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The Light of the World
At the Consecration of the Mass we shall see the “salvation of God,” Christ, the Son of God,
the Emmanuel. “And the Word was made flesh,” once in the womb of Mary, but now every day
in the womb of the Church; on the altar, at the Consecration of the Mass, He becomes mine, as
once He became Mary’s child. With firm faith we take Him into our trembling hands and offer
Him up to the heavenly Father. In Holy Communion we may even receive Him into our hearts.
“Behold a virgin shall conceive” (Communion). The Christian soul, the Church, is that
virgin. It might be said of us, as it was said of Mary, “Blessed art thou.” We are, indeed, full of
grace, for now we have the grace that we need for our present life; we are assured of the resurrection
at the last day, and of our eternal salvation in the world to come. In the possession of
this grace we have the guarantee of the salvation of God. The liturgy looks forward to the birth
of Christ with this hope and prayer: “Show us, O Lord, Thy mercy, and grant us Thy salvation”
(Ps 84:8). God will show us the mercy of the resurrection of the dead and the beatific vision
in heaven. The Christmas which we now await is only the beginning of and the preparation for
the eternal joys of heaven.
“The Lord is nigh.” John, the forerunner who is to prepare His way, has already begun the work
that was given him. “Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate
being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and Philip his brother tetrarch of
Iturea and the country of Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilina, under the high priests
Annas and Caiphas, the word of the Lord was made unto John, the son of Zachary, in the desert”
(Gospel). John preaches penance to the people: “Do penance, for the kingdom of heaven is at
hand. . . . Prepare ye the way of the Lord” (Mt 3:2 f.).
“Prepare ye the way of the Lord,” that He may come to you without hindrance. “The
crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways plain.” We are to prepare for His coming by
a lively faith in Him who is to come, by purifying our souls from all that is sinful and unworthy
of Him; we prepare by acts of penance, by sorrow and humility, and by a humble and worthy
confession of our sins. “The Lord is nigh.”
“Behold a virgin shall conceive,” the liturgy cries out to us at the time of Communion. We
should approach the holy table with pure hearts and clean hands, and with the firm resolution
to live only for Him who is now come to live in us. The fruit of the Incarnation should make us
new men, men filled with the life of God and the love of Christ.
Prayer
Stir up Thy might and come, we beseech Thee, O Lord, and succor us with great power; that
by the help of Thy grace the forgiveness of Thy mercy may hasten what our sins impede. Amen.
Meditation (2)
“A virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel” (Communion).
In today’s liturgy the virgin is both the Church and our soul. Year after year the Church, and
with it the Christian soul, renews itself in the fire of penance and sorrow, that it may become
a pure holocaust to God; she becomes a more perfect virgin, and thus becomes more fruitful
in the things that are of God. “The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon Him” (Gradual);
that is, God is near all those who humbly and truthfully acknowledge their own nothingness
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