9781644135945

The Light of the World
Prayer
Arouse, we beseech Thee, O Lord, the wills of Thy faithful, that by more earnestly seeking the
fruit of the divine work, they may receive more abundantly the gifts of Thy loving kindness.
Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Monday
“Heaven and earth shall pass away” (Gospel). “This therefore I say, brethren, the time is short, . . .
for the fashion of this world passeth away” (1 Cor 7:29, 31). How rapidly the days slipped by
during the past Church year. They will never come again. The graces and the opportunities
they offered me are gone forever.
“The time is short. It remaineth that they also who have wives be as though they had none; and
they that weep, as though they wept not; and they that rejoice, as if they rejoiced not; and they
that buy, as though they possessed not; and they that use this world, as if they used it not; for the
fashion of this world passeth away” (1 Cor 7:29–31). The trials and the troubles of this world
are hardly worth the worry they cause. All that we experience in this world, all that surrounds
us, is subject to corruption and decay. In conflict of soul the Psalmist prays: “And what is the
number of my days. . . . Behold, Thou hast made my days measurable, and my substance is as
nothing before Thee. And indeed all things are vanity, every man living. Surely man passeth as
an image; yea, and he is disquieted in vain. He storeth up, and he knoweth not for whom he
shall gather these things” (Ps 38:5–7).
“The fashion of this world passeth away.” There is far less in this world than we suppose.
We gain nothing by spending so much of our time in the occupations and interest of this world.
“Therefore, if you be risen with Christ [in baptism], seek the things that are above, where Christ
is sitting at the right hand of God; mind the things that are above, not the things that are upon
the earth. For you are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God” (Col 3:1–3). Therefore
“it remaineth that they also who have wives be as if they had none; . . . and they that use this
world, as if they used it not; for the fashion of this world passeth away” (1 Cor 7:29, 31). Thus
the Christian believes and thinks.
Be “solicitous for the things that belong to the Lord” (1 Cor 7:32). Observe that the Church
has but one thought, the will of the Lord. She is possessed by one great passion, and this rules
her heart: “The things that pertain to God.” For that reason her life is so genuine, so upright,
so unified, so peaceful, so recollected. What else has been the concern of the Church during
the past year but the things of God? Holy Mother the Church has withdrawn us daily from the
streets of the world into the holy of holies that we might learn to be solicitous for the things of
God. How diligently she has taught us through her instructions, through the Gospels, through
her liturgical song! How often she has admonished us to withdraw farther and farther from the
world and to be united to Christ! How diligent she has been in making sacrifices for us! How
instant in prayer! She can indeed say with truth, “We cease not to pray for you and to beg that
you may be filled with the knowledge of the will of God, in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;
that you may walk worthy of God in all things pleasing, being fruitful in every good work,
and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, . . . giving thanks to God
the Father, who hath made us worthy to be partakers of the lot of the saints in light” (Epistle).
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