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The Easter Cycle
“I have put my trust in Thee, O Lord. I said, Thou art my God, my times are in Thy hands”
(Offertory). “Thou art my God.” I renounce all others. Now that I am no longer burdened by
the cares of this world or by inordinate attachments, I may seek Thee.
“Seek ye the Lord.” We have no work more important than to please God and to do His
holy will. If only I please Him, then nothing else matters. God alone suffices.
Prayer
Look down upon Thy household, O Lord, and grant that our minds, having been chastened
by the mortification of the flesh, may glow in Thy sight by the desire for Thee. Through Christ
our Lord. Amen.
Ember Wednesday
“As He was yet speaking to the multitudes, behold His mother and His brethren stood without,
seeking to speak to Him” (Gospel). With Mary, the mother of Jesus, who today gathers us about
her in her sanctuary (the stational church for the Mass today is St. Mary Major in Rome), we
come to Jesus as He speaks to the multitudes in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. We must listen
carefully to His words. He tells us of the high vocation to which we are called by baptism, and
He warns us lest we should prove unworthy of this high calling.
“The men of Ninive [the pagans] shall rise in judgment with this generation [the chosen people
of Israel] and shall condemn it; because they did penance at the preaching of Jonas; and
behold a greater than Jonas here. The queen of the South [of Saba] shall rise in judgment with
this generation and shall condemn it; because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the
wisdom of Solomon; and behold a greater than Solomon here” (Gospel). The chosen people
would have nothing to do with their Savior when He came to them. They rejected Him, and
therefore they themselves were rejected. We who are of the Gentiles have been chosen in their
place. Mary and our Holy Mother the Church lead us to Him. In baptism we were made His
brothers and sisters and were joined to Him in a union of prayer, in a union of life and spirit.
From that moment we are bound to do the will of the Father.
“Behold the handmaid of the Lord” (Lk 1:28). Christ and His blessed mother had but
one ambition, and that was to do the will of the Father. When Mary asked to see her Son, Jesus
stretched forth His hand toward His disciples and says, “Behold My mother and My brethren;
for whosoever shall do the will of My Father that is in heaven, He is My brother and sister and
mother” (Gospel). To be a Christian is to be the brother of Christ, to have the same will, the
same desires, the same burning zeal to accomplish the will of the Father. Have we really understood
the implications of our baptism? Have we sought the will of the Father before all else?
The chosen people renounced their inheritance in spite of the abundant graces and the
miraculous guidance they had received from God. In spite of the preaching of the prophets and
the frequent warning of God, in spite of the revelations of the holy books and their possession
of the true faith, they failed to recognize and accept the promised Messias. The long awaited
Redeemer “came unto His own; but His own received Him not” ( Jn 1:11). Israel repudiated its
Savior and condemned Him to a most cruel death. How could such an action be possible? Yet it
is possible and is a warning to us. Our having been called by baptism, our possession of faith and
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