9781644135945

The Time After Pentecost
and suffering. She praises the Lord: “All that Thou hast done to us, O Lord, Thou hast done
in true judgment, because we have sinned against Thee” (Introit). Daily the Church begs God
for mercy in the Kyrie at Mass and at Lauds: “Have mercy on me, O God” (Ps 50:3). Today,
because the ecclesiastical year is drawing to an end, this cry has a special significance. We look
back upon the graces of the current year that is now near its end. We recall all that God has
done and has wanted to do to us, the children of the Church, the brethren in Christ. Daily He
came into our midst to sacrifice Himself for us and to supply us with the graces and fruits of the
sacrifice of the cross. He invited us to become a sacrifice with Him, to be crucified with Him,
to die with Him. Daily in His sacrifice He gives us forgiveness for our sins and fills us with His
risen, immortal life. We, however, have neglected His help and have failed to establish ourselves
firmly in this life; we have not allowed it to produce its full effect on us. We have sinned and
have deserved punishment.
“But give glory to Thy name and deal with us according to the multitude of Thy mercy”
(Introit). The evil that we as members of the Church have wrought will be turned against the
Lord by His enemies. A Church, they will say, which harbors sinners and uses them as its servants,
a Church which cannot change them, is not the Church of Christ; it has failed in its task;
it should give way to a new and more effective religion. “Give glory to Thy name.” For Thy sake
forgive us our trespasses and deal with us according to Thy mercy. Withhold Thy judgment, for
the evil slander us: “Who is your God?” they say. Defend Thy Church, show Thy power so that
the enemies of the Church may see and believe in Thee. “Give glory to Thy name.”
The Church cries for a sign from the Lord. She does not ask for signs and wonders, but for
a spiritual change in the souls of her children: “That they may be cleansed from all offenses and
serve Thee with a quiet mind” (Collect); that they may see and do the will of God; that they may
be “filled with the Holy Spirit, . . . being subject one to another in the fear of Christ” (Epistle).
“Give glory to Thy name.” Holy Mother the Church sees with sorrow that many of her
children, born to her by baptism, are sick unto death. She hastens to the Lord as did the ruler
in the Gospel and begs Him “to come down and heal his son for he [is] at the point of death.”
This is the agonized cry of the Church for the hour of the Lord’s return in glory. “Come down.”
Heal my child. Bring salvation. But His time is not yet come. He imposes upon His spouse new
trials of faith. He comes silently, invisibly, mysteriously in the host. During Mass He sacrifices
Himself and places at the disposal of the faithful the fruits of His sacrifice on the cross. At Holy
Communion He gives Himself as the spiritual nourishment of the soul and assures the Church,
“Thy son liveth” (Gospel). The Church “believeth the word which Jesus said” to her and goes
her way, believing in Him and His healing power. She presses on towards the day of His return
and her eternal salvation.
The Church is aware of the sins and faults of her ministers and members. She confesses and
deplores them; but she does not stop at sin and the sinner. She acknowledges the faults before
the Lord and confesses them to the Lord, thereby singing a hymn to His glory, justice,
holiness, and mercy. Through her faith in His mercy and love she expects the remission of
all faults and the grace necessary for the reformation of the sinner. “Go thy way, thy son
liveth.” The Church consoles and encourages her children to make new, more energetic, and
more faithful efforts. She points out to them the power of the Holy Sacrifice and of Holy
Communion for such effort.
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