them, what you ask. Can you drink of the chalice (5) that I shall drink (6), or be baptized wherewith I am baptized? We can (7), they say to him. My chalice, indeed, he saith to them, you shall drink (8), and with the baptism wherewith I am baptized you shall be baptized. But to sit on my right hand or on my left is not mine to give, but to them for whom it is prepared by my Father (9)." But pride ever meets pride in its way. If, amongst the apostles, some sought to be the first, others did not wish to be thus distanced. There was not one of them who did not deem himself of

(5) The chalice and baptism signify the passion of the Saviour: he elsewhere makes use of these two terms in order to express the same thing. It appears by divers texts in Scripture, that the word chalice was much used for the purpose of signifying sufferings. It is a metaphor drawn from a bitter potion which an individual might be obliged to quaff. The word baptism, in the figurative sense, is more circumscribed; it is seldom appropriated to any thing but the passion, in which Jesus Christ was, as it were, bathed in the flood of his own blood. Some understand by the chalice the death of Jesus Christ, and by the baptism the assemblage of torments which he endured in every part of his sacred body.

(6) If we suffer with Jesus Christ, says Saint Paul, we shall be glorified with him. It is in this sense above all others that they did not know what they asked. So great a glory could not be conferred through favor; it could only be the reward of merit. The aspirant should either purchase it at the price of his blood, or otherwise renounce it. (7) That is to say, we are disposed to do so; for it is not certain that they as yet had the courage. It is always praiseworthy and salutary to make good resolutions, but still we can place no confidence except in tried virtue. What doth he know that hath not been tried?-Eccles. xxxiv. 9.

(8) We read of the martyrdom of Saint James in the Acts of the Apostles. Saint John died a natural death. But if martyrdom did not await him, he awaited martyrdom. We know that Domitian caused him to be plunged into a cauldron of boiling oil. He came forth from it more fresh and more vigorous than ever; but transported subse quently to the island of Patmos, he there suffered the rigors of a distressing exile. The Church recognizes several other martyrs who have not suffered any greater pains than he did.

(9) Besides that these places shall only be adjudged to merit, a special choice on the part of God is necessary, in order to be called to this merit to which they shall be adjudged. From all eternity this choice is made and recorded in the councils of the Most High. The Son and the Holy Ghost have no less a part in it than the Father. However, Jesus Christ attributes it more particularly to the Father, who, in the Trinity, is the first principle, as if to give to understand that, if it were possible that any inequality could exist between the divine persons, it is that which should be highest and most absolute in the Divinity that should dispose of these places. We may judge, therefore, how silly it was to hope that these could be obtained through favor, or through the solicitations of a woman.

fended by this ambitious pretension, and "hearing it, the ten were moved with indignation against the two brothers, James and John." This furnished an occasion for the Saviour to give to them all the admirable lesson which we are about to see. "He called them to him, and saith to them: You know that the princes of the Gentiles lord it over them; and they that are the greater exercise power over them. It shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be the greater among you, let him be your minister, and he that will be first among you, shall be your servant; even as the Son of man is not come to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a redemption for many."

Jesus had already stated more than once that we must become little in order to become great, and that by humility alone can we attain lasting elevation. This lesson, which is found repeated in the words which he has just pronounced, is not the only lesson here inculcated. He also presents therein the sole motive which can make authority the object of legitimate desire, viz., serving our fellow-men; and the noblest use which can be made of authority, is to exhaust our energies, and, if it be necessary, to sacrifice ourselves utterly and entirely for those whom we have a right to command. Such is the authority which a tender mother exercises over her little child, which may be regarded at the same time as the highest of all earthly authorities, and the most obedient of all servitudes. Nothing, perhaps, could furnish a better illustration than this comparison, had not the Saviour made us sensible of it by another much more affecting and more persuasive example, viz., his own. From his earliest infancy, during which the state of weakness which he had chosen to assume required him to accept the services of his mother, we always behold him obeying, and never commanding, always serving, and never served. His time, his cares, his strength, his repose, his glory, his blood, and his life-all, without exception, were lavished for the benefit of mankind. During the three years which he passed with his disciples, there can be no doubt but that he refused their services, and tendered them his own. Although the evangelists furnish us with no details on this subject, they yet say enough to give us to understand that such was the case. If the washing of the feet is one of the most signal acts, it is far from being

the only one; and are not all the details comprised in that single assertion, which the Saviour was only enabled to advance, because his conduct was the sensible and perpetual proof thereof? I am "not come to be ministered unto, but to minister." What the holy Pope Saint Clement relates of his master, the apostle Saint Peter, may find a suitable place here. He says that, when the holy apostle beheld any one asleep, the tears immediately started to his eyes. When they inquired from him the reason, he replied, that this object recalled to him the remembrance of his dear Master, who, whilst they all were asleep, watched for all; and if it so happened that any of them uncovered himself whilst sleeping, or tossed his poor bed, he carefully covered him again, and replaced what had been disturbed. This one instance will suffice to show his usual manner of treating his disciples, and will make us thoroughly acquainted with that maternal authority, which it is lawful to desire, as it is also lawful for a woman to desire to have children, in order that she may have persons to love as much, and more than herself, and upon whom she may lavish her affections, her cares, her attentions, her health, and sometimes her life. It is thus, I say, that it is lawful to desire authority, because such a desire springs from the pure motive of charity. This is, to the letter, desiring, not the pageantry, but the (a) “good work of the episcopacy"--the only thing which charity allows us to desire therein, because "charity is not ambitious;" whereas the desires of ambition point exclusively towards the titles and prerogatives of authority, because ambition is any thing but charitable.

