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The Time After Pentecost
Even indifferent actions become an occasion for gaining that sweet interior liberty which
protects us from worry and anxiety. With such filial feelings towards God we more easily acquire
forgetfulness of self, love of prayer, calmness in difficult situations, serenity in trials, and
resignation in afflictions; and the sacraments operate more fruitfully than they did before. Our
life is changed entirely, for now we have found in God a Father. Being aware of His fatherly
solicitude, we see Him near us with His love, His help, and His grace. The various affairs of life
take on a different aspect; they lose their restless and depressing character, and we no longer
find them distressing and torturing. They seem to have become peaceful, sweet; they bring us
joy and happiness, because we have found in them our Father.
There is something tragic in the fact that we are always inclined to see God under some aspect
other than that of a Father. It is unfortunate for us that we fail to look upon Him as a Father, for
He loves us, pardons us, and is near us in all our temptations. He wishes us well in all conditions
of life. If we but realized His goodness, we could not doubt that He hears our prayers, that He
blesses all those who are dear to us and those for whom we pray. He always remains the Father
who bears our neglect and coldness with infinite patience.
Our Father in heaven knows everything that happens to us. How much consolation and
peace this faith brings! Whatever happens to us, be it through misfortune or the folly of men,
or even through malice, cannot disturb our peace as long as we look upon God as our Father.
He wills that we carry the crosses that come to us, because He is the Father who loves us. We
should find supreme happiness in fulfilling His will.
If we remember in all the events of life that God is our Father and is ever near with His
guidance and love, we will always be full of joy. Our religion is a religion of love and joy, and
one of the characteristic traits of a Christian is a love for God the Father. May we always look
upon Him as our loving Father.
Prayer
Keep, we beseech Thee, O Lord, Thy Church with perpetual mercy; and because the frailty of
man without Thee cannot but fall, keep us ever by Thy help from all things hurtful, and lead us
to all things profitable to our salvation. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Wednesday
Formerly the fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost was called the Sunday of divine providence.
The spirit of this Sunday announces the glad tidings of the loving providence of God, which
cares for the birds and clothes the lilies of the field, and which, even more important, watches
over His children, those redeemed by Christ, with loving care. “O taste and see that the Lord
is sweet” (Offertory).
“How lovely are Thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts! My soul longeth and fainteth for the courts
of the Lord” (Introit). This prayer of the Church indicates that we long to be with God and
Christ. Our striving aims at being one with Christ, the head, sharing His life with Him. Christ
the holy and sinless One, imparts to us His spirit, His purity, His domination over the lower
instincts and inclinations of our fallen nature. Walking “in the spirit,” we have a foretaste of the
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