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The Light of the World
pray, believe that you shall receive, and it shall be done to you” (Communion). The Church
believes this promise of the Lord, who assures her, “Be of good heart, daughter, thy faith hath
made thee whole” (Gospel).
Prayer
Remit, we beseech Thee, O Lord, the sins of Thy people, that by Thy kindness we may be delivered
from the trammels of our sins, in which through our frailty we have become entangled.
Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Tuesday
“Our conversation is in heaven, from whence also we look for the Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ”
(Epistle). Holy Mother the Church awaits lovingly the return of the Lord, her bridegroom. Ever
since that eventful day when He ascended into heaven, she has kept her vigil, expecting Him
presently to reappear to summon her to her eternal nuptials. She prays in the Credo of the Mass:
“I confess one baptism for the remission of sins. And I expect the resurrection of the dead.”
“Then shall the kingdom of heaven be like to ten virgins, who, taking their lamps, went out to
meet the bridegroom and the bride” (Mt 25:1). The Lord gave us many beautiful descriptions
of the Church while He was still upon earth, but none surpasses in beauty and charm the one in
which He describes the kingdom of God in the parable of the ten virgins who go forth to meet
the bridegroom. One thought possesses their souls, and all their attention is directed to one
end: not to miss the coming of the bridegroom. How eagerly they look forward to his coming!
They are swept away with the desire to greet the bridegroom and to enter with him into the
bridal feast. Yes, indeed, that is a true picture of the Church, which is the bride of Christ. She
awaits with eager longing the coming of the Lord. What has the world to offer her? Her attention
is fixed on her eternal goal. “Our conversation is in heaven, from whence also we look for the
Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ.”
The Church is filled with desire and longing for the coming of this Savior. Her children
greet one another with the salutation, Maran-atha — “May the Lord come” (1 Cor 16:22);
and she often sighs, “Amen, come Lord Jesus” (Apoc 22:20). With eager desire she prays:
“Lord, remember to deliver Thy Church from all evil and to perfect it in Thy love, and from
the four winds gather it together, the sanctified one, into Thy kingdom, which Thou hast
prepared for it. For Thine is the power and the glory forever. Let grace come, and let this
world pass away.” 25 Even the terrible disasters of the last days will only serve to increase the
longing of the Church.
“And I expect the resurrection of the dead.” The Church awaits the resurrection of the
dead with absolute confidence and without dread. This she does with good reason, for Christ
her head has already risen to eternal life, thus giving His mystical body unshakable confidence
in its own resurrection. If we remain living members of the mystical body, our resurrection is
likewise assured. Indeed, the fulfillment of this desire has already begun, for even here on earth
we share already in the divine life, which will be unfolded in its perfection in heaven. Likewise
25
Didache, chap. 10.
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