Consolatio Christi

From the epistle of today's Mass we read: sicut socii passionum estis, sic eritis et consolationis. (2 Cor. 1:7) As you are partakers of the sufferings, so will you also be of the comfort.

Holiness is a state of being, a position, being with, namely, that of grace, of sanctifying grace. It is the position of being with God, God calling you, working on you, God giving you interior life, wisdom, strength and enthusiasm, He purifying you, sending you out to bear fruit. It is all about Him with you, in you, active in you, in His great mercy (Pater misericordiarum v.3), and you at peace with that, Him, with His good company, purified, well-disposed, "a gusto", comfortable! Holiness is liking Him, liking being with God and liking His work in you! Like the cat at one of my first Friday communion calls.

An elderly man (92 year old American Indian) to whom I take Holy Communion once a month has a cat which, this past Friday after I administered the Sacrament, very graciously lept onto the coffee table, let his owner affectionately scratch its head and most serenely lied down on the table licking its back and calmly waving just the tip of its tail up and down in an expression of complete contentment in the good care and fine presence of the owner and the priest. That cat provides an illustration of interior communion with God.

Communion with Christ is confidence in Him which gives complete contentment and profound peace in the soul.