“Or if they were struck by their might and energy, let them realize from these things how much more powerful is the one who made them.” (Wisdom 13:4.)
Saint Augustine of Hippo comments on this verse from the First Reading proclaimed at Mass today:
“The prophet says, “I will be filled with the revelation of his glory.” We can sing of the glory that awaits us, of the goods that will accompany it, of the splendor with which it will shine, but we are incapable of expressing all of this in words. Paul explains the reason for this when he writes, “Those things that eye has not seen, that ear has not heard and that have never entered the heart of human beings, God has prepared for those who love him.” These many eternal, heavenly gifts have been prepared by the almighty Lord for his faithful, holy people throughout the world. But who is God, who has arranged all these things for us? Of him we say only that we do not know how to measure or express or understand him, that he is beyond all, outside of all, above all. He surpasses all his creatures; he is beyond his works, above all of them. I could try to express his greatness, but he is greater, or his beauty, but he is more beautiful. He is sweeter than every sweetness, brighter than every splendor, more just than all justice, stronger than all strength, gentler than all gentleness. Reason does not admit of the creature claiming equality with its Creator, nor that something produced is put on the level of the one who produced it. Precisely thus we read in the prophet, “The one who made powerful things is more powerful than they are. And the one who made beautiful things is more beautiful than they.” (Sermon 384)
Collect
God our Father,
who called Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini from Italy
to serve the immigrants of America,
by her example,
teach us to have concern for the stranger,
the sick, and all those in need,
and by her prayers help us to see Christ
in all the men and women we meet.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
Who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
who called Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini from Italy
to serve the immigrants of America,
by her example,
teach us to have concern for the stranger,
the sick, and all those in need,
and by her prayers help us to see Christ
in all the men and women we meet.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
Who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Glory to the Father
and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and will be forever. Amen
and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and will be forever. Amen
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