9781644135945

The Light of the World
little while longer and death will come to call us to our home, where there will be no tears and
no want. There we shall enjoy happiness, perfect happiness in the possession of God the Father,
God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost. This happiness will be eternal, enjoyed without the fear
that anyone can ever take it from us.
“It behooved Christ to suffer . . . and so to enter into His glory, alleluia” (Alleluia verse). Suffering
is past; it has been exchanged for the joy of heaven, alleluia. “You now indeed have sorrow; but
I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice.” The law that Christ fulfilled must be fulfilled
also by all those who are incorporated in Him. Christ is the key that makes it possible to understand
our life. “For unto you it is given for Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer
for Him” (Phil 1:29). He whom God desires to free from this miserable world with its dangers
and its deceits, and to lead to the possession of eternal goods, must be prepared for privations,
misfortunes, and suffering during the “little while” of his life on earth. “But your sorrow shall
be turned into joy.”
The life of the Christian here on earth is really a life of sorrow, a life of suffering and hardship,
a life of renunciation of his own wishes and desires, a life of crucifixion with Christ. Woe
be to us if we have no sorrows. How can our sorrow be changed into joy if we have no sorrow?
Eternal joy is the daughter of the sorrow which is our portion here on earth. “A little while, . . .
and your sorrow shall be turned into joy.”
We approach now to celebrate the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. There we renew our resolve
to embrace Christian sorrow. There we stir up our desires for sacrifice, for renunciation, for suffering,
and for being crucified together with Christ, our victim on the altar. Holy Communion
disposes us and gives us the strength to embrace Christian sorrow. The Eucharist is the guarantee
of our reunion with Christ. “I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your
joy no man shall take from you.”
Prayer
O God, who dost show to them that are in error the light of Thy truth, that they may return
to the way of righteousness: grant to all those who profess to be Christians the grace to reject
those things which are contrary to that name, and to follow such things as are agreeable to it.
Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Monday
“Yet a little while,” for you are only pilgrims and strangers on earth. The liturgy wishes to center
our attention and our efforts on what is right and enduring, and on those things in which we
can find true peace. That alone has permanent value.
“Yet a little while” (Gospel). Everything that exists on earth is temporal and passing. Our goods,
our pleasures and our joys, our health, beauty, strength, youth, wealth, honors, friendships, even
our suffering and misfortune, are of short duration and soon pass away. Man’s life on earth is
like a gust of wind, and his “days [are] measurable” (Ps 38:6). “All flesh is grass, and all the glory
thereof as the flower of the field. The grass is withered, and the flower is fallen because the spirit
of the Lord hath blown upon it” (Is 40:6 f.). Every creature on earth bears this stamp on its
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