9781644135945

The Time After Pentecost
Filled with the Holy Spirit, we are contented. In spite of external and internal sufferings
and trials, a deep and unshakable peace and sense of security resides in our hearts. Even temptation
does not confuse or dishearten us. In our contacts with the world about us we preserve
our peace of soul, even when others intrude on our rights. Filled with the Holy Spirit, we lift
ourselves above the purely natural manner of thinking and acting. Instinctively and without
great difficulty we free ourselves from our indolence and uncertainty, and tend naturally (we
ourselves hardly know how) to seek what is right. We feel ourselves strengthened to avoid all
mediocrity and routine, and are enabled to perform acts that are heroic. A more than human
principle is at work in us, and this is the Holy Spirit. Filled with the Holy Spirit, we sing and
rejoice in our hearts to the Lord (Epistle). We are united with the universal praying Church in
thanksgiving, adoration, love, and praise, and in the Sacrifice of the Mass.
“Be ye filled with the Holy Spirit,” is the wish of the liturgy and the fruit of the feast of Pentecost
during the weeks that follow. In order that we may be filled with the Holy Spirit, we must separate
ourselves from all sin and infidelity. We must be careful to cooperate with grace, and must strive
to avoid all routine and negligence; we must seek to avoid all self-seeking, all worldly desires
and ambitions. We must seek to crush our hidden pride and our misguided self-confidence,
avoiding all concessions to the senses and to the flesh.
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.
Twenty-First Sunday after Pentecost
The Mass
The year of grace is rapidly drawing to a close. The Church lives in fear lest the enemy, by
redoubling his efforts, destroy for the faithful the fruit of the fleeting year. For this reason she
admonishes her children to renew their struggle and to be steadfast in goodness and truth,
resisting Satan and his cohorts. The Christian is by nature a soldier. The life of the Christian is
a warfare in defense of the ideals of Christ the King, our Lord and God. In Holy Scripture this
Christian warfare is prefigured in Esther, who, strengthened by fasting and prayer, presents
herself before the king and overcomes the cruel and cunning Aman, the enemy of her people.
Job, too, prefigures this same ideal through his faith and patience in his persecutions and his
struggle against Satan. The example of Job and Esther, and the thought of the approaching
judgment all spur us on to a valiant struggle against evil.
Esther, that is, the Church and the Christian soul, is hated, persecuted, and oppressed by
Aman, who is the figure of Satan and all his helpers. She seeks an escape in prayer. “All things
are in Thy will, O Lord; and there is none that can resist Thy will” (Introit). Rise up then in
Thy power, O Lord, and “watch over Thy household” (Collect). The enemies that rise up
against the Church and the Christian soul are not only those of flesh and blood (human
639