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implores God to guide and inspire the faithful, that
they may with greater ardour accomplish
the divine
work and may obtain more abundant help. In the
Secret she prays still more earnestly that God would
receive the prayers and offerings of His people ; that
He would detach their hearts from earthly possessions,
and fill thein with the desire of heaven. In the Postcommunion
she asks that through the virtue of the
Blessed Sacrament, souls may be healed of their maladies,
and that they may receive the germ of eternal life.
In the Epistle for this Sunday Saint Paul invites us
to thanksgiving and prayer : to thanksgiving because
countless times throughout the course of the liturgical
year we have received the light which triumphs over the
spirit of darkness, and by means of which we have enter
ed into the Kingdom of the children of God, and ob
tained a share in the inheritance of the saints ; to
prayer because there is no standing
still in the service
of God. We must walk in a manner worthy of God ;
we must ever advance in the way of perfection ; for this,
prayer is indispensable. By the grace of God alone,
can we overcome our passions, and practise the virtues
of faith, hope, and charity, by which we shall attain sal
vation. Hence, in obedience to the injunction of Saint
Paul, religious
communities are in the habit of sancti
fying this last Sunday by acts of expiation for the past,
of thanksgiving for benefits received, and by redoubling
their prayers for the future.
The Gospel for this Sunday contains a two-fold pre
diction of our Lord. The first concerns the destruction
of Jerusalem ; the second has reference to the end of
the world. It was when our Lord was about to bring
His preaching to an end that He made these two pre
dictions to His apostles. They have a manifest con-