9781644135945

The Light of the World
commands were seriously meant. “Neither let us tempt Christ.” Let us not despise His grace,
His call, His inspirations, His will, presuming, perhaps, that the Lord will not insist on His
word and inspirations.
Let us resolve now to be faithful to His grace and to manifest our esteem for it. “The justices
of the Lord are right, rejoicing hearts, and His judgments sweeter than honey and the honeycomb;
for Thy servant keepeth them” (Offertory). This promise of fidelity to the Lord and His
grace we place on the paten during Mass.
“He that eateth My flesh and drinketh My blood, abideth in Me, and I in him”
(Communion). The fruit of the Mass and Holy Communion is the union of our souls and
hearts with Christ the Lord. We are of one heart and one soul with Him, one love and one will.
When He gives Himself to us, He permeates us with His light, that we may know the time of His
visitation. He gives us strength that we may lovingly comply with the inspirations of His grace.
“Behold God is my helper, and the Lord is the protector of my soul” (Introit).
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.
Friday
“When Jesus drew near to Jerusalem, seeing the city, He wept over it.” He loves the city of His
people. “If thou also hadst known, and that in this day, the things that are to thy peace. . . . And
entering into the temple, He began to cast out them that sold therein. . . . And He was teaching
daily in the temple” (Gospel). Here we witness merciful love and love punishing and judging. The
liturgy wants to impress deeply upon our minds that the Lord will come to judge the living and
the dead. The love with which He wants to save and redeem us, “the living,” is a love of justice.
Jesus loves Jerusalem. He rides solemnly into the city, and many of its inhabitants cordially
welcome Him today. He is well aware, however, that today’s “hosanna” will be followed within
a few days by the cry, “Crucify Him.” He knows that the Jews are going to condemn Him to
death during these days, and that even before a week has passed He will hang on the Cross on
the heights of Calvary, rejected and murdered by the people He has loved so much. He weeps,
not only over the things that are to happen to Him in Jerusalem, but also over the poor city,
which is destined to be destroyed. Less than forty years hence it will be in ruins. It has made
itself unworthy; it is no longer the Holy City with its magnificent temple, the house of God.
Even now it is planning the murder of the Lord. “How often would I have gathered together thy
children, . . . and thou wouldest not” (Mt 23:37). Jesus shed tears because Jerusalem has rejected
and refused the grace of God; it will therefore be rejected by God. It has let itself be deceived
by its hope and desire of obtaining earthly splendor and glory.
Jesus judges. “Entering into the temple, He began to cast out them that sold therein, and
them that bought, saying to them: It is written, My house is the house of prayer, but you have
made it a den of thieves” (Gospel). Christ loves, and because He loves, He judges, for genuine
love is a judging love. When the sun appears, it drives away all obscurity and darkness, and all
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