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The Easter Cycle
Him and to share His chalice completely. For this reason in Holy Communion He fills us with
a consuming desire to make sacrifices for Him. Now we feel strong enough to drink His chalice
throughout the day in whatever form it may appear. To attend Mass and to live in a spiritual
atmosphere now means that we, too, are a sacrifice to God. It means the acceptance of trials sent
by God and the search for voluntary mortification. It means that we must surrender ourselves
unconditionally to the will of God, becoming like grains of wheat that are ground between the
millstones of the duties of our state of life. It means that we must become a bread which at the
moment of consecration will cease to be bread; that is, we shall cease to live for our own sake
and begin to live for Christ.
Prayer
Look upon Thy people with favor, we beseech Thee, O Lord, and grant that they whom thou
dost command to abstain from food may also refrain from baneful vices.
O God, the restorer and lover of innocence, direct the hearts of Thy servants unto Thee,
that being filled with the fervor of Thy spirit, they may be found steadfast in faith and efficacious
in works. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Thursday
Our lives should be devoted to penance. Today we join the penitents at St. Mary’s in Trastevere.
They are allowed to assist at the celebration of Mass only “at the gate” and are excluded from the
reception of Holy Communion. They are like the miserable Lazarus and wait for “the crumbs
that fell from the rich man’s table”; that is, from the Christians who are permitted to receive
Holy Communion. Today we shall meditate on the curse of sin in this life, and the wages of sin
in the next; meanwhile let us earnestly perform penance in expiation for our sins.
What should the true Christian be like? He should be like “a tree that is planted by the waters,
that spreadeth out its roots towards moisture. . . . And the leaf thereof shall be green, neither shall
it cease at any time to bring forth fruit” (Epistle). The Christian should be a tree planted by the
waters of grace in the fruitful soil of the Church. He should be a branch of the true vine, Christ,
and live by the strength and vigor of the vine. When we commit sin, we cease to be green and
to bear fruit. We become like withered and barren trees, fit only to be burned. By sin we voluntarily
separate ourselves from God. The veins through which the life blood of Christ reached
us are now severed, and we are dead to grace and dead to God. Holy love has been banished
from our soul. Only the divine virtues of faith and hope remain behind as mute witnesses of
the desolation of a holy place. These virtues, too, may die as a result of frequent sin. The yoke of
sin becomes heavier with the passing years. Evil habits bind the soul in iron bands and rob her
of all freedom. Thus she loses courage to resist and becomes an easy prey to temptation and to
her own passions. That is the penalty for sin already here on the earth.
The final wages of sin is the eternal punishment of hell. Hell is the exclusion of the soul
from God, from all light, from all satisfaction, from the one true good. It tortures the soul
with unhappiness and merciless flames, in which, according to today’s Gospel, the glutton
languishes. This desolate soul craves a drop of water to moisten his tongue; but his longing
is in vain. He suffers unspeakable pain and looks about him for help. He looks in vain, for
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