9781644135945

The Easter Cycle
duties claims our attention, and we live in continual unrest and haste. Our life is one continuous
succession of projects, schemes, plans, books, and formulas without end and without
measure. Yet we find no time for our soul, for self-examination, or for a restful quarter of an
hour before the tabernacle. We are too busy for mental prayer or for a quiet moment with God.
We have no time for the urgent work in the vineyard of the Lord, where we were to acquire
virtue and free our soul from its vices. O ye of little faith! The Son of God becomes man, dies
upon the cross, founds His Church, establishes the sacraments, and lives continually in the
tabernacle. All this He has done for us and for the salvation of our souls. All His thoughts are
concentrated on this task. “Seek ye therefore first the kingdom of God and His justice, and all
these things shall be added unto you” (Mt 6:33). Christ lives in us. He draws us to Himself
with promises, with trials, with consolations, and He seeks to make us share His work and
live united to Him. He has really only one objective — the salvation of our soul. What are we
doing to cooperate with Him?
God calls us to labor in the vineyard of the Church. The heart of Jesus is the center of the
world. By the fire of its all-consuming and life-giving love, He unites all hearts in one. He fills
up the great void between Himself and the heart that abandons itself to Him. Through the
medium of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Christian hearts communicate their light and their love
to one another, and maintain a loving contact with one another. They live for one another, they
bear each other’s burdens, and share their riches and virtue. Such is the communion of saints.
What one accomplishes in the vineyard of his own soul, he accomplishes in the souls of others,
in the souls of his brothers and sisters.
“Go you also into My vineyard.” We are invited to share in the redemption of the souls of
our brothers and sisters. We are urged to share with our neighbor the strength, the life, and
the spirit that Christ has infused into our souls. “You are the light of the world” (Mt 5:14). He
who labors faithfully in the vineyard of Christ for the salvation of his own soul, labors also
for the souls of others who are members of the kingdom of Christ. The rose that adorns itself
adorns also the garden in which it grows. The same is true in the order of grace. Nothing is
ever lost. I have in me the power to bring about the salvation or ruin of the world. I must of
necessity either contribute to the edification of the world, or I will be a scandal to it. He who
fails to edify scandalizes. Either I must live the life of grace and practice virtue, and then I live
for the whole, or I am sick, blind, and lame, and then I am a burden on society, a hindrance
exposing the whole to the danger of ruin. I am either a servant of God or a menial of Satan.
There can be no neutrality in the life of grace. I am responsible, not only for my own virtue, but
for the virtue of others also. Thus we see how vast is the vineyard in which Christ has invited
us to work. He has given me a task of great importance to accomplish. Have I given serious
thought to my obligations?
“Go you also into My vineyard.” Septuagesima cries out to me to bestir myself. It charges me to
be a true soldier and commands me to work harder than before. Such faithful service I owe to
God, who has called me. I owe it to my own soul, and to each and every one of my fellow men.
Behold those who strive for the mastery in the arena. They withhold themselves from all
things harmful. We have a crown of much greater value to strive for. Consider the disposition of
St. Paul, “I so fight, not as one beating the air; but I chastise my body and bring it into subjection
lest perhaps when I have preached to others, I myself should become a castaway” (Epistle). Do
187