Low Sunday

In reviving this blog, I noticed that three years ago I wrote a post about the many names for this Sunday.  Much has changed since that post, but thanks be to God, he has allowed me the grace to see another Low Sunday and to participate in the Holy Mass and receive His precious Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity in Holy Communion.  Lord, let me not waste the graces you wish to give me on this day!

Driving home from Mass today, it occurred to how timeless is the message of today's readings.  St. John tells us, in his Epistle, that Christ has overcome the world.  That is something worth considering today.  It would appear, though, that the world has conquered hearts and minds.  But, St. John says that whoever is born of God has overcome the world through our faith.  "This is the victory."

Apparently, the apostles had that same feeling of defeat that we regularly experience.  As we read in the Gospel appointed for today, they were so afraid of the Jews, their persecutors, that they hid themselves in the upper room with the doors closed.

Notice what happens next, though.  Our Lord appears to them and gives them his peace.  And then, "They were glad when they saw the Lord."  Though we might be disturbed by our seeming lack of victory in the world, we are certainly glad when we see the Lord!  But, as our Lord says in St. John's Gospel today, "Because thou hast seen Me, Thomas, thou hast believed; blessed are they that have not seen, and have believed."

When we are troubled and lack the faith that brings gladness and manifests the victory, we usually do not have an opportunity to lock ourselves away out of fear awaiting an appearance of our Lord.  But, how excellent is our Lord?  How much does he know that His presence makes us glad?

In today's Gospel, while in the upper room, he breathes on the apostles and tells them to go about the world forgiving sins -- he has given them this gift from his own authority.  He has sent his apostles to all the world to manifest His presence in the Sacrament of Confession.

When the victory appears impossible and our fear overtakes us, we must retreat, not to the upper room, but to the Confessional, where we can be assured that the Lord will appear, giving us His peace, and making us glad.  Then, we can once again partake in the victory that overcomes the world -- our faith.

For all the difficulties we experience today, the victory has already come to those who adhere to the Roman Catholic faith.  Christ has overcome the world, and we are part of His Mystical Body through our faith.