Traditional Catholic Teaching - THIRD SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY

THIRD SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY

Jesus saith : 'I will come and heal him.'
St. Matthew. 8: 7.

Ever recurring separation governs all our life on earth. What time unites must also be separated by time, "for we have not here a lasting city" (Hebr. 8: 14), and it is well for us that this is the case. The fact that we must necessarily be cut off from the things of this world makes us think of Him, from Whom we need never separate; and the remembrance of friends, lost to us by the circumstances of life or by death, and unable to console or help us, reminds us of One who is always near us and whose power to help never fails. Jesus is everywhere, always ready to assist us, and wherever He is, we find comfort, strength and blessing. He stood still beside the leper, stretched out His hand and healed him. To the centurion He said kindly: "I will come," although the Roman, being full of faith, knew that Jesus was really present with his sick servant, even if He did not actually come, and his faith was rewarded. Wherever Jesus is, we find comfort, strength and blessing, and He is always in every place; hence there can be no locality and no occasion when it is impossible for us to share His blessing. If we do not always receive it, or receive it only in a slight degree, it is because we do not remain in His presence; we do not remember that He is always with us, and so, though He is really present, He is not present for us, and by our own fault we lose the benefit of His constant and holy presence.

Of all the practices coming under the general heading of prayer, none is more important than a frequent remembrance of God's presence. During the day we ought often to call to mind with lively faith the fact that God sees us and is ready to help us. If we say our prayers well in the morning, we consecrate our hearts to God, and throughout the day we ought to remember this consecration, until we say our evening prayers and go to sleep.

God commanded Abraham often to remember His presence, saying: "I am the Almighty God, walk before Me, and be perfect" (Gen. 17: 1). The connection of the words here shows that to walk before God means continually to think that He is near us, and to let that thought lead us to true virtue and perfection. Call this divine precept often to mind: "Walk before me." In the same way the Holy Ghost, speaking through the Psalmist, says: "Seek, the Lord and be strengthened, seek His face evermore" (Ps. 104: 4). This means, "If you never forget that He is near you, you will be strong to do right; under all circumstances remember Him, looking as it were at His face, and then His grace will always be a glance of His eyes resting upon you, admonishing, warning and encouraging you." We ought to be able to exclaim with David: "To Thee have I lifted up my eyes, Who dwellest in heaven . . . as the eyes of the handmaid are on the hands of her mistress, so are our eyes unto the Lord our God" (Ps. 122: I – 2). Just as the handmaid should be ready to obey her mistress, so ought we often to look up to God and remind ourselves of His Will, saying, "I must do this or that, because He wills it." This living thought is a necessary condition of unfailing obedience on our part. For this reason all the fathers of the Church impress upon us the duty of constantly remembering the presence of God. St. Gregory Nazianzen writes: "In order to derive strength the body must be united with the soul, the branches with the trunk of a tree, and the sun's rays with the sun, and in the same way our spirit must be united with God." "Come ye to Him and be enlightened, and your face shall not be confounded" (Ps. 33: 6), that is to say: Think often of Him, and then His grace will enlighten you and show you under all circumstances what you ought to do, and your whole life will be such that you need not be ashamed before God, "for (adds St. Gregory) we ought to remember God more frequently than we draw breath."

What is more likely to deter us from wrong-doing than the thought, whenever we fall into temptation, that He sees us and is with us, Who will one day judge strictly all that is evil? In His infinite goodness He is now still willing to give us strength to overcome. "Tell me," says St. John Chrysostom, "tell me, if you had to stand continually before your Ruler or your Judge, would you not stand in awe of him? Therefore when you eat, think of God as present; before you fall asleep, and when anger is stirring in your heart, and in the hour of joy and amusement, in short, whatever you are doing, remember that God is there."

What could do more to strengthen our love of God than this remembrance of Him? If we are conscious of having a true love of God in our hearts, we shall be strong enough to conquer all the attacks of the evil one; and when one man, through not thinking of God, loses courage and says: "I cannot do right, it is too hard for me," another, who is mindful of God, finds fresh energy to begin and accomplish the good work. Much that seems hard becomes easy, if we know that people whom we love and honour are watching us, and delighting in our achievements. Even more then ought the thought of God strengthen us to do right.

Masters of the spiritual life suggest various methods of accustoming ourselves to remember God's presence. Some succeed in picturing our dear Saviour as present under the form that He had on certain occasions in His Life on earth. We may think of Him as an Infant in the manger, as a Child in His Mother's arms, or during His Passion, as crowned with thorns and fastened to the Cross, whilst He turns upon us a glance of loving warning. Or we may picture Him walking beside us, just as when He went about His own country teaching the way of Salvation, or as He accompanied the disciples on the road to Emmaus, or like the Good Shepherd, anxious to lose none of His sheep. It is a good plan to avail ourselves of the thoughts suggested by the various ecclesiastical seasons, and to picture Jesus as present under the form in which each festival, as it recurs, represents Him.

[If any one feels that this practice involves too much strain, he had better give it up, as in that case it might easily prove injurious.]

Another method is to make an act of faith in God's presence, without trying to call up any imaginary picture. We all believe the truth expressed by the Apostle in the words : "God is not far from every one of us, for in Him we live and move and are" (Acts 17: 27 – 28). Let us accustom ourselves gradually to make everything about us, that we perceive by means of our senses, remind us of God's wisdom and goodness. An ordinary man, perceiving pleasant and useful things, thinks only of the pleasure and advantage that he derives from them, but a Christian remembers Him Who in His incomprehensible goodness has created all these things and bestowed them upon us in love. In this way everything about us may serve to make us think of God's universal presence.

The best way of all of thinking about God is to remind ourselves very often that He is dwelling in our innermost heart, as long as we possess sanctifying grace. St. Paul says: "Know you not that you are the Temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?" (1. Cor. 3: 16). Let us resolve never to drive Him from our hearts even by a sinful thought, but to keep them ways filled with His Holy Love. When we are engaged in business or in society, we can address a short but heartfelt prayer to Him quite secretly, so that He may counsel, uphold and strengthen us, and that, just as He now dwells in our hearts, we, too, may some day dwell in glory and perpetual happiness with Him. Amen.

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