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The Time After Pentecost
the children of God we are entitled to share in His eternal glory, for since we are children,
we are heirs, heirs of God and coheirs of Christ. The glory to come has not been made
manifest to us, but we have the infallible hope of being made the children of God. We
therefore await with fervent longing the day when the Lord will come, who will vest us,
even according to our flesh, with the garments of His eternal glory. We are to be elevated
above all things temporal and above the things of this world. We were made for eternity,
for the life of eternal glory.
But “we suffer with Him that we may be also glorified with Him” (Rom 8:17). Here we see
a picture of the Church on earth. “If they have persecuted Me, they will also persecute you” ( Jn
15:20). Jesus continues His life in us. His life on earth was one of suffering, of humiliation, and of
misrepresentation. Men did not cease to persecute and calumniate Him until they had crucified
Him. He died and was buried, and on the third day He arose from the dead vested in the garments
of His glory. That life He continues to live in His Church and in us who are the members of His
mystical body. The more we become one with Him, the more we must share His suffering. “We
suffer with Him that we may be also glorified with Him.” Let us bear our cross cheerfully and in
the spirit of fortitude, expecting the glory that will be revealed in us and being grateful that we
have been allowed to walk the way of the cross with Christ. The crosses which we must carry are
those of poverty, self-denial, humiliation, and rejection by the world. But Christ will return to fill
us with His glory, and the promise of His coming will enlighten us and support us.
Let us accept the invitation of the Lord to “launch out into the deep,” to go forth into the storms,
and struggles, and trials of life. But we are not alone. “The Lord is my light and my salvation;
whom, shall I fear?” (Introit.) We are convinced that “neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor
principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come . . . shall be able to separate
us from the love of God” (Rom 8:38 f.). His love for us is unfailing. He is with us, keeping His
hand on the helm of our fragile bark. Therefore we can set sail with full confidence.
“We groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption of the sons of God, the redemption
of our body.” Such is the attitude of the liturgy during the season after Pentecost.
During this season the Church awaits the coming of her bridegroom and the time of her
heavenly nuptials. Accepting the invitation of the Church, we raise our eyes above all
that is temporal and fix them on the Lord, longing for His coming and for the brightness
of His glorified body. “I expect the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to
come” (Credo).
The daily descent of our Lord in the Sacrifice of the Mass gives us a pledge of His second
coming and of the manifestation of the glory that shall be revealed to us as the children of
God. He comes in the fullness of His majesty, hidden as yet to our mortal eyes. During Holy
Communion He impresses His glorified nature ever more deeply upon our souls, and we wait
patiently and with holy longing for the day of the eternal communion, when we shall participate
in the revelation of His glory. “The Lord is my firmament, and my refuge, and my deliverer; my
God is my helper” (Communion).
Prayer
We beseech Thee, O Lord, deign to accept our sacrifices so that having been reconciled to Thee,
all our desires may by Thy mercy be conformed to Thy will. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
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