9781644135945

The Time After Pentecost
down before my son die.” Intervene as You have often done in the history of Israel and of the
Church. Come down for judgment with a strong arm, with burning anger, with a judgment
terrible on evil. Work some wonder that they may believe again and return to You, and thus
save their souls. Thus secretly we look for some sign or wonder of the Lord. But He warned us:
“Unless you see signs and wonders, you believe not”; therefore He does not fulfill our wish.
He rather leads us on to the heights of faith. “Behold, I am with you all days, even to the consummation
of the world” (Mt 28:20). He wishes us to trust in His love, His wisdom, His will,
and His power, and to believe firmly in His power to save souls and to conquer evil. “But have
confidence, I have overcome the world” ( Jn 16:33). What the Lord wants of us is faith; as yet He
does not come for judgment. Daily He gives us new grounds for faith, and thus He strengthens
our faith and increases it. We believe, just as did the officer of the Gospel, and proceed on our
way to our eternal home with a strong, blind faith. There we shall learn that “thy son liveth.”
We are continually looking for a sign from the Lord. We seek proofs of His reality, of His Godhead
and incarnation, of His divine providence, of His mysterious and effective operation in our hearts,
of His power to bend our stubborn wills with His gentle inspirations. Faith in His promises is
not sufficient for us. We listen avidly to prophecies and to fortune tellers, and believe implicitly
the senseless talk about strange things which are to befall us personally and the world in general.
We well deserve that reproach of the Lord, “Unless you see signs and wonders, you believe not.”
“The days are evil” (Epistle), and for this reason we should all the more trust the providence
and power of Christ’s love. We must not fear. The more that cares oppress us and dangers
threaten us, the closer should we draw to the Lord, praying, repenting of our sins, confiding in
His kind love. “The eyes of all hope in Thee, O Lord; and Thou givest them meat in due season.
Thou openest Thy hand and fillest every living creature with Thy blessing” (Gradual). Thus we
believe and trust. If we trust in the word of the Lord, we will not be deceived as the officer of
the Gospel was not deceived.
Prayer
Graciously grant to Thy faithful, we beseech Thee, O Lord, forgiveness and peace, that they
may be cleansed from all offenses and serve Thee with a quiet mind. Through Christ our
Lord. Amen.
Tuesday
“Brethren: See how you walk circumspectly, not as unwise, but as wise” (Epistle). This timely
admonition to live for the one thing necessary, the salvation of our souls, becomes the more
urgent as we recall with the liturgy the approach of the Lord at the time of our death.
“Not as unwise.” The first step in the Christian way of life is to free ourselves from the folly of
sin and from all evil; that is, to purify our soul. He who wishes to climb a ladder, must start
with the lowest rung. Our first task as Christians is to fight against our faults and to root out our
own vices. To accomplish this end we must work diligently. Although the beginnings may be
difficult, the task later becomes easier, since grace operates ever more readily in our soul once a
beginning has been made. “See how you walk circumspectly, not as unwise,” not as those who
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