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The Time After Pentecost
The hostile powers which oppose us, the people of God, are presented to us today in the liturgy
in the person of the enemies of Job and Esther. Job lived a simple and upright life in the
fear of God. Therefore, “Satan besought that he might tempt [him]; and power was given him
from the Lord over his possessions and his flesh” (Offertory). Esther was informed of Aman’s
cruel plan to kill the Israelites in the Persian empire all in one day. She prayed to the Lord, and
He delivered them (Introit). With the liturgy we see ourselves and Holy Mother the Church
surrounded and oppressed on all sides, for we are like Job and the Israelites for whom Aman
had planned a terrible destruction. Persecution is the portion of all those who adhere to God.
Because they walk upright in the way of God, Satan seeks permission to tempt them. The Lord
has given Satan a certain amount of power over them. A people which is not tempted is not the
people of God. A Church which does not suffer continual persecution and oppression is not
the Church of Christ. The watchword of that Church is “fight,” for “our wrestling is not against
flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this
darkness, against the spirit of wickedness in the high places” (Epistle). God gives the wicked
spirits power over the Church and over Christians, that, being tempted, they may prove their
strength and valor under temptation. Satan, however, cannot go further than God permits.
Christ is Lord even over Satan and hell.
We shall conquer all our enemies and we need have no fear, for the Lord “hast been our
refuge from generation to generation” (Gradual). Through His holy Church we have received
the armor of God at our baptism. With this armor we can resist and “stand in all things perfect.
Stand, therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of justice,
and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; in all things taking the shield
of faith, wherewith you may be able to extinguish all the fiery darts of the most wicked one.
And take unto you the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of
God” (Epistle). Other weapons placed in our hands are those of abstinence and prayer. Esther
made use of fasting and prayer (Introit). When Job was tempted by the devil, he gave himself to
prayer. St. Paul at the end of his Epistle to the Ephesians adds the admonition: “By all prayer and
supplication, praying at all times in the spirit; and in the same, watching with all instance and
supplication for all the saints” (Eph 6:18). In the Gospel our attention is called to another useful
weapon, the practice of mercy and charity toward our neighbor. “Forgive us our trespasses as
we forgive those who trespass against us.” This weapon of fraternal charity and mercy gives us
certain power even over God, for if we are merciful, God will be merciful also to us; for to the
extent that we show mercy to others, we shall ourselves receive mercy. “Forgive and you shall
be forgiven” (Lk 6:37). But on the other hand, “so also shall My Father do to you, if you forgive
not every one his brother in your hearts” (Gospel).
Today’s Gospel is filled with consolation. God does indeed give Satan and evil men a
certain power over the Church and her virtuous children. The evil they inflict on the
Church is taken into account in the plans of God’s providence. Godless men and their
leader, Satan, are made to serve the ends of almighty God. We are at all times under the
powerful protection of God, even though it may appear that we have been delivered into
the hands of our enemies.
“Israel went out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a barbarous people” (Alleluia). We, too,
have departed from a barbarous people having idols and false gods. Just as we once did at the
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