Thursday 7 April 2022
Thursday of the 5th week of Lent
(optional commemoration of Saint John Baptist de la Salle, Priest)
Spiritual Reading
Your Second Reading from the Office of Readings:
Thursday of the 5th week of Lent
From "Lumen gentium", the Second Vatican Council's dogmatic constitution on the Church
The Church as sacrament of unity and salvation
See, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah… I will plant my law within them and inscribe it in their hearts. I will be their God and they shall be my people… All shall know me, from the least to the greatest, says the Lord.
It was Christ who established this new covenant, the new testament in his blood, calling into being, from Jews and Gentiles, a people that was to form a unity, not in human fashion but in the Spirit, as the new people of God. Those who believe in Christ, reborn not of corruptible but of incorruptible seed through the word of the living God, not from the flesh but from water and the Holy Spirit, are constituted in the fullness of time as a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people God has made his own…, once no people but now the people of God.
This messianic people has Christ as its head: Christ who was given up for our sins and rose again for our justification; bearing now the name that is above every name, he reigns in glory in heaven. His people enjoy the dignity and freedom of the children of God, in whose hearts the Holy Spirit dwells as in a temple. They have as their law the new commandment of loving as Christ himself has loved us. They have as their goal the kingdom of God, begun on earth by God himself and destined to grow until it is also brought to perfection by him at the end of time, when Christ, our life, will appear, and creation itself will be freed from slavery to corruption and take on the freedom of the glory of God’s children.
This messianic people, then, though it does not in fact embrace all mankind and often seems to be a tiny flock, is yet the enduring source of unity, hope and salvation for the whole human race. It is established by Christ as a communion of life, of love and of truth; it is also used by him as an instrument for the redemption of all, and is sent out into the whole world as the light of the world and the salt of the earth.
The Israel of old was already called the Church of God while it was on pilgrimage through the desert. So the new Israel, as it makes its way in this present age, seeking a city that is to come, a city that will remain, is also known as the Church of Christ, for he acquired it by his own blood, filled it with his Spirit, and equipped it with appropriate means to be a visible and social unity. God has called together the assembly of those who in faith look on Jesus, the author of salvation and the principle of unity and peace, and so has established the Church to be for each and all the visible sacrament of this unity which brings with it salvation.
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Other choices for today:
Saint John Baptist de la Salle, Priest
The portrait by Pierre Léger (1658-1763) at the La Salle museum in Rome.
A meditation of St John Baptist de la Salle
Let the love of God drive you on
Turn over in your mind what the words of the apostle Paul say, that God appointed in the Church, apostles, prophets and teachers; and you will be persuaded that he has placed you in your work as well. The same saint gives you proof of this when he says that there are varieties of service, and varieties of working, but that it is the same Holy Spirit manifested in each of these gifts for the common good, that is, the good of the Church.
You should be in no doubt that the grace which has been given you to teach children, to announce the gospel to them, and instil in them the spirit of religion, is a great gift of God, who has called you to this holy service.
In everything you do as teachers, let the children who are entrusted to your care see you as the servants of God as you go about your work with genuine love and real diligence. What commits you even more to your work is that you are not only ministers of God, but also of Jesus Christ and of the Church.
This is what Saint Paul says, urging that all who proclaim the gospel should be thought of as servants of Christ. So too should all those who write the letter dictated by Christ and written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not on tablets of stone, but on the tablets of human hearts, which are the hearts of the children.
Because of this, let the love of God drive you on. Jesus Christ died for all men, so that even those who live, live not for themselves, but for him who died for them and rose again. So, let your pupils be moved by your hardworking perseverance, and let them feel as though God were exhorting them through you, since you are ambassadors for Christ.
Moreover, you should show the Church your fervent love for her, and give her proof of it by your spirit of hard work. For it is through the Church, which is the body of Christ, that you are working. Show by your zeal that you love those whom God has handed over to you, just as Christ loved the Church.
Make sure that the children are really built into the structure of this house of God, and make such progress as to be able, one day, to stand glorious, without spot or blemish or any such thing, before the judgement seat of Jesus Christ. Work so that the riches of God’s grace which he has given them may be made manifest to succeeding generations. He extends his help in his teaching, and to you when you teach and educate them, so that they may receive their inheritance in the kingdom of God and of Jesus Christ our Lord.
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In other parts of the world and other calendars:
Saint Henry Walpole, Priest, Martyr
A portrait by an unknown artist.
A letter of St Henry Walpole, 7 April 1595
No cause on earth could be more glorious than this.
Since sentence of death has already been passed on me for tomorrow, I thought it necessary to commend myself to you and all our Fathers and Brothers. I do not doubt that in this my day of need God’s Holy Spirit will have anticipated my letters, and moved your hearts at this time, and those of all Catholics in whose fellowship I rejoice, to pray that He may help my weakness, and strengthen me inwardly with the spirit of endurance. All the more because my sentence of death was directly on account of my return to England as a Jesuit priest. No cause on earth could be more glorious than this. As regards the vows of the Society – poverty, chastity and obedience – are they not the very same that are taken by all religious throughout the world? Were they not in the hearts of the Apostles as they took them for Christ Himself? Why is this so very treasonable?
Certain other matters have been brought forward, namely that I dealt with the King of Spain, and with certain others whom these people regard as traitors. However, they were able to substantiate nothing against me said or done traitorously. Nor did they persist in urging such things. There is therefore no need for me to reply. They pronounced with all eloquence that by force of the statute whereby priests who return to their country are held to be traitors, I stood condemned. I pray God, therefore, that my blood may not be imputed to their charge. Certainly, those who devised these traps to catch innocent men will pay an eternal price for it, if they did it on purpose, and after full deliberation, and depart this life impenitent. May God open the eyes of the Queen and her courtiers to see the evil and reform their ways.
I cannot give an account here of my year’s testing-time in the Tower of London, nor of many other things. This will do, then, written in haste as it is, but with much affection and heartiest goodwill. The time has come to bid my pen farewell, and to pray hard in the presence of Him for Whom I battle, until eventually we meet. I hope tomorrow will unite us. This Friday, the fourth in Lent, and so near the Lord’s Passion. Amen.
Copyright © 1996-2022 Universalis Publishing Limited: see www.universalis.com. Scripture readings from the Jerusalem Bible are published and copyright © 1966, 1967 and 1968 by Darton, Longman & Todd, Ltd and Doubleday, a division of Random House, Inc, and used by permission of the publishers. Text of the Psalms: Copyright © 1963, The Grail (England). Used with permission of A.P. Watt Ltd. All rights reserved.