Presence of God

O Jesus, life of my soul, make me rise each day to a new life of charity and fervor.

Meditation

I. In the Mass of today there is a dominant thought, so often repeated in the liturgy and so dear to our hearts : Jesus is our life. Whatever good there is in us is the fruit of His grace, by which we remain steadfast in good (Collect) and live in the Spirit (Ep); by His grace we rise from sin (Gosp), and eating His flesh, we nourish His life within us (Communion). WithoutJesus we would abide in death; without Him we could never live the glorious life ofthe Spirit described by St. Paul in today’s Epistle (Gl. 5, 25-26 - Gl. 6, 1-10).

It would be well to glean a few thoughts from this. "Let us not be made desirous of vainglory, provoking one another. For if any man think himself to be something, whereas he is nothing, he deceiveth himself." True humility is presented here as the basis offraternal charity; anyone who is proud carries about with him a hotbed of discord for, preferring himself to others, he will often be provocative, envious, haughty, and disdainful of those whom he considers his inferiors.

"If a man be overtaken in any fault, you, who are spiritual, instruct such a one in the spirit of meekness." One who wishes to scale the heights must never be critical of him whose way is not so high, nor be scandalized at the faults of another. If duty requires us to admonish anyone, we should do so with sweetness and kindness. This sweetness is another fruit of humility, because when we correct others, we should always take heed to ourselves : "lest thou also be tempted."

"And in doing good, let us not fail; for in due time we shall reap, not failing." We must not allow ourselves to be discouraged by difficulties in the spiritual life, even when do not succeed in overcoming them. God does not ask us to succeed but to continually renew our efforts, although the results may not be apparent. "In due time," that is, when God wills and in the way that pleases Him, we shall reap the fruit, provided we "fail not."we

II. The thought that Jesus is our Life shines forth even more in the Gospel (Lc. 7, 11-16). The Master meets the sad funeral procession of a young man. His mother is walking beside the bier, weeping. "And the Lord, seeing her, had compassion on her, and said to her : Weep not. And He came near and touched the bier... And He said : Young man, I say to thee, arise... And He gave him to his mother." Jesus is our Savior who sympathizes with us in our trials and uses His divine omnipotence to alleviate them. Today we see Him work a miracle in order to console a widowed mother; He restores her dead son to life. This was an expression of the delicacy of His love for us; but how many others, less visible perhaps but no less full of love and life, have surged from His heart! "The Gospel speaks of three who were dead and who were visibly restored to life by Our Lord," St. Augustine tells us, "but He has restored thousands invisibly." When writing these words, the Saint must have recalled with ineffable gratitude the much greater miracle Jesus had wrought for him, making him rise from the death of sin.

St. Augustine and many other saints have been restored to life. If the saints who led lives of innocence attract us so much, those who were brought back from sin have still greater power to encourage us in our struggles. It may be a laborious task for us to overcome pride, sensuality, and all the other passions, but it was no easier for them. They too knew our temptations,struggles and falls; ifthey overcame them, why cannot we do the same?

Thanks be to God, it is not alw'ays a question of having to rise from a life of serious sin, but there is always occasion for a resurrection from our little daily infidelities; if they are not corrected, our fervor in the spiritual life will gradually weaken. In this regard, we need to rise every day, indeed every hour; yet so many times we lack the strength for it. But if we beseech Jesus, our Life, He will touch us with His grace as He once touched the bier of the young man of Naim; He will give us fresh vigor and will put us back again, full of courage, on the way to perfection. The resurrection of the young man was implored by his mother’s tears; let ours be implored every day by the tears of our hearts, by our compunction, humility, and trust.

Colloquy

"O Lord, my God, I had reached the gates of death, but You placed Yourself between them and me, so that I could not pass through them. O my Savior, You have often rescued me from bodily death when I was seriously ill or exposed to danger. You knew, Lord, that if death had surprised me then, my soul would have been cast into hell and I should have been damned forever. Your mercy and Your grace prevented me, and saved both my body and soul from death. You have done all this and much more for me, O Lord, my God!

"Now, O light of my soul, my God, life by which I live, I give You thanks : to You do I offer my thanks, though I am poor and worthless and unworthy to receive Your benefits.

"I was once among the sinners whom You saved. To give others an example of Your most benign mercy, I shall declare Your great favors. You saved me from the deepest pit of hell once, twice, thrice, a hundred times, a thousand times. I was ever tending toward hell, and always You drew me back when, if You had so willed, You could have justly damned me a thousand times; You did not will to do so, because You love souls and dissimulate the sins ofmen so that they may do penance, O Lord, most merciful in all Your ways.

"Now I see and by Your light I know all this, O Lord my God, and my soul faints away when it considers the greatness ofYour mercy. My whole life, which was perishing in my misery, has been revived by Your mercy. I was wholly dead and You restored me wholly to life. May all that is in me be Yours then, henceforth, for I give myself wholly to You!" (St. Augustine).