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The Time After Pentecost
and thy children who are in thee; and they shall not leave in thee a stone upon a stone.” The
destruction of Jerusalem in the year 70 A.D. is the sure sign, manifest to all, of the protection
the Lord affords His Church and, through the Church, all her children. All of us have cause
to rejoice: “Behold, God is my helper; . . . turn back the evils upon my enemies, and cut them
off, . . . O Lord my protector.” He has shown His loving protection again and again in the history
of the Church and her children.
“The justices of the Lord are right, rejoicing hearts, and His judgments sweeter than honey and
the honeycomb; for Thy servant keepeth them” (Offertory). In the Sacrifice of the Mass we
unite ourselves with the Lord and live for Him and His will, desiring nothing for ourselves but
everything for Him, His honor, and His holy will.
“He that eateth My flesh and drinketh My blood, abideth in Me, and I in him, saith the
Lord” (Communion). The Holy Eucharist unites us to the Church and to the Lord; therefore
He is my helper. Although He makes us and His Church participants of His trials, sufferings,
and persecutions, although we drink “His chalice,” nevertheless in the Holy Eucharist He imparts
to us His Spirit and the powerful means for conquering all our adversaries. “Behold, God
is my helper.” He is faithful. He will not suffer His Church and us to be tempted above that
which we are able to bear; “but will make also with temptation issue, that [we] may be able to
bear it” (Epistle).
Strengthened by this belief and assured of our final victory, we exclaim, “Behold, God is my
helper and . . . the protector of my soul.” I stand by Him and His holy Church with her sacrifice
and her sacraments. He turns the evil upon my enemies and cuts them off in His truth. We
can sing with joy: “O Lord our Lord, how admirable is Thy name in the whole earth. For Thy
magnificence is elevated above the heavens” (Gradual).
Prayer
Let Thy merciful ears, O Lord, be open to the prayers of Thy suppliant people; and that Thou
mayest grant them their petitions, make them ask such things as shall please Thee. Through
Christ our Lord. Amen.
Tuesday
“The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play” (Epistle). It is hard to understand
how the chosen people could act in this manner after all the great miracles God had wrought
in their behalf, after they had been saved and guided by Him, fed on heavenly manna, and
unceasingly blessed with graces. Now forgetting all these graces and the land promised them,
the people sit down to eat and drink and to enjoy the pleasures of life. “All these things . . . are
written for our correction” (Epistle).
“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets and stonest them that are sent unto thee, how
often would I have gathered together thy children, as the hen doth gather her chickens under her
wings, and thou wouldest not?” (Mt 23:37.) How many benefits God heaped upon His chosen
people! How often He sent His prophets to instruct and to warn them, to lead them back to the
right path, and to dissuade them from their idolatry! Jerusalem’s reply to all these graces was to
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