church presents to us the figure of Job, a just man who has been delivered over
to the power of Satan, surrounded by unfaithful friends, afflicted with a dread disease, deprived
of his possessions, and ridiculed by his friends and neighbors. Armed with faith and
confidence in God, and inspired by holy patience, he lifts up his eyes to God and remains
steadfast in all his trials and afflictions. Job is a type of the innocent Savior: suffering, yet
victorious in all His afflictions. He is a type of the persecuted but victorious Church. Although
with the permission of God she and her children are subjected to trials and persecutions,
they are still victorious.
Our fight “is not against flesh and blood,” against the men of this world, “but against principalities
and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness,” that is, against evil
men and malicious spirits. It is the will of God that the Church fight continually. We who
are members of the militant Church are soldiers committed to battle. “The kingdom of
heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away” (Mt 11:12). Our enemies and the
enemies of the Church are not the men about us, but the evil and malicious spirits who
by far surpass men in their intelligence and power. “My name is legion, for we are many”
(Mk 5:9). These spirits are utterly malicious, deceitful, and unfaithful. Their objective is
the destruction and eternal damnation of the precious souls that Christ has purchased by
His blood. These spirits are the complete masters of “the world of this darkness” and the
leaders of the infidels, the evil and godless men of this world, who make war on Christ.
They accomplish their work through men like Nero and Domitian and Arius; they work
through all those who mock, malign, and oppress Christ and His Church. As long as the
Church remains on earth, it will be a fighting Church, a Church militant. Through the
Church, Christ fights against the Antichrist. We are the soldiers of the Church militant,
and St. Peter admonishes us: “Be sober and watch, because your adversary, the devil, as a
roaring lion goeth about seeking whom he may devour” (1 Pt 5:8). The Church reminds
us of this danger every evening at Compline and urges us: “Whom resist ye, strong in
faith” (1 Pt 5:9). We are to resist the devil with the faith of Esther, the faith of the Church.
“All things are in Thy will, O Lord, and there is none that can resist Thy will; for Thou
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