(a) St. Paul, I. Tim. iii. 1.

CHAPTER L.

PASSAGE THROUGH JERICHO.-A BLIND MAN RESTORED TO SIGHT.-ZACHEUS.-PARABLE OF THE TEN POUNDS.-SIGHT RESTORED TO TWO BLIND MEN.

EPHREM, whither the Saviour retired after the resurrection of Laz arus, is placed by geographers northeast of Jerusalem, on the frontiers of Judea and Samaria, or, according to the more ancient authorities, on the confines of the tribes of Ephraim and of Benjamin. In proceeding thence to the capital, one could not pass through Jericho without turning aside towards the east. The nature of the roads, or the necessity of finding accommodation, might indeed render this imperative; but, supposing that none of these reasons existed, the great things which Jesus had to do and to say in Jericho were a sufficient reason for him to prolong his journey in order to go thither. He therefore took his way through that city, and the moment he set foot upon its territory, he began to display his Almighty goodness. (a) "It came to pass, when he drew nigh Jericho, that a certain blind man sat by the wayside, begging. And when he heard the multitude passing by, he asked what this meant. They told him that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by; and he cried out, saying: Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me. They that went before rebuked him (1), that he should hold his peace; but he cried out much more: Son of David, have mercy on me. Jesus standing, commanded him to be brought unto him (2); and when he was come near, he asked

(a) St. Luke, xviii. 35–43.

(1) Further on we shall find them murmuring, although with as little success, because the Saviour takes up his abode with a publican. There are two classes of people with whose notions we do not on a single occasion find Jesus Christ coinciding, viz., those who censure and those who rebuke others. The reason is, that nothing is less conformable to his benignity than the malignity of the first, nor to his meekness than the harshness of the second.

(2) If, as they commanded him, he had ceased to cry out, perhaps the Saviour would not have approached him, and he might have remained blind. Those who wish to approach God will not reach him, if they do not begin by despising the remonstrances of worldlings.

him: What wilt thou that I do to thee (3)? Lord, he said, that I may see. Receive thy sight, Jesus said to him; thy faith hath made thee whole. And immediately he saw and followed him, glorifying God; and all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God."

"And entering in, Jesus walked through Jericho" with the accumulating throng which the cure of the blind man had gathered around him. "And behold, there was a man named Zacheus, who was the chief of the publicans, and he was rich. He sought to see Jesus, who he was, and he could not for the crowd, because he was low of stature. And running before, he climbed up into a sycamore tree, that he might see him (4); for Jesus was to pass that way. When Jesus was come to the place, looking up, he saw him, and said to him: Zacheus, make haste and come down, for this day I must abide in thy house. Zacheus made haste and came down, and received him with joy. And when all saw it, they murmured, crying that he was gone to be a guest with a man that was a sinner." Little they knew that, by the invisible operation of grace, he whom they thought a sinner was already a saint. "But Zacheus standing, said to the Lord: Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor (5); and if I have wronged any man of any thing, I restore

(3) A mother knows perfectly well the wants of her son; she wishes, notwithstanding, that he should declare them to her. She does so not only in order that he may recognize her authority, but moreover that she may have the pleasure of hearing him lisp his desires, of seeing him testify his confidence; she does so to excite and foster his gratitude by the facility she evinces to comply with his wishes. She loves him and wishes to be loved by him behold the motives, which are also those of God, when he requires that should express to him our wants, which he knows better than we do ourselves.

we

(4) The case of Zacheus is nearly like that of the blind man. When the crowd hindered the first from seeing the Saviour, he did not cease to desire it, as the blind man did not cease to cry out, although it appeared he was not heard at the outset. The latter heeded not the reproofs addressed to him by those who sought to silence him; and Zacheus did not hesitate to ascend the sycamore-a proceeding which must have appeared highly strange in a man of his station, and which might easily have excited the ridicule of the populace. Perseverance in desire, despite of obstacles, and never troubling themselves as to what will people say? caused the salvation of both one and the

other.

(5) That is to say, I shall give; according to the common interpretation, which we follow. But there are many who understand it in the present sense. According to them, Zacheus, in order to reply to the murmuring of the Jews, makes known, by stating what he was accustomed to do, that he is not so great a sinner as they allege. In