July 1
Daily Gleanings of the Saintly LifeMonday after Ascension Day
And then shall they see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. S. Luke 21:27.
IF we would be among those who are gathered together by the holy Angels to the Body of our Lord, when He shall come in a cloud with power and great glory, we must be careful that we are now gathered together in unity and love in that mystical Body the Church, which is one with Him and He with it. For what, says a father, is Holy Church, except the Body of its own heavenly Head? Wherein one is the eye, by beholding lofty things; another a hand, by performing right things; another a foot, by running to and fro at command; another an ear, by understanding the voice of the precepts; another a nose, by discerning the foulness of wicked and the fragrance of good deeds. And while they receive and discharge mutual offices, like the limbs of the body, they make of themselves together one single Body; and while they perform different offices in charity, they keep that from being different in which they are bound together. There is nothing that a Christian ought so to dread as to be separated from the Body of Christ, since if he be separated from the Body of Christ he is not a member of Him, and if not a member of Him he is not quickened by His Spirit.
Holy Jesus, when our power Fails us in temptation's hour, All unequal to the strife, Thou to aid us art the Life.