Page:Ninety-nine homilies of S. Thomas Aquinas upon the epistles and gospels for forty-nine Sundays of the Christian year (IA ninetyninehomili00thom).pdf/19



THIS word Day is to be taken in a four-fold sense - " The Day is at hand;" the day of mercy, the day of grace, the day of justice, and the day of glory. That Sun makes this a four-fold day, whose advent holy Church now celebrates. The day of mercy is the birth-day of the Lord, in which the Sun of Righteousness arises upon us; or more truly, He Who made that day so glorious. The day of grace is the time of grace; the day of justice is the day of judgment; the day of glory is the day of eternity. Joel speaks of the first - (iii. 18) - "In that day the mountains shall drop down new wine, and the hills shall flow with milk." Concerning the second, 2 Cor. vi. 2, " Behold, now is the day of salvation." Of the third, Wis. i., " The day of wrath, that day the day of tribulation." Concerning the fourth,Zach. xiv. 7, " But it shall be one day which shall be known to the Lord - not day, nor night; but it shall come to pass that at evening time it shall be light." Psalm cxxxiv. 10, " One day in Thy Courts is better than a thousand." The birth-day of the Lord draws near, that devoutly the day of mercy may be celebrated and honoured; the day of grace that it may be received; the day of judgment that it may be feared; the day of glory that it may be attained. The Church celebrates the first, Phil. iv. 5, " For the Lord is at hand." Isa. lvi. 1, "For My salvation is near to come, and My righteousness is near to be revealed." On account of the second, 2 Cor. vi. 2, "Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation." On account of the third, James v. 9, " Behold the Judge standeth before the door." On account of the fourth, Rev. xxii. 12, "Behold I come quickly, and My reward is with Me to give to every man according as his work shall be."

We ought to celebrate the birth-day of the Lord, the day of