WORDS OF SCRIPTURE.

"And Herod, seeing Jesus, was very glad; for he was desirous of a long time to see him, because he had heard many things of him and he hoped to see some miracle wrought by him. And he questioned him with many words. But he answered him nothing."-St. Luke, xxiii.

"For the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God stronger than men."-1 Corinthians, i.

"There is a time to keep silence, and a time to speak."-Ecclesiastes, iii.

MEDITATION FOR THIRD SATURDAY IN LENT.

JESUS CONFESSES THAT HE IS A KING.

1ST POINT. Art thou a king? asked Pilate. Jesus answered: Thou sayest that I am a king. For this was I born, and for this came I into the world; that I should give testimony to the truth. But he adds: My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would certainly strive that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now my kingdom is not from hence. Jesus is the King of the universe, but he came

not into the world to exercise the functions of an earthly monarch. He came to serve, obey, live in misery, and die in shame. My soul, is your King within? Is this his kingdom? Do you wish to take part in his sufferings and ignominies?

2ND POINT. The kingdom of God is not of this proud, ambitious, rich, and sensual world. His kingdom is within us; he reigns over us through the obedience that we show his commandments; he reigns through peace in our hearts, and by the submission we render to his divine providence; he reigns over our spirits by faith, our hearts by charity, our will by hope, our passions by mortification, and our bodies by the cross; he reigns in this life by grace, in the other by glory. Of which kingdom are you that of Herod, or that of Jesus?

3RD POINT. The kingdom of Jesus is not of this world; for his kingdom is the truth, and that of the world is vanity. If the kingdom of Jesus is not of this world, it follows that his disciples are not of it. You are not a disciple of Jesus if you are possessed with the spirit of the world, if you love its grandeur, if you seek its perishable treasures and its fleeting enjoyments; if you live as worldlings live, and follow the

Happy

wicked maxims and customs thereof. is he who can say with truth, my kingdom is not of this world! I am in the world, but not of it, neither do I wish for an abiding-place in it. Happy is he who, at the hour of his death, can say with Jesus, I am going to my Father!

I came into the world to love and serve God, work for his honour and glory, and keep his commandments. My mission is ended. I have accomplished the work he has given me to do. I leave with joy a miserable world, where I have known only suffering, to return to my Father, who will give me a recompense for my labours in the eternal enjoyment of his presence.

WORDS OF SCRIPTURE.

"The kings of the earth stood up, and the princes met together, against the Lord, and against his Christ."-Psalm ii.

"For I am appointed king by him over Sion his holy mountain, preaching his commandment."-Ibid.

"My kingdom is not of this world."—St. John, xviii.

"You are of this world: I am not of this world."-St. John, viii.

FOURTH SUNDAY IN LENT.

THE GOSPEL. St. John, vi. 1-15.

"At that time, Jesus went over the sea of Galilee, which is that of Tiberias; and a great multitude followed him; because they saw the miracles which he did on them that were diseased. Jesus, therefore, went up into a mountain; and there he sat with his disciples. Now the pasch, the festival day of the Jews, was near at hand. When Jesus, therefore, had lifted up his eyes, and seen that a very great multitude cometh to him, he said to Philip : Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat? And this he said to try him: for he himself knew what he would do. Philip answered him : Two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one may take a little. One of his disciples, Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, saith to him: There is a boy here that hath five barley loaves and two fishes; but what are these among so many? Then Jesus said: Make the men sit down. Now there was much grass in the place. The men, therefore, sat down, in number about five thousand. And Jesus took the loaves: and

when he had given thanks, he distributed to them that were sat down; in like manner also of the fishes, as much as they would. And when they were filled, he said to his disciples: Gather up the fragments that remain, lest they be lost. They gathered up, therefore, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves, which remained over and above to them that had eaten. Now these men, when they had seen what a miracle Jesus had done, said: This is of a truth the prophet that is to come into the world. Jesus, therefore, when he knew that they would come and take him by force, and make him a king, fled again into the mountain himself alone."

MEDITATION.

ON ALMSGIVING.

1ST POINT. Jesus teaches us, by his example, to nourish the poor, and attend to their necessities; from which we may draw the following considerations:

The rich depend on the poor, and the poor on the rich; the rich take care of the poor, and the poor of the rich; the rich give corporal nourishment to the poor, and the poor give