9781644135945

The Time After Pentecost
the servant of justice. With open eyes the liturgy realizes that even among the baptized, even
among those who are called to the Holy Sacrifice, there are “false prophets,” Christians in name
only, who wear the garments and have the appearance of the sheep belonging to the flock of
Christ, but who are inwardly ravening wolves. “By their fruits you shall know them” (Gospel).
The decisive factor is not that they have been washed in the waters of baptism, or that they
have been anointed with holy oil, or that they have promised to renounce Satan and his works;
decisive will be the works that bear witness to the interior character of the whole man. Neither
are words, nor religious exercises, nor the mere attendance at church services, nor membership
in Christian organizations decisive. “Not every one that saith to Me: Lord, Lord, shall enter into
the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of My Father who is in heaven, he shall enter
into the kingdom of heaven” (Gospel). The kingdom of Christ in our souls cannot be built up
by pious words only; but convictions and works are more important.
“As in holocausts of rams and bullocks, and as in thousands of fat lambs, so let our sacrifice be
made in Thy sight this day” (Offertory). May it be a sacrifice which implies real hardship for
those who sacrifice; but we have only one real gift of sacrifice, one infinitely more valuable than
the most expensive holocaust of the Old Covenant. This gift is Christ. If we truly wish to share
in the sacrifice offered at Mass, it is not enough that we utter a few formulas, repeating, “Lord,
Lord.” Sacrificing means offering one’s self, one’s will, one’s inclinations to the “will of [the]
Father who is in heaven.” It means forsaking everything that is not compatible with God’s holy
will, such as sin, proximate occasions of sin, evil inclinations, evil intentions, improper words,
sinful relations, and bad company of any kind. Sacrificing means becoming one with Christ in
one’s thinking and judging, striving and willing, talking and acting; it means entering into Christ’s
spirit, making good the promises of our baptism. It means living for God and His holy commandments
in our occupations and in our everyday life, yielding the good fruits of a good tree.
While assisting at Mass today, we avow this sentiment and this will. Placing not merely
empty words and meaningless formulas on the paten, we sacrifice ourselves, our wills, our
hearts, and determine to seek in all things only what God wills just as He wills it. We must be
determined not to permit our “members to serve uncleanness and iniquity unto iniquity,” but
“to serve justice unto sanctification.” Then God, bowing down His ear from heaven, stretches
out His fatherly hand in order to make us partakers of His salvation, to which He has called us
in baptism, and the pledge of which He gives us in Holy Communion.
Meditation
The liturgy of this Sunday draws a sharp contrast between the old man and the new. The old
man is the man without God, without Christ, man on a purely natural level; the new man is
the one born of God in baptism, filled with the Holy Ghost in confirmation, hastening toward
the goal of eternal life — a new, spiritual man enlivened by God and Christ.
The old man. “You have yielded your members to serve uncleanness and iniquity unto iniquity”
(Epistle), following the concupiscence of the flesh, which is inclined towards evil. Feeling unfettered
and free, you neglected the commandments of God and the natural law, which He has
written into every man’s heart. “When you were the servants of sin, you were free from justice”
(Epistle). With somber colors the Apostle paints the picture of unredeemed man. “When
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