9781644135945

The Light of the World
“Let Thy continual pity cleanse and defend Thy Church.” “Christ also loved the Church, and
delivered Himself up for it that He might sanctify it, cleansing it by the laver of water in the word
of life. That He might present it to Himself a glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle or
any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish” (Eph 5:25–27). The children
of that Church are to live and walk by the power of the Holy Spirit, who descended upon the
Church at Pentecost. They are to be men of the spirit, men not desirous of vainglory, men who
do not provoke each other to envy. They are to be men of the spirit; men conscious of their
own weakness and instability, who are to teach the sinner the practice of meekness. They are to
bear one another’s burdens and to be tireless in the pursuit of good (Epistle). The Church is the
spotless bride of Christ. Since she herself is without blemish, she longs to see this same quality
in all her children. She suffers from the consciousness that many of her children, perhaps the
greater part of them in this world, are not what they ought to be. She knows their weakness,
their sinfulness, their lack of true spirituality. She knows how she is dishonored and disgraced
by their conduct. She cries out to the Lord from the depths of her misery with the voice of the
widow of Naim, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I have cried out to Thee all the day.” “Let Thy
continual pity cleanse and defend Thy Church.”
“Let Thy continual pity cleanse and defend Thy Church.” “I will put enmities between
thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed; she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie
in wait for her heel” (Gn 3:15). Christ and His Church stand on one side and the devil and
his adherents on the other. The enmity between these two factions has endured through the
ages; they are engaged in a battle unto death. This battle has continued from the beginning of
the history of the Church. Powerful enemies against the Church have arisen among the Jews,
among the heathens, among the heretics. The Christian doctrine of the Trinity has been denied;
the divinity of Christ and the unity of His person have been attacked; Original Sin has been
denied, and the doctrine of grace and salvation has been rejected. In later times the Eucharist
was abandoned and the efficacy of the sacraments and the value of the Mass were impugned.
The temporal power of the world was used to attack the Church in an attempt to destroy her.
For three centuries the Roman emperors used every means at hand to persecute bishops and
laity, torturing them with unspeakable cruelty. When Rome failed, the nations of the North and
the South, the powers of the East and the West sought to destroy the Church. As the centuries
passed, the persecutions continued; she was betrayed and maligned, violated and tortured. But
“the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Mt 16:18).
The mercy of God protects and defends the Church; His grace guides her. Without God’s
help she could not resist and overcome the continual persecutions and attacks of the evil one
and his supporters. The fact that she has been able to resist all attacks from without and from
within, and that she has survived all dangers and persecutions, is due primarily to the enduring
mercy of God. The Church herself acknowledges her indebtedness to the goodness of God. “It
is good to give praise to the Lord; and to sing to Thy name, O Most High. To show forth Thy
mercy in the morning and Thy truth in the night” (Gradual).
The Church suffers from the sins and the faults committed by her members. Still she always
remains the holy Church of Christ. We also suffer from such sins and with the Church we
reject them as evil. But we love the Church. We can prove our devotion to our Holy Mother
the Church by walking in the spirit, and by eradicating all sinful thoughts, deeds, and desires
584