9781644135945

The Time After Pentecost
may be merciful to us and pour out the fullness of light and grace into our hearts. It is His great
and unspeakable love towards us that does not forget us when He has entered into His glory.
He has promised: “I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world” (Mt 28:20).
This promise He keeps and fulfills. Invisibly He comes into our midst in the Holy Sacrifice,
giving Himself as the food of our souls: He, the Lord, to whom all power is given in heaven
and on earth. To such an extent the almighty God humbles Himself — whose power nothing
can resist, who is stronger than flesh and passion and the old man within us, stronger than the
world and Satan with his pomps — that He dwells in the tabernacle to be near us at all times
with the power of His prayers and the wisdom of His Spirit whenever we need help against the
enemies of our salvation. “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people whom He
hath chosen for His inheritance. By the word of the Lord the heavens were established; and all
the power of them by the Spirit of His mouth” (Gradual). Should we not in all things depend
on Him who is near us with the fullness of His might and His love?
We approach “the day of the Lord” when He shall return for judgment. “Thou art just, O Lord,
and Thy judgment is right” (Introit). “If Thou, O Lord, wilt mark iniquities, Lord, who shall
stand it” (Ps 129:3). You come down to us in the Sacrifice of the Mass and in Holy Communion
with innumerable graces and proofs of charity to bring us Your salvation: a continually repeated
granting of grace and mercy. “Deal with Thy servant according to Thy mercy” (Introit). “Lord
have mercy on us, Christ have mercy on us, Lord have mercy on us.” “O Lord, hear my prayer,
and let my cry come to Thee” (Alleluia verse). “Hear my prayer” for the grace to love Thee, the
Lord, with my whole heart, with my whole soul, with my whole mind, and my neighbor as
myself (Gospel). Grant, O Lord, that we all may walk worthy of our vocation, in the unity of
the Spirit, in humility, patience, and charity (Epistle). “All power is given to Me in heaven and
in earth” (Mt 28:18), even over our hearts. Penetrate them with Thy Spirit, Thy purity, and Thy
power, that they may overcome all things opposed to Thy working within us.
Prayer
Grant Thy people, we beseech Thee, O Lord, to shun the defilements of the devil and with pure
minds to follow Thee, the only God. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Tuesday
Viewing the day of the Lord, the Last Judgment, the Church prays for the grace that we may
withstand the temptations of the devil and may follow God alone with pure hearts.
“Your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour” (1 Pt
5:8). “Our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and powers, against
the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places”
(Eph 6:12). The devil “was a murderer from the beginning, and he stood not in the truth; . . .
for he is a liar and the father thereof ” ( Jn 8:44). However, his power over sinful mankind has
been broken by Christ. “For this purpose the Son of God appeared, that He might destroy the
works of the devil” (1 Jn 3:8). But with God’s permission and subject to His power and will,
the devil is still allowed to show us his power in different ways. He does so specially by means
599