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The Time After Pentecost
sickness, and both interior and exterior trials to perfect the work within the soul. They, on their
part, purge it of its stains and make it a fit sanctuary for the Lord. This is the way of jealous love.
In the Mass today we gladly place our entire being on the altar, into His hands. He must
be Lord in the temple of our soul. Our heart and spirit must pay homage to Him. We must give
everything to Him.
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.
Tenth Sunday after Pentecost
The Mass
Two facts determine the growth of the kingdom of God within us: the grace of God, and
the attitude the soul takes toward the working of that grace. “There are diversities of graces,
but the same Spirit; and there are diversities of ministries, but the same Lord; and there are
diversities of operations, but the same God, who worketh all in all. . . . To one indeed, by the
Spirit, is given the word of wisdom; and to another the word of knowledge . . . ; to another
the grace of healing in one Spirit. . . . But all these things one and the same Spirit worketh,
dividing to every one according as He will” (Epistle). To this all-powerful working of grace
entirely independent of man corresponds, on the part of man, a humble recognition of his
utter helplessness. “No man can say: The Lord Jesus, but by the Holy Ghost” (Epistle).
Today’s liturgy teaches us that wherever man’s weakness and inability to fulfill by himself the
demands of the supernatural life are acknowledged, there alone is possible the development
of the life of grace in man.
Therefore acknowledging the insufficiency of our own human and natural faculties, we go
today to the celebration of Mass. The Pharisee stands before us. With proud composure
he prays: “O God, I give Thee thanks that I am not as the rest of men.” He ponders his
worth, well aware of his apparent superiority over other men. His proud prayer, however,
becomes his undoing: “I say to you, this man [the publican] went down to his house
justified rather than the other [the Pharisee]; because every one that exalteth himself
shall be humbled, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted” (Gospel). We share
the humble and repentant sentiments of the publican, hardly daring to lift up our eyes
towards heaven. Our prayer is a sincere mea culpa, a loud, “O God, be merciful to me a
sinner.” Acknowledging our unworthiness and weakness, we confidently go to our Lord,
beseeching Him: “O God, who dost manifest Thy almighty power chiefly in showing
mercy and pity; increase Thy mercy towards us” (Collect). We know that all the work of
salvation depends primarily on His mercy.
During Mass today we ourselves are the humble and repentant publican. During the Holy
Sacrifice we are to learn that we, too, shall be exalted and find pardon and grace whenever
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