9781644135945

The Light of the World
Friday
Eight days remain before we shall behold the spectacle of the God-man bleeding and dying on
the cross. Today Good Friday already casts its shadow over us. We are led to the sanctuary of
St. Stephen, the first martyr; today we should live with Christ the martyr.
Today the enemies of Christ have decided to put Him to death. The Pharisees have assembled,
and they ask of one another, “What do we, for this man doth many miracles? If we let Him
alone so, all will believe in Him.” Christ therefore must die. “It is expedient for you that one
man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not,” the high priest points out.
“From that day, therefore, they devised to put Him to death” (Gospel). One week later they
will have accomplished their wicked plan. In the Garden of Olives they will apprehend Him;
they will produce false witnesses to accuse Him; they will abuse Him with their mockeries;
they will drag Him before the tribunal of the Roman governor and demand His death. They
will follow Him up to Calvary; they will gloat over His fall, taking a fiendish delight in His
agony. They will abuse and mock Him even as He prays for them on the cross: “Father, forgive
them, for they know not what they do” (Lk 23:34). Too often we also place ourselves among
the enemies of Christ. Is not every sin a rejection of Christ, a mockery of His commandments,
and a condemnation of His principles? How often we allow our passions to overcome us and
cause us to reject the commandments of Christ! We desert Him and adopt the attitude of the
world and of the enemies of Christ. Lord, give me light that in the light of Thy passion I may
recognize the malice and shamefulness of my sins and infidelities. Give me the grace of true
sorrow for sin, and that I may never again make common cause with Thy enemies.
Christ knew all the plans of His enemies and knew exactly what the future held in store for
Him. By the beatific vision, which He always enjoyed, He was fully aware of what awaited Him
in His passion. He could foresee the treason of Judas and the denial of Peter; every detail of His
suffering and His humiliation was ever present to Him and caused Him sorrow. “Have mercy
on me, O Lord, for I am afflicted; deliver me and save me out of the hands of my enemies and
from them that persecute me. Let me not be confounded, O Lord, for I have called upon Thee”
(Introit). “O Lord, deliver me not over to the will of them that trouble me; for unjust witnesses
have risen up against me” (Communion).
Now “Jesus walked no more openly among the Jews; but He went into a country near the
desert, unto a city that is called Ephrem” (Gospel). In solitude and seclusion He prepares Himself
for the task that lies before Him. The same spirit of self-surrender which characterized His entry
into the world, He now brings to the struggle which will force Him out of the world: “Not My
will, but Thine be done” (Lk 22:42). Everything He does, He does of His own free will and
because it is the will of His Father. “I do always the things that please Him” ( Jn 8:29). Second
only to His love for the Father is His love for men, whose salvation He most earnestly desires.
After a few days of seclusion He will return to Jerusalem, and men will rejoice. The hour is
approaching when He will allow His enemies to exercise power over Him. But during this period
of seclusion we should live with Jesus and share His silence and His prayer. In this solitude
we shall find the strength and the light to accompany Him when the day of His suffering arrives.
In the church of St. Stephen we join ourselves to Christ to share His condemnation and His
death with the entire Church, which is despised and persecuted on earth. With Christ we, too,
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