WEDNESDAY IN PASSION WEEK. AT Rome, the Station is in the Church of Saint Marcellus, Pope and Martyr. This Church was once the house of the holy lady Lucina, who gave it to the Pontiff, that he might consecrate it to God. jurabis in nomine meo, nec pollues nomen Dei tui. Ego Dominus. Non facies calumniam, proximo tuo nec vi opprimes eum. Non morabitur opus mercenarii tui apud te usque mane. Non maledices surdo, nec coram cæco pones offendiculum: sed timebis Dominum Deum tuum, quia ego sum Dominus. Non facies quod iniquum est, nec injuste judicabis. Non consideres personam pauperis, nec honores vultum potentis. Juste judica proximo tuo Non eris criminator, nec susurro in populo. Non stabis contra sanguinem proximi tui. Ego Dominus. Non oderis fratrem tuum in corde tuo, sed publice argue eum, ne habeas super illo peccatum. Non quæras ultionem, nec memor eris injuriæ civium tuorum. Diliges amicum tuum sicut teipsum. Ego Dominus. Leges meas custodite. Ego enim sum Dominus Deus vester. swear falsely by my name, nor profane the name of thy God. I am the Lord. Thou shalt not calumniate thy neighbour, nor oppress him by violence. The wages of him that has been hired by thee, shall not abide with thee until the morning. Thou shalt not speak evil of the deaf, nor put a stumbling block before the blind: but thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, because I am the Lord. Thou shalt not do that which is unjust, nor judge unjustly. Respect not the person of the poor, nor honour the countenance of the mighty. Judge thy neighbour according to justice. Thou shalt not be a detractor nor a whisperer among the people. Thou shalt not stand against the blood of thy neighbour. I am the Lord. Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thy heart, but reprove him openly, lest thou incur sin through him. Seek not revenge, nor be mindful of the injury of thy citizens. Thou shalt love thy friend as thyself. I am the Lord. Keep ye my laws, for I am the Lord your God. This passage from Leviticus, wherein our duties to our neighbour are so clearly and so fully defined, is read to us to-day, in order that we may see how we fulfil these important duties, and correct whatever short-comings we may discover in ourselves. It is God who here speaks; it is God who commands. Observe that phrase: I am the Lord: he repeats it several times, to show us that if we injure our neighbour, He, God himself, will become the avenger. How strange must not such doctrine have seemed. to the Catechumens, who had been brought up in the selfish and heartless principles of Paganism ! Here they are told, that all men are Brethren, and that God is the common Father of all, commanding all to love one another with sincere charity, and without distinction of nation or class. Let us Christians resolve to fulfil this precept to the letter: these are days for good resolutions. Let us remember that the commandments we have been reading were given to the Israelite people, many ages before the preaching of the Law of Love. If, then, God exacted from the Jew a cordial love of his fellow-men, when the divine law was written on mere tablets of stone; what will he not require from the Christian, who can now read that Law in the heart of the Man-God, who has come down from heaven and made himself our Brother, in order that we might find it easier and sweeter to fulfil the precept of charity? Human nature united in his Person to the Divine, is henceforth sacred; it has become an object of the heavenly Father's love. It was out of fraternal love for this our nature, that Jesus suffered death, teaching us, by his own example, to have such love for our brethren, that, if necessary, we ought to lay down our lives for them. It is the Beloved Disciple that teaches us this, and he had it from his Divine Master. GOSPEL. Sequel of the holy Gospel At that time: It was the Sequentia sancti Evangelii secundum Joannem. Cap. X. In illo tempore: Facta sunt encænia in Jerosolymis et hiems erat. Et ambulabat Jesus in templo, 1 I. St. John, iii. 16. : in porticu Salomonis. Circumdederunt ergo eum Judæi, et dicebant ei: Quousque animam nostram tollis? Si tu es _Christus, dic nobis palam. Respondit eis Jesus Loquor vobis, et non creditis. Opera quæ ego facio in nomine Patris mei, hæc testimonium perhibent de me. Sed vos non creditis, quia non estis ex ovibus meis. Oves meæ vocem meam audiunt: et ego cognosco eas, et sequuntur me et ego vitam æternam do eis : et non peribunt in æternum, et non rapiet eas quisquam de manu mea. Pater meus quod dedit mihi, majus omnibus est: et nemo potest rapere de manu Patris mei. Ego, et Pater unum sumus. Sustulerunt ergo lapides Judæi, ut lapidarent eum. Respondit eis Jesus Multa bona opera ostendi vobis ex Patre meo; propter quod eorum opus me lapidatis? Responderunt ei Judæi: De bono opere non lapidamus te, sed de blasphemia: et quia tu homo cum sis, facis teipsum Deum. Respondit eis Jesus: Nonne scriptum est in lege vestra: Quia ego dixi, Dii estis? Si illos dixit deos, ad quos sermo Dei factus est, et non potest solvi Scriptura: quem Pater sanctificavit, et misit in mundum, vos dicitis: Quia blasphemas; quia dixi, Filius Dei sum? Si non facio opera Patris mei, nolite credere mihi. Si temple, in Solomon's porch : the Jews therefore came round about him, and said to him : How long dost thou hold our souls in suspense? If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly. Jesus answered them: I speak to you, and you believe not. The works that I do in the name of my Father, they give testimony of me. But you do not believe because you are not of my sheep. My sheep hear my voice and I know them, and they follow me: and I give them eternal life: and they shall not perish for ever, and no man shall pluck them out of my hand. That which my Father hath given me, is greater than all and no man can snatch it out of the hand of my Father. I and the Father are one. The Jews then took up stones to stone him. Jesus answered them: Many good works I have shewed you from my Father; for which of those works do you stone me? The Jews answered him: For a good work we stone thee not, but for blasphemy and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God. Jesus answered them: Is it not written in your law: I said you are gods? If he called them gods, to whom the word of God was spoken, and the Scripture cannot be broken; do you say of him, whom the Father hath sanctified and sent into the world: Thou blasphemest; because I said I am the Son of God? If I do not the works of my Father, : believe me not. But if I do, though you will not believe me, believe the works, that you may know, and believe that the Father is in me, and I in the Father. autem facio, et si mihi non vultis credere, operibus credite, ut cognoscatis, et credatis quia Pater in me est, et ego in Patre. After the Feast of Tabernacles came that of the Dedication, and Jesus remained in Jerusalem. The hatred his enemies bore him is greater than ever. They come round about him, that they may make him say he is the Christ, and then accuse him of claiming a mission which does not belong to him. Jesus deigns not to reply to their question, but tells them that they have seen his works, and that these give ample testimony of his being Christ, the Son of God. It is by faith, and by faith alone, that man can here know his God. God manifests himself by his divine works: man sees them, and is bound to believe the truth to which they bear testimony. By thus believing, he has both the certitude of what he believes, and the merit of his believing. The proud Jew rebels against this: he would fain dictate to God how he should act, and sees not that such a pretension is impious and absurd. But, if Jesus openly declare the truth, he will scandalise these evil-minded men! Be it so: the truth must be preached. Our Lord has others to consult besides them; there are the well-intentioned, and they will believe what he teaches. He, therefore, utters these sublime words, whereby he declares, not only that he is Christ, but that he is God: I and the Father are one. He knew that this would enrage his enemies; but he had to make himself known to the world, and arm the Church against the false doctrines of heretics, who were to rise up in future ages. One of these is to be Arius, who will teach that Jesus is not God, but only the most perfect of creatures: the Church will answer, that Jesus is one PASSIONTIDE. L |