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The Time After Pentecost
of us do strive for perfection, but we do not fully realize the divine change God worked
within us at baptism. We have too little appreciation of the fact that baptism is the
beginning and the foundation of all our endeavors to achieve salvation, and that these
endeavors are nothing but the organic growth of the supernatural seed planted within
us in that holy sacrament. Our endeavors would be much more joyful and energetic if
we were more mindful of the change God wrought within us at baptism. Our struggle
would be much more consistent if we realized vividly how immensely important is this
first of the sacraments and how insignificant in comparison are our own efforts toward
perfection. If we were mindful of these facts, how much more courageously we would
work, and how much more persevering and energetic would be our spiritual endeavors!
The Church, therefore, places the thought of baptism in the center of her liturgy; thus,
for example, baptism is mentioned in the Masses during Lent, on Holy Saturday, and
in the Masses of the Sundays after Easter and Pentecost. Every Sunday at the Asperges
the Church reminds us of the great sacrament which we have received as the principal
means of our salvation.
In our struggle for perfection we are to obey God’s commands and imitate His example,
especially in the so-called evangelical counsels, which the Lord has taught us by His
word and example. “If thou wilt be perfect, go sell what thou hast, and give to the poor,
and thou shalt have treasure in heaven; and come follow Me” (Mt 19:21). But even if we
follow perfectly the evangelical counsels, it is possible to overlook the fundamental idea
that through baptism we are incorporated in Christ and receive a share in His life and
power. Concentrating on our obligations and duties, we are apt to overlook the power
and fullness of life that sustains us, which was given us in baptism. We are often too
occupied with ourselves, with our insufficiency and sinfulness, and too little concerned
about the power working within us, the vine whose little branches we are and by whom
we are sustained, fed, and formed.
“So do you also reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God, in Christ
Jesus our Lord,” being incorporated in Christ, the head, whose spirit and power replenishes
you and lives in you.
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.
Friday
The Lord leads His friends into the desert, far from the conveniences, allurements, and pleasures
of the world. “All we who are baptized in Christ Jesus are baptized in His death” (Epistle). The
life of a baptized Christian is, in its truest essence, a continual process of dying. He will reproduce
and perfect the life of Christ within himself only in so far as he takes up his cross, denies
himself through unceasing mortification, and gains dominion over himself. Today’s liturgy
reminds us again of this basic truth.
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