9781644135945

The Light of the World
13:35). Christ proved His love for us, not merely by word of mouth, but by the supreme test of
works and deeds. The same expression of love He expects of us.
Prayer
Do Thou, O Lord, in Thy goodness shine upon Thy Church; that enlightened by the teaching
of blessed John, Thy apostle and Evangelist, she may attain to the everlasting gifts. Through our
Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
January 4, Octave of the Holy Innocents
The Church is filled with admiration today as she contemplates the providence and foresight of
the heavenly Father. “O Lord, our Lord, how admirable is Thy name in the whole earth!” (Introit
psalm.) Dramatic is the scene which is presented to us by the liturgy today. The loathsome
King Herod is filled with anger and fear; he sends his heartless soldiers to destroy all the male
children in the vicinity of Bethlehem who are less than two years old. The distracted mothers
of these helpless victims bewail the loss of their innocent ones. The slain children, true soldiers
of Christ, march triumphantly into the presence of God wearing the crown of martyrdom and
bearing in their hands the palms of victory. “O Lord, our Lord, how admirable is Thy name in
the whole earth!”
The children of Bethlehem had not yet reached the age when they could freely choose
to love God; yet the providence of God watches over them. In the opinion of men, their
fate was a sad and gruesome one. Their lives, begun so propitiously, have been destroyed
without reason by a wanton murderer. Life has given them nothing. Only grief can be felt
for them. “A voice in Rama was heard, lamentation and great mourning: Rachel bewailing
her children, and would not be comforted because they are not” (Gospel). But what is a
loss in the estimation of men, is in the providence of God a great gain. “Our souls hath been
delivered as a sparrow out of the snare of the fowlers” (Gradual). The evil machinations of
Herod and the cold steel of his soldiers are the means that have wrought the salvation of
these children. “O Lord, our Lord, how admirable is Thy name in the whole earth.” In the
providence of God all things work for the good of men. “To them that love God, all things
work together unto good” (Rom 8:28). Man proposes, but God disposes; the ways of God
are not the ways of men.
“To them that love God, all things work together unto good.” Though the design of God is
frequently hidden from our sight, we may be sure that He is using all that enters into our life for
our own good. All that concerns our physical health, our worldly possessions, even our good
name, God uses for our good. If our heavenly Father deprives us of these things for a time, it is
merely that they may not stand in the way of our salvation. The discomforts and failures and
sufferings of our daily life God uses that He may detach our hearts from the world and drive
us back into His sheltering arms. He may at times humiliate us by sending us spiritual dryness
and temptations that we may more surely place our trust in Him. Even the sins that we have
committed and for which we are truly sorry, God may use for our spiritual advancement, even
as He used David’s sin and Peter’s denial to spur them on to more fervent and devoted service.
In every event of our life we may detect the fatherly hand of God. He controls all things, He
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