her God, will look back with pleasure on the fatigues of the body, which, together with our heart's compunction, have merited for her a place at the Divine Banquet. The primitive Church proposed this miracle of the multiplication of the loaves as a symbol of the Eucharist, the Bread that never fails. We find it frequently represented in the paintings of the Catacombs and on the bas-reliefs of the ancient Christian tombs. The Fishes, too, that were given together with the Loaves, are represented on these venerable monuments of our faith; for the early Christians considered the Fish to be the symbol of Christ, because the word Fish, in Greek, is made up of five letters, each of which is the initial of these words: Jesus Christ, Son (of) God, Saviour. The Greek Church, too, keeps this Sunday with much solemnity. According to her manner of counting the days of Lent, this is the great day of the week called, as we have already noticed, Mesonēstios. The solemn adoration of the Cross takes place today; and, breaking through her rule of never admitting a Saint's Feast during Lent, this mid-Lent Sunday is kept in honour of the celebrated Abbot of the Monastery of Mount Sinai, St. John Climacus, who lived in the 6th century. MASS. The seventy-years captivity will soon be over. Yet a little while, and the captives shall return to Jerusalem. This is the idea expressed by the Church in all the chants of to-day's Mass. She ventures not to pronounce the heavenly Alleluia; but all her canticles bespeak jubilation; for, in a few days hence, the House of the Lord will lay aside her mourning, and will be keeping the gladdest of her Feasts. INTROIT. et Rejoice, O Jerusalem, and meet together all you who love her; rejoice exceedingly, you who have been in sorrow, that you may leap for joy, and be satiated with comfort from her breasts. Lætare, Jerusalem; conventum facite omnes, qui diligitis eam gaudete cum lætitia, qui in tristitia fuistis: ut exsultetis et satiemini ab uberibus consolationis vestræ. Ps. Lætatus sum in his quæ dicta sunt mihi: In domum Domini ibimus. V. Gloria Patri. Lætare. Ps. I rejoiced at the things that were said to me: we shall go into the house of the Lord. V. Glory. Rejoice. In the Collect, the Church acknowledges that her Children deserve the penance they are going through; but she begs that, to-day, the hope of the coming divine consolations may refresh their spirits. The full force of the closing word of her prayer, is that they may breathe awhile. COLLECT. Concede, quæsumus, omnipotens Deus: ut qui ex merito nostræ actionis affligimur, tuæ gratia consolatione respiremus. Per Dominum. Grant, we beseech thee, O Almighty God, that we, who are justly afflicted according to our demerits, may be relieved by thy comforting grace. Through, &c. The second and third Collects are given on the First Sunday of Lent, page 131. one by a bond woman, and the other by a free woman. But he who was of the bondwoman, was born according to the flesh; but he by the free-woman, was by promise. Which things are said by an allegory. For these are the two testaments. The one from Mount Sina, engendering unto bondage, which is Agar; for Sina is a mountain in Arabia, which hath affinity to that Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children. But that Jerusalem, which is above, is free; which is our mother. For it is written: Rejoice, thou barren, that bearest not break forth and cry, thou that travailest not; for many are the children of the desolate, more than of her that hath a husband. Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise. But as then, he that was born according to the flesh, persecuted him that was after the spirit, so also it is now. But what saith the scripture? Cast out the bond-woman and her son; for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the free-woman. So then, brethren, we are not children of the bond-woman, but of the free; by the freedom wherewith Christ hath made us free. filios habuit: unum de ancilla, et unum de libera. Sed qui de ancilla, secundum carnem natus est : qui autem de libera, per repromissionem: quæ sunt per allegoriam dicta. Hæc enim sunt duo testamenta. Unum quidem in monte Sina, in servitutem generans: quæ est Agar: Sina enim mons est in Arabia, qui conjunctus est ei quæ nunc est Jerusalem, et servit cum filiis suis. Illa autem, quæ sursum est Jerusalem, libera est, quæ est mater_nostra. Scriptum est enim : Lætare, sterilis, quæ non paris: erumpe et clama, quæ non parturis: quia multi filii desertæ, magis quam ejus quæ habet virum. Nos autem, fratres, secundum Isaac promissionis filii sumus. Sed quomodo tunc is, qui secundum carnem natus fuerat, persequebatur eum, qui secundum spiritum: ita et nunc. Sed quid dicit Scriptura? Ejice ancillam et filium ejus non enim hæres erit filius ancillæ cum filio liberæ. Itaque, fratres, non sumus ancillæ filii, sed liberæ : qua libertate Christus nos liberavit. Let us, then, rejoice!-we are children, not of Sina, but of Jerusalem. Our mother, the holy Church, is not a bond-woman, but free; and it is unto freedom that she has brought us up. Israel served God in fear; his heart was ever tending to idolatry, and could only be kept to duty by the heavy yoke of chastisement. More happy than he, we serve God through love; our yoke is sweet, and our burden is light? We are not citizens of the earth; we are but pilgrims passing through it to our true country, the Jerusalem which is above. We leave the earthly Jerusalem to the Jew, who minds only terrestrial things, is disappointed with Jesus, and is plotting how to crucify him. We also have too long been grovelling in the goods of this world; we have been slaves to sin; and the more the chains of our bondage weighed upon us, the more we talked of our being free. Now is the favourable time; now are the days of salvation: we have obeyed the Church's call, and have entered into the practice and spirit of Lent. Sin seems to us, now, to be the heaviest of yokes; the Flesh, a dangerous burden; the World, a merciless tyrant. We begin to breathe the fresh air of holy liberty, and the hope of our speedy deliverance fills us with transports of joy. Let us, with all possible affection, thank our Divine Liberator, who delivers us from the bondage of Agar, emancipates us from the law of fear, and, making us his new People, opens to us the gates of the heavenly Jerusalem, at the price of his Blood. The Gradual expresses the joy felt by the Gentiles, when invited to enter the House of the Lord, which is now become their own. The Tract shows God protecting his Church, the new Jerusalem, which is not to be conquered and destroyed as was that first This holy City communicates her own stability and security to them that are in her, for the Lord watches over both the Mother and her children. one. 1 St. Matth. xi. 30. Sequel of the holy Gospel according to John. Ch. VI. 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 Sequentia sancti Evangelii secundum Joannem. Cap. VI. In illo tempore: Abiit Jesus trans mare Galilæa, quod est Tiberiadis: et sequebatur eum multitudo magna, quia videbant signa quæ faciebat super his qui infirmabantur. Subiit ergo in montem Jesus: et ibi sedebat cum discipulis suis. Erat autem proxímum Pascha, dies festus Judæorum. Cum sublevasset ergo oculos Jesus, et vidisset quia multitudo maxima venit ad eum, dixit ad Philippum : Unde ememus panes, ut |