"Lavabo inter innocentes manus meas et circumdabo altare tuum Domine..."
"I will wash my hands among the innocents and go round Your altar Lord..."
We keep ourselves pure, as the Lord is pure and worship Him as the one true God. We refuse to cooperate in moral evils as many did in the presidential election who voted in favor of the HHS mandate and against religious freedom and in favor of the tidal wave of immorality now actively promoted by those who hold the highest offices in our land.
If, however, we give in to a worldly spirit and approach elective contests or other challenges to our Faith and morals in a worldly way we will suffer worldly mourning and grief when the world once again betrays the Lord just as it did when they nailed Him to a tree.
We turn to the Psalms, to the Word of God, which more fully reveals the nature of our relationship to Christ and reaffirms that the Lord consoles those who suffer injustice.
“The earth is the LORD's and the fulness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein; for he has founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the rivers.
"Who shall ascend the hill of the LORD? And who shall stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false, and does not swear deceitfully.
“He will receive blessing from the LORD, and vindication from the God of his salvation.”
The Lord Jesus Christ must always remain our sole consolation as He was for me when I celebrated holy Mass the morning after the national election returns. We keep ourselves innocent and in our prayers we are affirmed and consoled by Him as the world can never do for us.
I received consolation as I offered myself to Him on behalf of the people at His altar, begging Him to unveil the reasons why suffering afflicts us when we have sought justice as He commands. The "lavabo" prayer which the priest offers as he washes his hands during the offertory of the Mass and before he consecrates the Body and Blood of Christ speaks to the suffering of Christians as strangers in a strange land, among unbelievers.
"I will wash my hands among the innocents and go round Your altar Lord, so I may listen to the sound of praise and may tell of all Your wonderful works. Lord, I have loved the beauty of Your house and the place where Your glory dwells. Do not let my soul be lost with sinners. Save my life from the men of blood whose hands are sinful, whose right hands are full of bribes. But I have walked in innocence; deliver me in Your mercy. My foot has stood in the right path; I will bless You in the churches, O Lord."
We must return again and again to the Word of the Lord as we approach His altar to receive His Body and Blood. We must never give in to the pressure to make impure our Catholic Faith which is the fullness of the Christian covenant.
We are surrounded by a pagan culture that that baptizes its immorality and deceit by claiming the mantle and name of Christianity. We protest by our witness and worship that no one will ever substitute the purity of the true Faith with anything unworthy of the name and of the Lord who founded the Church to proclaim and hand on the Faith through the gift of the Holy Spirit.
We remain faithful as a remnant though all the world may abandon the Lord. We remember this as we proclaim the first chapel of Saint John’s Gospel at the end of every holy Mass: “He came into His own, and His own did not welcome Him. But to all those who did receive Him, He gave power to become sons of God, those who believe in His name."
(Visit Meeting Christ in the Liturgy at mcitl.blogspot.com for teachings from the Catechism of the Catholic Church paired with the Scriptures of holy Mass for every day of the week. Fr. Cusick blogs at APriestLife.blogspot.com and you can e-mail him at mcitl.blogspot.com@gmail.com.)
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