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The Easter Cycle
strength of our union with St. Joseph, we shall find in the Mass deliverance from our sins. We
shall be “exalted,” borne aloft with the offering of Christ, and shall share in the precious fruits
of the sacrifice. We shall share the purity, the justice, the holiness of St. Joseph. This is the mind
of the liturgy with regard to the communion of the saints.
“That which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost” (Communion). As St. Joseph believed,
so we, too, must believe that that which we receive in Holy Communion is the Son of
God, born of the Virgin Mary. If only we, at the time of Communion or on the occasion of one
of our visits to the Blessed Sacrament, would commune with God with the deep and powerful
faith of St. Joseph! We would indeed be healed by such an association.
How different are the thoughts of God from the thoughts of men! Men would have selected
one of their great leaders, one of royal ancestry or of spiritual prominence, to be the foster parent
of the Son of God. But what is great in the eyes of men has little meaning in the eyes of God.
God chose a man who was pure, virginal, poor, and humble. That is God’s manner of thinking.
That is true greatness.
Prayer
We beseech Thee, O Lord, that we may be helped by the merits of the spouse of Thy most holy
mother, so that what we cannot obtain by ourselves may be given to us through his intercession.
Who livest and reignest with the Father in the unity of the Holy Ghost now and forever. Amen.
March 21, St. Benedict
St. Benedict, who was born in Umbria about the year 480, consecrated himself to the monastic
life in the wilderness near Subiaco while he was still a youth. Through the Rule which he composed,
he became the founder of monastic and religious life in the Western Church. Through his
order the conversion of the Germanic tribes and the Christianization of all central and northern
Europe was accomplished. A great number of the monastic rules of later ages are based on the
Rule of St. Benedict. St. Benedict died at Monte Cassino about the year 543.
“The mouth of the just shall meditate wisdom, and his tongue shall speak judgment” (Introit).
Thus the liturgy sketches the portrait of St. Benedict. He is first of all a just man. In his heart and
in his mouth are wisdom. Even while he was pursuing his studies at Rome, he was, according
to the testimony of St. Gregory, wise beyond his age. He indulged in none of the worldly enjoyments
and practices common among his fellow students. For him the world was but a faded
flower. He was impelled to live for God and for God alone. Benedict was a man of character,
conscientiously pursuing his purpose, serious in his outlook on life. This seriousness of purpose
impelled him to leave Rome, as St. Gregory says, “knowingly ignorant and wisely unlearned.”
Benedict possessed a true supernatural wisdom, the spirit of true Christian wisdom. He judged
all things by the light of divine wisdom and in their relationship to eternity. He knew that God
had chosen precisely those things which the world considers foolish, to confound those things
which the world considers wise (1 Cor 1:26 ff.). Inspired by this spirit of wisdom, Benedict
chose to live a mortified life in a cave at Subiaco. Separated from the company of men, deprived
of the comforts of life, he endured hunger and the heat and cold. He had chosen to live a life
of prayer in continual union with God, a life of silence in continual conflict with his passions
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