9781644135945

The Light of the World
“Be of good heart, son, thy sins are forgiven thee.” Gratefully we recall the moment when we
also were brought to the Savior at the time of our baptism. We were carried into the house of
Peter, the Church. Our faithful parents sought to provide for the welfare of our soul. When we
received baptism, the Lord said to us: “Son, thy sins are forgiven thee. Arise and go into thy
house,” to thy eternal home; thou art a child of God, an heir of God and coheir with Christ.
With gratitude we recall that hour of grace, when, after we had lost the grace of baptism, we
returned to the Lord, to the house of Peter, the Church. We had sinned and lost the divine life
which was given to us at baptism. We were as one sick of the palsy. We came to the Lord in the
person of His priest, and Jesus saw our faith, our contrition, our confidence, our desire to regain
divine life. “Be of good heart, son, thy sins are forgiven thee. Arise and go into thy house.” The
door of our eternal home is open again.
We are as one sick of the palsy. Who can give us new and vigorous life again? Only Jesus
the Lord, and only in the house of Simon Peter, the Church. The sacraments of baptism and
penance belong to the Church. In His Church He gives peace and forgiveness, reconciliation
with God, and grace to those who follow Him, who believe in Him, who believe and glorify
God, “who had given such power to men,” the power to forgive sins on earth (Gospel). He
grants forgiveness and grace to those who believe that He has given this power to His apostles
and their successors, the bishops and priests. “All power is given to Me in heaven and in earth.
Going, therefore, teach ye all nations, baptizing them” (Mt 28:18 f.). “Whose sins you shall
forgive, they are forgiven them” ( Jn 20:23). “Son, thy sins are forgiven thee. Arise, take up
thy bed and go into thy house.” Eternal life awaits you. “And he arose and went into his house”
(Gospel). The way of Christian life is to arise from the palsy of sin and proceed to our heavenly
home. At baptism we promised to renounce Satan, sin, and the world. We renounce them again
in the sacrament of penance. We must arise, free ourselves from lust and passion, and break
the bonds of evil habits; we must lift ourselves up from the mire of self-love and of sloth as we
vowed to do at our baptism.
“I believe in God, the Father Almighty, . . . and in Jesus Christ, His only Son. . . . I believe in
the Holy Ghost, the holy Catholic Church.” I subject myself to God, to His commandments,
to His Church. I wish to be filled and guided by the Spirit of God, the Holy Ghost. I live for
God, I go to God.
What we have already vowed at our baptism we confirm every time we receive the sacrament
of penance. We confirm all this especially when we offer the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
We arise, cast aside everything that is displeasing to God, and offer ourselves, together with our
sacrificing Lord, in perfect dedication to God.
We give thanks; we rejoice, for we have been assured that we shall go into the house of the
Lord, our eternal home. Here, in the house of the Lord made of stones, we await the blessed
arrival of the Lord in the celebration of the Eucharistic Sacrifice and in the reception of
Holy Communion; for then “Thou dost make us partakers of the one supreme Godhead”
(Secreta). Here He forgives us our sins and our faults, and He fills us with His own Spirit
and life. Through the power of the food which He offers us we shall be able to make our
way to our eternal home.
The sick man begs the Lord for bodily health; but first the Lord heals his soul. The bodily
disease is only of secondary importance; it is less harmful to him than the disease of the soul.
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