9781644135945

The Time After Pentecost
us in baptism, we also would die to sin, living Christ’s life and experiencing the sublime
dignity and riches of the Christian way of life.
“A great multitude” followed our Lord into the solitude of the desert that they might hear
His word. They have now been with Him three days and have nothing to eat. Therefore, calling
His disciples together, He tells them; “I have compassion on the multitude. . . . If I shall send
them away fasting to their home, they will faint in the way.” Seeing no solution to this problem,
the disciples ask Him: “From whence can anyone fill them here with bread in the wilderness?”
They have only seven loaves of bread left. Taking the loaves and giving thanks, He broke the
bread and gave it to His disciples to set before the people. “And they did eat, and were filled”
(Gospel). The liturgy sees in us the multitude that followed Christ into the desert. In baptism
we have avowed: “I renounce Satan and all his works. I believe in God the Father. I believe in
Jesus Christ, His Son, our Lord. I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Holy Catholic Church, the
communion of saints, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting.” Having made up our
mind to live for God and for Christ, we have followed Him. “In the desert,” removed from the
world and from its principles and all it stands for, we listen to Christ, partaking of His spirit, of
His love of poverty, of His humility, of His crosses and sufferings. Lest we faint on the rough
road through the desert, each morning He offers us the Holy Eucharist through the hand of
His disciples, the priests. By the strength of this food we live the new life into which we have
been baptized. Having died to sin, we live together with God in Christ Jesus, sharing His life
as branches on the vine.
“So do you also reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God; in Christ Jesus our
Lord” (Epistle). Having become members of Christ, we relive Christ’s death and resurrection
during our earthly pilgrimage. “Christ is our way; let us observe Him. He suffered to enter into
His glory. He embraced being despised in order to be exalted. He died, but rose again” (St.
Augustine).
“He was delivered up for our sins, and rose again for our justification” (Rom 4:25). We
also repeat in our lives the mysteries of Christ, which unite us with Him in His life and death.
“Buried with Him in baptism, in whom also you are risen again by the faith of the operation
of God, who hath raised Him up from the dead. And you, when you were dead in your sins
and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He hath quickened together with Him, forgiving you all
offenses” (Col 2:12 f.).
All our greatness, all our supernatural dignity, derives from baptism, which enriched us
with divine life by uniting us with Christ. Whatever excellence natural human life may appear
to have, it is really night, death, and vanity compared with that life we received in baptism. Only
through the grace of baptism does our life receive its dignity and value for eternity. On the day
of our baptism we were born for life eternal. Through sanctifying grace, which we received at
baptism, we carry within ourselves the pledge of the glorious life to come. It is our foremost
duty to be ever thankful for God’s mercy and grace.
Prayer
O God of power, from whom are all good things, implant in our hearts the love of Thy name,
increase in us true religion, nourish us with all goodness, and by Thy mercy keep us in the same.
Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
471