9781644135945

The Time After Pentecost
Meditation
“What think you of Christ; whose Son is He?” Jesus asked the Pharisees. They answered Him,
“David’s.” But He replied, “How, then, doth David, in spirit, call Him Lord, saying: The Lord
said to my Lord: Sit on My right hand until I make thy enemies thy footstool? If David, then,
call Him Lord, how is He his son?” The Pharisees were silenced. We confess Him to be the
Lord who sits at the right hand of the Father in majesty and glory, the King who will return at
the end time to judge the living and the dead.
The Lord said, “Sit on My right hand.” Thus Christ today appears to the Church and its liturgy.
He is the Lord, the supreme ruler of the world. He has accomplished the redemption of men
on earth; now He has been made King of them all. Such was the will of the Father. “Ask of Me
and I will give Thee the Gentiles for Thy inheritance and the utmost parts of the earth for Thy
possession” (Ps 2:8). “Sit Thou at My right hand until I make Thy enemies Thy footstool” (Ps
109:1). The man Christ has received the fullness of power from the Father. He will conquer
His enemies. The day will come when there will be no enemy; Christ will be the victor. “That
in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those that are in heaven, on earth, and under the
earth” (Phil 2:10). The Church, surrounded by enemies and persecuted on all sides, faithfully
looks upon Him for protection. She knows that He will defeat her enemies; He will pass a just
judgment upon all the evils which have accumulated in the history of mankind. He will take up
the Church and all of us who are members of the Church in glory on His return. “Thou art just, O
Lord, and Thy judgment is right” (Introit). Justice will be established and evil destroyed. In this
judgment all untruth will be defeated and falsehood revealed. Peoples and states will be cleansed
of evil, and the innocence, virtue, justice, and holiness of the Church will be established. The
Church awaits this day on which the Lord will come again with great glory and power. He is the
Lord. All knees shall bow before Him. All will have to acknowledge His word and His judgment.
Christ shows His power and glory by filling His faithful with His spirit and uniting them
“in the bond of peace” (Epistle). He gives us the royal commandment to love God and our
fellow man. He fills all His faithful with His spirit. He cleanses them of whatever may separate
them from Him, such as their egoism, their pride, their self-love. They become one with Him,
inflamed by one spirit, established in one faith and in the one baptism, inspired by one hope.
All are children of the one Father, “who is above all, and through all, and in us all” (Epistle). Our
unity is proof of His supremacy. The more united we are in heart, in soul, and in spirit, the more
surely we give testimony for Him. “Thou alone art holy. Thou alone art the Lord. Thou alone,
O Jesus Christ, art the Most High, with the Holy Ghost, in the glory of the Father” (Gloria).
Therefore the Epistle exhorts us to “walk worthy of the vocation in which you are called. With
all humility and mildness, with patience, supporting one another in charity, careful to keep the
unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” This is the greatest commandment: “Thou shalt love
the Lord thy God with thy whole heart . . . [and] thy neighbor as thyself ” (Gospel). Having such
a love we become one people in “the unity of the Spirit,” in the unity of Christ’s love.
“Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people whom He hath chosen for His inheritance”
(Gradual). Christ is our Lord. He has chosen us as His own. He, who was the Son
of God, had no need of us; yet He descended from heaven out of pure mercy, and because of
our misery He came in search of us, His lost sheep. He wants us for His own. That He might
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