9781644135945

The Light of the World
Prayer
Let the operation of Thy mercy, we beseech Thee, O Lord, direct our hearts; for without Thee
we cannot please Thee. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Saturday
We are “waiting for the manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Epistle). “In the day of the
coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” we should be “without crime,” without faults (Epistle). We
must be healed of all our infirmities, as was the man sick of the palsy, who was healed by the
Lord in soul and body (Gospel).
We must be “without crime” in regard to our soul when the Lord comes to us at the hour of
our death. For this end “in all things [we] are made rich in Him” when we receive baptism,
when we partake of the Holy Sacrifice, when we receive the graces of the sacraments of
confirmation and of penance, when we receive the gifts that the Lord incessantly showers
on our soul. He “also will confirm you unto the end, without crime, in the day of the coming
of our Lord Jesus Christ.” “Behold I stand at the gate and knock. If any man shall hear
My voice and open to Me the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he
with Me” (Apoc 3:20). As long as we are here on earth, He overwhelms all uncleanness
and imperfection in us when He enters our soul. If we open to Him, He enters with all the
riches of His graces, and gives them to us. He establishes His kingdom in us and helps us
live His clean and holy life. In holy unity He sups with us and we sup with Him one and
the same food, the food of God Himself, the divine life which we possess with Him. This
life will become strong in us and rule us. It does not tolerate sin, false principles, conscious
imperfections, or disorderly inclinations. If there be anything of selfishness or willfulness of
thought or deed, the Lord destroys it through the painful but necessary tribulations which
He sends us. Thus we will be “without crime in the day of the coming of our Lord,” thanks
to the powerful efficacy of His grace. We must not let Him knock in vain; we must let Him
enter and do with us as He likes; we must let Him work His will in us. “Whosoever abideth
in Him, sinneth not” (1 Jn 3:6).
We must be “without crime” in regard to the body. “In the day of the coming of our Lord
Jesus Christ,” at His return in power and glory, He will repeat in our body the wonder He
worked on the man sick of the palsy. “Arise . . . and go into thy house.” This is not only a cure, but
an awakening to life. “It is sown in corruption, it shall rise in incorruption. It is sown in dishonor,
it shall rise in glory. It is sown in weakness, it shall rise in power. It is sown a natural body, it shall
rise a spiritual body. . . . Therefore as we have borne the image of the earthly, let us bear also the
image of the heavenly. . . . For this corruptible must put on incorruption; and this mortal must
put on immortality” (1 Cor 15:42 ff.). The Lord “will reform the body of our lowness, made
like to the body of His glory” (Phil 3:21). “When Christ shall appear [on the last day], who is
your life, then you also shall appear with Him in glory” (Col 3:4). “I believe in the resurrection
of the body and life everlasting.”
“Nothing is wanting to you in any grace, waiting for the manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ”
(Epistle). “Give peace, O Lord, to them that patiently wait for Thee”; give also grace, holiness
616