9781644135945

The Light of the World
Wednesday
Christ had cleansed ten lepers; only one, however, returned to Him to thank Him for having
been healed (Gospel). This one who returned is a type of the Church, which, having been
cleansed in the blood of the Lord and the waters of baptism, returns to the Lord to thank Him.
“Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.”
“It is truly meet and just, right and availing unto salvation, that we should at all times and in
all places give thanks unto Thee, O holy Lord, Father Almighty and everlasting God, through
Christ our Lord” (Preface of the Mass). The praise of God is the first object of the prayers of
the Church; she adores, praises, and thanks Him. Every morning at sunrise she remembers
that blessed moment when her children were born to light through the reception of the sacrament
of baptism, when they rose out of the darkness of sin to a new life. In gratitude for these
graces the Church sends her praises heavenward, especially in the Canticle of Lauds and the
Benedictus, thanking the heavenly Father for having wrought in her children the miracle of
spiritual resurrection from death to life. When the sun has risen, the priests of the Church go
to the altar to celebrate the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, which is a sacrifice of thanksgiving for
the benefits of creation and of God’s providence in governing the world, and for the grace of the
Incarnation, the redemption, and the descent of the Holy Ghost. It is the sacrifice of thanksgiving
for the grace of divine sonship, for God’s dwelling within our souls, for our union with Christ,
the head, and for membership in His mystical body. The Church feels urged to give thanks to
God for having preserved and governed her throughout the centuries, for having multiplied
her children throughout the earth, and for having unceasingly poured forth His assisting grace
upon her children, illuminating and admonishing them, stimulating and aiding them with His
divine wisdom.
At the beginning of dusk, at Vespers, the Church gratefully looks back at the past, recalling
all the graces she and her children have received, especially the greatest of all, the approach
of God Himself to His children in Holy Communion. She jubilantly expresses her gratitude
through the Magnificat of Mary, the Virgin Mother of God: “My soul doth magnify the Lord.
And my spirit hath rejoiced in God, my Savior. Because He that is mighty hath done great
things to me; and holy is His name. And His mercy is from generation unto generation, to
them that fear Him” (Lk 1:46 ff.). At Compline she expresses her gratitude in the words of the
aged Simeon: “Now Thou dost dismiss Thy servant, O Lord, according to Thy word in peace;
because my eyes have seen Thy salvation” (Lk 2:29 f.).
The Church is aware that her debt of gratitude to God is so great that she never will be
able to pay it by herself. Even if all the choirs of the angels and the blessed concurred, they
would not be able to make a worthy return of gratitude for all the graces and gifts which God
has bestowed upon the children of His Church. She therefore thanks Him “through Christ
our Lord.” Making the cause of the Church His own, Christ, the mediator between God and
men, unites the thanksgiving of His spouse and all her children with the infinitely meritorious
acts of thanksgiving which unceasingly arise from His most Sacred Heart to the Father. He
permeates the thanksgivings given to God by the Church with the fragrance and power of
His human-divine thanksgiving. Through Him the Church is enabled to give to God thanks
that are worthy of His love and graces. In return God gives to the Church and her children
new graces and blessings.
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