9781644135945

The Time After Pentecost
Him. We shall love Him, cling to Him, and receive all the blessings of His love. We shall
possess God and be overwhelmed through the joy of that love. O life of inexpressible joy!
We shall behold the beauty of God unveiled. We shall contemplate the infinite truth with
perfect clarity. We shall possess all good things without measure and without any fear of
ever losing them or ever becoming satiated with them. And this happiness we experience
in one eternal, unbroken act. Yes, we shall be at home with God, enjoying the eternal and
blessed possession of the divinity. And God will be within us, enlightening us by direct
intuition. We shall all be as tiny suns, reflecting the glorious light of the mighty Sun that
has risen upon us. We shall be at home, at rest, in the heart of our Father. We shall be at
home, enjoying the most delightful and the most intimate union with the bridegroom of
our souls. We shall be in possession of His glory, His blessing, His riches. “They shall be
inebriated with the plenty of Thy house, and Thou shalt make them drink of the torrent
of Thy pleasure” (Ps 35:9). We shall be at home with all the blessed of heaven, in company
with our brothers and sisters in Christ, in company with all that are pure, strong,
and noble. There will be no envy and no selfishness amongst us; we shall know only an
all-embracing and universal charity. We shall be united one with the other, possessing but
one heart and one soul in the love of God and of Christ. We shall be at home and shall
have all that we desire: all truth, all knowledge, all virtue, all holiness, all honor, and the
love of God and of the angels and the saints. We shall possess the love of God, of Mary,
of all who are good and noble. O blessed home!
“Let us always embrace that vision with perfect faith. Let us strive for it with all our hearts and
achieve it by the continual practice of charity. Whether we achieve it or not depends entirely
on us. Heaven suffers violence. Heaven can be purchased by no price less than yourself, O man.
The measure of its value is the value of your very being. Give yourself completely, and you will
possess it” (St. Bede).
“For I reckon that the sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared with the glory
to come” (Rom 8:18). “Blessed are the poor in spirit. . . . Blessed are the meek. . . . Blessed are
they that mourn. . . . Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after justice. . . . Blessed are they that
suffer persecution for justice’s sake. . . . Blessed are ye when they shall revile you and persecute
you, and speak all that is evil against you, untruly, for my sake. Be glad and rejoice, for your
reward is very great in heaven” (Mt 5:3–12).
God has promised us, “I will bring back your captivity.” We have been united to Christ and
the Church through baptism. How precious, then, should the Church and sacraments of baptism
and the Eucharist be to us! “He that eateth Me, the same also shall live by Me” ( Jn 6:58).
How wretchedly poor are those who do not possess Christ, the Church, and the sacraments!
How wretched are those who, though baptized, do not live as members of the Church! These
are those who “walk as enemies of the cross of Christ, . . . whose God is their belly; . . . who mind
earthly things” (Epistle).
Prayer
We beseech Thee, almighty God, that Thou wilt not permit to be overcome by human dangers
those whom Thou grantest to rejoice in the participation in the divine mysteries. Through
Christ our Lord. Amen. (Postcommunion.)
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