9781644135945

The Light of the World
life to consist in a rich measure of interior consolations. We praise the Sacred Heart of Jesus
with our lips, but in reality seek ourselves in all things. Where is our love? Where is our spirit
of atonement?
Prayer
O God, who in the heart of Thy Son, wounded by our transgressions, dost mercifully vouchsafe
to bestow upon us the infinite wealth of Thy love; grant, we beseech Thee, that revering it with
meet devotion, we may make a worthy reparation for our sins. Through the same Christ our
Lord. Amen.
Thursday
This week the Church prays that God may ever pour forth upon us a greater measure of His
mercy, so that under His guidance and direction we may make use of temporal things in such
a way as not to lose those which are eternal. Temporal things are given to us that we may serve
the eternal God.
Temporal things are given for our use. We are obliged to “pass through” such things and yet
remain detached from them. This obligation extends to all things that are not God: to all created
things, animate and inanimate, physical and spiritual, the things of nature and those above nature,
whatever the day may bring. All these things are given to us for our use. But we are to use them
only as means and instruments in the work of God, that we may serve Him and accomplish
our own salvation. With good reason God attached much pleasure and satisfaction to man’s use
of creatures, but He did not mean that man should seek his final end in them. These pleasures
were to serve as a fine oil does for the machine: they were to be a benefit which man was to
accept gratefully from the hand of God, and thus out of gratitude serve God more faithfully,
devotedly, and joyfully.
Holy Mother the Church knows how prone we men are to make use of created things,
not merely as a means to an end, but as an end in themselves; she knows how apt we are
to rest in them, to seek our joy in them, and even to make them our God. She knows how
many men say secretly to themselves: Man must indeed fear God, respect Him, and adore
Him at a respectful distance. But actually they seek their enjoyment in created things such
as a comfortable life, sports, travel, great works of art, beauty, health, honor, renown, good
fortune, and prosperity. For these things they live, and in them they find their happiness.
With great sadness Holy Mother the Church, during these weeks that follow Pentecost,
thinks of these her children who are so poorly enlightened by the spirit of the Holy Ghost.
She prays God most earnestly that He may have mercy on these wayward children, that
He may show them even greater mercy than hitherto, and pour forth the Holy Spirit upon
them, so that they may learn to make use of created things as a means of serving Him, and
that they may pass through them in such a manner that their hearts, their desires, their
longings, and their love may not remain attached to them. We, too, share this sadness of Holy
Mother the Church and join her in beseeching God from the depths of our hearts that He
may give us all the grace so to make use of all these created things that we may eventually
attain the eternal God.
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