MONDAY OF QUINQUAGESIMA WEEK
The Liturgical Year
- Dom Guéranger
The life of a faithful
Christian, like that of the patriarch Abraham, is neither more nor less than a courageous
journeying onwards to the place destined for him by his Creator. He must put
aside everything that could impede his progress, nor must he look back. This
is, undoubtedly, hard doctrine; but if we reflect, for a moment, on the dangers
which surround fallen man during his
earthly pilgrimage, and on what
our own sad experience has taught us, we shall not think it hard or strange,
that our Saviour has made the renouncing and denying of ourselves an essential
condition of our salvation. But, independently of this, is it not far better to
put our life under God’s guidance, than to keep it in our own ‘Are we so wise
or so strong, as to be able to guide ourselves? We may resist as we please, but
God is our sovereign Lord and Master; and by giving us free-will, whereby we may
either resist His will or follow it, He has not abdicated His own infinite
rights to His creatures’ obedience. Our refusal to obey would not make Him less
our Master.
Had Abraham, after receiving the divine
call, chosen to remain in Chaldea, and refused to break up the home which God
had bade him leave, God would then have selected some other man to be the patriarch
of His chosen people, and father of that very family, which was to have the
Messias as one of its children. This substitution of one for another in the
order of grace is frequently forced upon divine justice; but what a terrible
punishment it is for him that caused the substitution! When a soul refuses
salvation, heaven does not therefore lose one of its elect: God, finding that He
is despised by the one He called, offers the grace to another, until His call
is followed.
The Christian life consists in this untiring, unreserved
obedience to God. The first effect of this spirit of submission is, that it
takes the soul from the region of sin and death, wherein she was wasting away
her existence; it takes her from the dark Chaldea, and places her in the
promised land of light. Lest she should faint on her way along the narrow path,
and fall a victim to the dangers which never leave her because they are within
herself, God asks her for sacrifices, and these brace her.
Here,
again, we have Abraham for our model. God loves him, and promises him the richest of
blessings; He gives him a son, as pledge of the promise; and then, shortly after, tests
the holy patriarch’s devotedness, by commanding him to slay with
his own
hand this dear child, on whom he has been told to build his hopes!
Man’s path on earth is sacrifice. We cannot go out from
evil except by the way of self-resistance, nor keep our footing on good ground
but by constant combating. Let us imitate Abraham: fix our eyes steadfastly on the
eternal hills, and consider this world as a mere passing dwelling, a tent, put up
for a few days. Our Jesus has said to us: ‘I came not to send peace, but the
sword; for I came to separate.’ Separation, then, and trials are sure to be
sent us; but we are equally sure that they are for our good, since they are
sent us by Him who so loved us, that He became one of ourselves. But this same
Jesus has also said: ‘Where thy treasure is, there too is thy heart.’
Christians! can our treasure be in this wretched world? No it must be in that
fair land above. There, then, must we be, in desire and affection.
These are the thoughts the Church would
have us meditate upon during these days, which immediately precede the forty of
Lent. They will help to purify our hearts and make them long to be with their
God. The noise of the world’s sins and scandals reaches our ears: let us pray,
that the kingdom of God may come to us and to those poor sinners; for God’s
infinite mercy can change them, if He will, into children of Abraham. Not a day passes
but He so changes many a sinner. He has, perhaps, shown that miracle of His
mercy to us, and those words of the apostle may be applied to us: ‘You, who some
time were afar off, are now made nigh (to God) by the Blood of Christ.’
Let us pray for
ourselves and for all sinners, in these beautiful words of the Mozarabic
breviary.
Prayer
We beseech thee, O almighty
God! that whereas our sins have angered thee against us, our prayers and
praise, which thou inspirest, may propitiate and please thee: that thus, by thy
mercy, the vexations of this world may not cast down our soul, nor hurtful
delusion possess her, nor the darkness of unbelief surround her; but may we
gleam with the light of thy countenance, wherewith thou hast signed us, and
ever, by firmness in the true faith, walk in the brightness of the same. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment