9781644135945

The Light of the World
disinterested, for she is not concerned with her own suffering, but looks upon it as a necessary
sacrifice for the salvation of men.
Mary is here a type of the Church. The Church, too, looks on at this first offering of the
blood of Jesus with compassion and love. This most precious blood for the redemption of mankind
she offers up with Jesus and Mary daily and hourly and without interruption. She knows
that the shedding of His blood is for the redemption of men. No one understood better than she
the immense value of a human soul and the terrible tragedy of the damnation of a single soul.
Like Mary, looking on and yet suffering with Christ, the Church has worked with diligence,
suffered with patience, and has striven for two thousand years for the salvation of men.
Thousands upon thousands of her priests daily approach the altar to renew this sacrifice in the
interest of the salvation of the race. Daily they pray for themselves and for the Church: “Forgive
us our trespasses; . . . lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” She invites the faithful
to the sacrament of penance, where these graces are freely dispensed. She urges them to
receive the body of the Lord, that their souls may abound in grace and grow strong against the
temptations of the world. Her liturgy is a continual appeal on the part of priests and religious
for the salvation of men. Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, she has instituted various
confraternities of prayer, societies given to the practice of good works and penance, that souls
may advance in holiness and grace. In fact, she exists only for the salvation of souls, and is ever
restless until they rest in God.
We can well imagine the motherly compassion Mary endured with her Son at His circumcision.
Our hearts should be filled with admiration and gratitude for this forgetfulness of self which
makes her suffer so willingly for us.
Perhaps too few of us appreciate the great privilege that is ours in being members of the
Church. She is a second Virgin Mary, animated by the Holy Spirit, and she has only one aim and
ambition: the salvation of the souls of her children. Her principal work is the salvation of the
souls of men. Her dogmas, her moral teaching, and her sacred liturgy are all directed toward this
end. A man has no better assurance of his salvation than his loyalty and devotion to the Church.
Every true son of Holy Mother the Church will share in this zeal for the salvation of souls. If
the love of Christ resides in the soul of man, that man must of necessity thirst with Christ for the
salvation of souls. We may well test the genuineness of our love for Christ by asking ourselves
whether we are really devoted to the work of saving our own soul and that of our neighbor.
Today we also celebrate the octave of the feast of St. Stephen. We may take him as a model
of zeal for the work of the Church. He was entirely devoted to the work of saving the souls of his
fellow men. In the pursuit of this purpose he even sacrificed his life. His labor and His suffering
bore abundant fruit, among which must be counted the young man who held the coats of those
who cast the stones at the martyr. The glorious transformation which changed Saul into Paul
was due in great measure to the zeal and suffering of Stephen.
Prayer
O God, who through the fruitful virginity of the Blessed Mary didst bestow on mankind the
rewards of eternal salvation, grant, we beseech Thee, that we may experience her intercession
for us, through whom we were made worthy to receive the Author of life, Jesus Christ, Thy Son
our Lord. Who liveth and reigneth with Thee, world without end. Amen.
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