9781644135945

The Light of the World
giving ourselves entirely to God. How many unnecessary distractions we allow ourselves!
How many unnecessary and even sinful thoughts and plans we harbor! How much time
we devote to secular reading! Truly the liturgy has good reason to urge us to be “redeeming
the time, for the days are evil.”
An unusual degree of holiness and mortification is not required for our making the best use of
every moment that is given to us. One of the greatest advantages of the religious life is this, that
it protects and guards us against spiritual sloth. But even in the religious state, as well as in the
world, one must have an appreciation of the value of every moment, an intense life of faith, a
burning love for Christ, a generous detachment from the world, and a love for mortification.
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.
Friday
“Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. . . . Wherefore, become not unwise, but understanding
what is the will of God” (Epistle). The wisdom of the Christian life consists in
understanding what is the will of God. God and His holy will must be respected under all
circumstances. We shall redeem the time in the measure in which we are accustomed to regard
all things in the light of God’s holy will and good pleasure, and to suffer and accept all things
in conformity with His will.
“Understanding what is the will of God.” The Lord had but one concern: to do the will of His
Father in all things. At all times He saw and understood the will of the Father with perfect clarity
and certainty. When He came into this world as the incarnate Son of God, He had from the
very beginning the clear vision of God. “For I do always the things that please Him” ( Jn 8:29).
“My meat is to do the will of Him that sent Me” ( Jn 4:34). He knows only the will of the Father.
His life is completely absorbed in God.
We share the life of Christ, for we are incorporated in Him. For us, too, everything must
depend on the will of the Father. Our progress and our perfection depends on our “conforming
ourselves with our whole heart to the will of God, never seeking anything for ourselves, either
great or small, either for time or for eternity” (Imitation of Christ, III, chap. 25). Perfection
consists in love; and love consists in our conforming ourselves to the will of God. “Thy will be
done.” We can fulfill the will of God, however, only in so far as we know and recognize it. We
shall have made the first step in the Christian life and in the life of perfection when we begin to
see the provident hand of God in all the situations and happenings of our life. We should not
allow ourselves to become absorbed by these events and happenings, but we should look beyond
them to the ultimate reality, almighty God Himself, “who worketh all in all” (1 Cor 12:6).
We can know and recognize the will of God by certain signs by which He makes known
to us what He wills and desires. These signs are, first of all, the express word of God, as made
known to us in the revelations of the Old and the New Testament, which tell us what God
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