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The Time After Pentecost
Tuesday
The Apostle bows his knee to the Father and prays for five graces for his beloved Ephesians. The
first grace, that they may “be strengthened by His Spirit with might unto the inward man.” The
second, “that Christ may dwell by faith in [their] hearts.” The third, that they may be “rooted
and founded in charity.” The fourth, that they may comprehend the “charity of Christ, which
surpasseth all knowledge.” The fifth, that they “may be filled unto all the fullness of God” (Epistle).
“To be strengthened by His Spirit with might unto the inward man,” is the first petition of
the Apostle; and in a certain sense it is the foundation of all that follows. The Christian life
necessarily is a life of spirituality; it is nothing else but the living of the life of the only-begotten
Son of God, who causes us to think His thoughts, to take His principles as maxims of our
lives, to carry out His intentions. He would have us love what He has loved: poverty, humility,
submission to God’s will, sufferings, and the cross. The spiritual life lifts us above the thoughts
and ambitions of the man of sin; it frees us from egoism and uncontrolled passions and habits,
and elevates us to the realm of faith, where we have confidence in God and love God and our
fellow creatures. The spiritual man has his senses, his imagination, and his passions under control
so that they never drag his will down to their level. He is always turned inward upon himself,
where God the Holy Ghost lives and works in the depths of his soul. He knows no curiosity,
no haste, no excitement, no dejection, no distractions. He does not interfere with the affairs
of others, he flees criticism of others, and abstains from judging others. He knows no fear of
men and shows deference only to the will of God. In all things he makes himself dependent
on God and the operation of grace. He does his duty as demanded and never refuses to submit
to the will and demands of God; he accepts his trials and tribulations as coming from divine
providence, and greets them with a resigned and confident fiat: As Thou wilt. That we lead
such a life, that we “be strengthened . . . with might unto the inward man,” is the prayer of the
Apostle and the wish of the Church.
“By His Spirit.” An interior life cannot be attained through any purely natural power, nor
by any natural effort, nor by any advance in training or culture. We may use our natural talents
and natural virtues, we may exercise our intellect and will, our mind and character, and bring
them to a natural perfection; but these natural powers alone will not make us real Christians.
True Christian spiritual life means an intensive life of grace. However, such a life implies a new
order of being which far excels that of nature and can come into existence only by the power of
the Holy Ghost. It is He who gives birth to the interior life, who preserves and unfolds it and
carries it up to the heights of union with God. It is He who penetrates our soul always more
with His beauty, with His purity, and with the fire of charity, just as the rays of the sun shine on
the dewdrop and pierce it, causing it to reflect the beauty of the sun. The more we yield to the
operation of the Holy Ghost, the more powerful will our interior life become.
A more intense interior life in all Christians is the need of the hour. This need becomes more
urgent as we march towards the time of the harvest, the end of life. As we go forward with the
sacred liturgy, we more clearly perceive this need, for the time when the glorified Lord will return
to judge the living and the dead, is swiftly approaching. He comes to us personally at the hour
of our death, at the time of the particular judgment. How we shall regret that we did not work
diligently to intensify our interior life when we yet had the time!
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