Epistle – James i. 22‒27
Dearly beloved, Be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if a man is a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he will be compared to a man beholding his own countenance in a glass. For he beheld himself, and went his way, and presently forgot what manner of man he was. But he who has looked into the perfect law of liberty, and has continued therein, not becoming a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the word, this man will be blessed in his deed. And if any man thinks himself to be religious, not bridling his tongue, but deceiving his own heart, this man’s religion is vain. Religion, clean and undefiled before God and the Father is this: to visit the fatherless and widows in their tribulation, and keep one’s self unspotted from this world.
Thanks be to God.
Dom Prosper Guéranger:
The holy Apostle, whose instructions these are, had received them from our Risen Jesus: hence the authoritative tone with which he speaks. Our Saviour, as we have already seen, honoured him with a special visit: it proves that he was particularly dear to his divine Master, to whom he was related by the tie of consanguinity on his mother’s side, whose name was Mary. This holy woman went on Easter morning to the sepulchre, in company with her sister, Salome, and Magdalene. Saint James the Less is indeed the Apostle of Paschal Time, in which everything speaks to us of the new life we should lead with our Risen Lord, He is the apostle of good works, for it is from him that we have received this fundamental maxim of Christianity — that though faith be the first essential of a Christian, yet without works, it is a dead faith and will not save us.
He also lays great stress on our being attentive to the truths we have been taught, and on our guarding against that culpable forgetfulness which plays such havoc with thoughtless souls. Many of those who have this year received the grace of the Easter mystery will not persevere, and the reason is that they will allow the world to take up all their time and thoughts, whereas they should use the world as though they did not use it (1 Corinthians vii. 31) Let us never forget that we must now walk in newness of life in imitation of our Risen Jesus who dies now no more.
Gospel – John xvi. 13‒30
At that time Jesus said to His disciples, “Amen, amen, I say to you, if you ask the Father anything in my name, He will give it to you. Until now you have not asked anything in my name: ask and you will receive, that your joy may be full. These things I have spoken to you in proverbs: the hour comes that I will no more speak to you in proverbs, but will speak to you plainly of the Father. In that day, you will ask in my name; and I say not to you that I will ask the Father for you, for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved me, and have believed that I came from God. I came forth from the Father, and have come into the world: again I leave the world and go to the Father.” His disciples said to Him, “Behold, now you speak plainly, and speak no proverbs. Now we know that you know all things and you need not that any man should ask you: by this we believe that you came forth from God.”
Praise be to you, O Christ.
Dom Prosper Guéranger:
When, at His Last Supper, our Saviour thus warned His Apostles of His having soon to leave them, they were far from knowing Him thoroughly. True, they knew that He came forth from God, but their faith was weak and they soon lost it. Now that they are enjoying His company after His Resurrection, now that they have received such light from His instructions, they know Him better. He no longer speaks to them in proverbs. He teaches them everything they required to know in order to their becoming the teachers of the whole world. It is now they might truly say to Him: “We believe that you came forth from God!” So much the more, then, do they understand what they are going to lose by His leaving them.
Our Lord begins now to reap the fruit of the word He has sown in their hearts: oh how patiently has He not waited for it! If He praised them for their faith when they were with Him on the night of the Last Supper, He may surely do so now that they have seen Him in the splendour of His Resurrection, and have been receiving such teaching from His lips. He said to them at the Last Supper: “The Father loves you, because you have loved Me” — how much more must not the Father love them now when their love for Jesus is so much increased? Let us be consoled by these words. Before Easter our love of Jesus was weak, and we were tepid in His service, but now that we have been enlightened and nourished by His Mysteries, we may well hope that the Father loves us, for we love Jesus better, far better, than we did before. This dear Redeemer urges us to ask the Father, in His name, for everything we need. Our first want is perseverance in the spirit of Eastertide. Let it be our most earnest prayer. Let it be our intention now that we are assisting at the holy Sacrifice which is soon to bring Jesus upon our altar.
We will close our Sunday with the admonition with which the Gothic Church of Spain warned the faithful during Paschal Time. It is a Season of joy, and yet we need to be cautious, for our enemy is sure to lay snares for us in the new life we have received:
“Dearly beloved brethren, let there be caution in your devotion, watchfulness in your festivity, modesty in your gladness. We should rejoice in that we have risen, but we should fear lest we may fall. We have been rescued from the death of old, and it behoves us to know how evil it was. We have been gifted with the new life, and we must cling to it as worthy of our love. To commit the sin we have been admonished to shun is not an error, but contempt. They that have been pardoned and relapsed, deserve the greater punishment. Nor is there excuse for them that have been once ransomed if they again become slaves. The mercy of God implies power. And power, fear. And fear, chastisement. He would not have been merciful to man unless He had first been angry with the devil. He strengthens us with His gratuitous gifts, that we may not be corrupted by our evil inclinations. No one spares another but with a hope of correction. Forgiveness can do no harm, when the offence is not repeated. He that pardoned us our sins, thereby admonished us to sin no more. Mercy has not been lost on us, if our conduct is what it should be. Grace has, indeed, made man the adopted child of God, but the devil is not yet shut up in Hell. Sin, not nature, has been defeated. What we have gained is the power of fighting, not the privilege of inaction. Our enemy has been despoiled, not slain. His anger must be greatest against those who were once subject to his tyranny, but now are dis-enthralled. Faith has given us bulwarks: the Cross, armour. The flesh (assumed by Christ), a standard: and His Blood, a banner. The battle then is to be fought. The God who willed us to have the battle, willed us to have the hope of victory. We have already received the gift of adoption. Our conduct is to decide what sentence is to be passed upon us in judgement. In this world we have the promise of reward. In the next, our lot will be decided according to our works. Let us therefore be mindful of the tender mercy of our Lord, who, as the price of our ransom, gave not sums of silver or gold, nor granted princely favours, but subjected Himself to the infamy of the Cross, and suffered His body to be humbled even to being buried in a tomb. He could give nothing greater or better. So that the more it cost Him to redeem us, the more diligently should we serve Him. And it is this He demands of us. Therefore, in order that the work of His Redemption be perfected in us, it behoves us to pray with constancy and perseverance.”
