14 May, Antonio, Cardinal Bacci: Meditations For Each Day

The Great Exile

1. God is the great exile. The majority of mankind have banished Him from public and private life. They do not want Him anymore; they do not even think of Him. There is even a minority which hates and curses Him. It is true that there are still faithful and generous communities, like oases in a vast and arid desert, which love God and even dedicate themselves to His service. But the great majority ignore Him. If they remember Him sometimes on important occasions, they do so vaguely and as a matter of form. They think of God as if He were a distant Being Who is not interested in their activities. Obviously, therefore, men no longer live the life of God. They live mechanically and obtusely, devoid of spiritual enlightenment or thought of Heaven. Their lives are like those of blind moles which reside in darkness beneath the ground without any desire to see the light of day. Bound to the earth as they are, they are afraid of the great concepts of eternity, the immortality of the soul, the last judgment, Heaven and Hell. "Since men's natural inclinations are towards worldly things," wrote Pope Pius XII, "his inability to understand the things of the Spirit of God is unfortunately aggravated in our times by the entire nature of his surroundings. Very often God is neither denied nor cursed, it is rather as if He were not there at all. There is constant and open propaganda in favour of a worldly life without God. Men live and die as if there were no such realities as God, redemption, or the Church." (Discourses XI, 14) This is, unfortunately, a true picture. The image of God is no longer seen in created things, in the arrangement of the universe, in the structure of the family and of society. All that men see is a great machine, but they do not wish to consider by whom it is set in motion. There is no longer any appreciation of God nor of His law; even the sense of sin has gone. Once the idea of God as the supreme lawgiver and judge has been taken away, men sin without shame and without restraint. Sin becomes an industry, a dishonourable business carried on by means of the press, cinema, television; and all the media of so-called modern civilisation.

Are you a victim of this unhealthy trend? What place does God hold in your mind and in the course of your life? We are heading for inevitable ruin if we allow ourselves to be swept away by the corruption of the world. Remember the frightening words of Jesus in the company of His disciples. “Not for the world do I pray,” He said, “but for those whom thou hast given me, because they are thine.” (John 17:9) Without Jesus, the world is racing towards utter destruction. It is terrifying, but that is the way it is.

2. Let us turn away from this spectacle of a corrupt and corrupting world and raise our fearful gaze towards Mary. What a contrast! She was wholly pure and beautiful. Her mind was always in contact with God. Her heart was full of the love of God and of her neighbour, whose redemption from the slavery of sin she ardently desired to achieve by co-operating with her divine Son. All her desires and actions were in harmony with the will of God, so that she lived completely in God. Let us think about ourselves. What place has Jesus in our approach to life? Let us try and think of Him more often. Let us meditate on the eternal truths, on the commandments of God and on the precepts of the Church which He has founded. Let us endeavour to make all our actions conform with these commandments. Above all, let us seek to love God more and more, and let us pray constantly for those countless souls who ignore and reject Him. Then we shall be content in the midst of the trials of this world, for we shall have God in our hearts.

3. Holy Mary, my Mother, grant that God may rule my mind and that you may be always in my thoughts. Help me to live always in the presence of God and to dedicate all my thoughts, desires and affections to Him. Grant that all the actions of my poor life may be in accordance with His Will. Amen.