4th Week of Easter
April
24, 2018
CollectDon Bosco Cristo Rey, Takoma Park, Md.
In the Collect we
prayed that we might “merit to receive the joy of our redemption” thru our
“celebrating the mysteries of the Lord’s Resurrection.”
Pope Francis’s recent
exhortation that all of us are called to be saints reminded us that holiness is
the work of God’s grace, not something we merit by our knowledge of the faith[1]
or our good deeds.[2]
So what is this
“merit” in our prayer? It follows from
our “celebrating the mysteries of the Lord’s Resurrection,” i.e., our
sacramental participation in the life of the Risen Jesus. So the “merit” isn’t what we do but what Jesus does—just as we acclaim at every Mass: “Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter
under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed.” The healing word of Christ cleanses our souls
and makes us worthy to receive him.
Likewise, “the joy of
our redemption,” i.e., our salvation, is made possible by the grace of Christ
flowing from his mysteries—his passion and resurrection, his eternal life,
accessible to us in Baptism, the Eucharist, Reconciliation, and the other
sacraments. May we merit the joy of
being redeemed by our being bound to our Savior in his mysteries.
No comments:
Post a Comment