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The Christmas Cycle
not endure, but no sacrifice could frighten them if they felt that it would increase their holiness.
Christianity has inspired thousands of young men and women to leave father, mother, home
and family, and all that is dear to the heart of men, to live lives of self-denial and sacrifice.
Chastity, poverty, and obedience become sweet when inspired by the example of the Savior
and when undertaken in His interest. The saints undertook what seem to us tremendous
hardships and unbearable mortifications because of the supernatural courage and wisdom
which the faith inspired in them. Surely there is no higher kind of courage than that shown
by the lives of the saints. The teachings of the Church are indeed simple, but what marvelous
works they produce!
God builds on a simple foundation. “The right hand of the Lord hath wrought strength.” When
the doctrine of Christ is accepted with childlike simplicity, there “the Lord hath built up Sion,
and He shall be seen in His glory” (Gradual).
The teaching of our faith is like the mustard seed; it is disregarded, underrated, misunderstood,
and contemned by the world. Things that are novel, sensational, and impressive, such as
the discoveries of science, easily attract the attention of men. But they know very little about
the fundamental truths of their existence; truths which a child learns in his catechism. Many
men are not greatly interested in the end and purpose of their existence; they are too much
concerned with the distractions and pleasures which it now furnishes. How can the mustard
seed become a great herb in such soil as this?
“All wondered at these things which proceeded from the mouth of God” (Communion).
For sheer want of effort we have lost our understanding of the wonders of the Gospels and the
mysteries of our faith. Our life, our prayer, our meditations, are dry, uninteresting, and unfruitful.
We have good reason to pray in the Postcommunion “that we may ever hunger after those
things by which we truly live.”
Prayer
Having been fed, O Lord, with Thy heavenly delights, we beseech Thee that we may ever hunger
after those things by which we truly live. Through Christ our Lord. Amen. (Postcommunion.)
Wednesday
“The kingdom of heaven is like to leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal
until the whole was leavened” (Gospel). The parable of the mustard seed shows the rapidity with
which the unimpressive beginnings made by Christianity were to grow to their full stature. The
parable of the leaven shows how the kingdom of God penetrates and absorbs all that it touches.
By its ability to transform all things, the Church proves its claim to divine origin. “The Lord
hath built up Sion; and He shall be seen in His glory” (Gradual).
“The kingdom of God is like to leaven.” The leaven which the woman placed in the three measures
of meal was very small; yet it expanded and was absorbed by the meal until all was leavened. As
soon as one places leaven in a pan of dough, the latter begins to rise. The working of the leaven in
the dough is silent and invisible, but it soon increases the dough threefold and prepares it for the
baking. The kingdom which Christ established on earth is similar. The beginnings of the Church
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