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The Light of the World
Prayer
Grant, we beseech Thee, O almighty God, that Thy people, while afflicting the flesh by fasting
from food, may follow after justice by abstaining from sin.
Hear our supplications, O almighty God, and kindly grant the effect of Thy wonted mercy
to those whom Thou dost permit to rely confidently on Thy goodness. Through Christ our
Lord. Amen.
Tuesday
“I have sought Thy face; Thy face, O Lord, I will seek; turn not away Thy face from me” (Introit).
With this longing for the countenance of the Lord, we make our way with the penitents and
the neophytes to the sanctuary of St. Balbina. In order to appear properly in the presence of
the Lord, whose image looks down upon us from the apse of this basilica, we leave behind us
all that pertains to the world. The leading thought of the liturgy of the day is that the life of the
Christian should be one of humble service offered as a gift of love to God.
The gift of love. St. Balbina was one of those heroic Roman virgins who gave themselves up
entirely to the practice of works of charity. She devoted her fortune, her energy, and her full
time to the care of the Christians confined to prison, to the sick, the poor, and the oppressed.
St. Balbina has a prototype in the kind widow of Sarephta, the pagan woman of whom the
Epistle speaks today. Elias the prophet is sent to Sarephta and by chance he meets the widow
gathering wood. He addresses her and makes the request: “Give me a little water in a vessel,
that I may drink, . . . and a morsel of bread.” The widow promptly shares with the prophet
her last morsel, which she had intended for herself and her son. The widow’s charity and
her generous alms are promptly rewarded. “The pot of meal shall not waste, nor the cruse
of oil be diminished. . . . And from that day the pot of meal wasted not, and the cruse of oil
was not diminished.” Almsgiving always brings blessings, whether to the widow of Sarephta
or to St. Balbina. Therefore in your almsdeeds give gladly and generously. “Give and it shall
be given to you; good measure and pressed down and shaken together and running over
shall they give into your bosom. For with the same measure that you shall mete withal, it
shall be measured to you again” (Lk 6:38).
Humble service. “He that is greatest among you shall be your servant” (Gospel). The pagan,
the unbaptized, the scribes and the Pharisees are of another opinion. They sit on the chair
of Moses. They are the teachers and set the standard for others. They love to be heard, to be
seen, to be admired, and they require others to listen to their wisdom. They allow themselves
to be called Rabbi, Master. Be not thus, you who are baptized. “He that is the greatest among
you shall be your servant.” The greatness of a Christian does not consist in the adulation of
men, but rather in the humble service of his brethren in Christ, for which St. Balbina has given
us a sublime example. Her greatness consists in the humble service of others. “He that shall
humble himself shall be exalted” (Gospel). We are to see in our brother, who is a child of God
and a brother of Christ, another Christ. When we find an opportunity to serve our brother,
we should congratulate ourselves that we have found an opportunity to serve and help Christ,
for out of love and reverence for Him we should do the deed. “As long as you did it to one of
these, My least brethren, you did it to Me” (Mt 25:40).
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