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man-servant was always called a boy. The sickness, paralysis, does not seem generally painful, but there are various kinds, some accompanied with convulsions.

3I will come.-Jesus promises to come, and, according to many, did set out and come near the house.

Lord, I am not worthy.-Whence his unworthiness? Some say he uttered the words through politeness, as much as to say: "this is too great an honour." Some say it was his sense of contempt the Jews had for all pagans which Our Lord was surmounting. Some say his humility, and none remark that perhaps there was some secret fault, or want of due discharge of his duty. Such an inference is not foreign to his account of himself.

'Do this and he doeth it.-All admire the faith he showed in Our Lord. "If I can command my soldiers and am obeyed, a fortiori you can command the elements, diseases and forces of nature, and be obeyed even more exactly." This is the import of his words in verse 9.

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II. And I say many shall come from the east and the west, and shall sit

Abraham et Isaac et Jacob in down with Abraham, and Isaac, regno cœlorum;

12. "Filii autem regni ejicientur in tenebras exteriores: ibì erit fletus et stridor dentium."

13. Et dixit JESUS Centurioni: "Vade, et sicut credidisti fiat tibi." Et sanatus est puer in illâ horâ.

and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven :

12. But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into exterior darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

13. And Jesus said to the centurion: "Go; and as thou hast believed, so be it done to thee. And the servant was healed at the same hour.

Jesus marvelled or seemed surprised at this evidence of faith in a Gentile. He knew things in three ways; by vision, by infusion, and by experience. His experimental knowledge though foreseen, was still new when it came, like that of a man who foretells an eclipse and then sees it. He lauds the faith of the Centurion, contrasts it with the coldness of the Jews, to those about him he does so, and then foretells the consequences. Afterwards he performs the miracle. Says by a word. Dic verbo not verbum (so also in the Greek) is the expression of the Centurion and "ipse dixit et factum est;" and, as in the creation, his will per verbum was immediately accomplished, the distance notwithstanding.

1Amen I say to you.-Amen in the beginning of a sentence is different from the same word at the end of one. It is a strong form of assertion equivalent to the English truly, verily, indeed, in point of fact. It may surprise you to hear it, but so it is, is about the nearest phrase; hence our Rheims translators did well in keeping the Hebrew word.

21 have not found so great faith in Israel.-Israel here means the crowds which follow Him, according to all interpreters, and does not include Abraham and obvious exceptions. Such, if we look to the Centurion's opportunities, may have a meaning which renders the sentence absolute. 3 Shall sit down (Greek recline) as at a banquet, i.e., be admitted to the company of the Patriarchs.

The children of the Kingdom.-This is taken to mean the Jews. It may also mean Christians born in the faith who do not use their gifts

as they ought, and will have to give way to converts from the four points of the compass.

"Weeping and gnashing of teeth.-Some have concluded from these words that there shall be extreme cold in parts of hell. Soldiers when flogged keep a ball of lead in their mouths to gnaw lest they might destroy their teeth. Teeth are gnashed without cold. Weeping then may signify the pain of loss, and the other the pain of sense. It is, however, but a usual expression for hell's torments. The exterior darkness is taken from the well-lit banquet hall as contrasted with the dense darkness outside.

Go; is the Hebrew form of granting a request. At the same hour could be better translated at that instant.

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Catholics who neglect their faith and its practice are:

Ist. Worse than pagans, because these never knew it.

2nd. Worse than Jews, because these believe and practise something.

3rd. Worse than heretics, because these half-believe and act up to that.

14. And when Jesus was come into 'Peter's house, he saw his mother-in-law lying, and sick of a fever:

15. And he touched her hand, and the fever left her; and she arose and ministered to them.

16. And when evening was come, they brought to him many that were 'possessed with devils: and he cast out the spirit with his word: and all that were sick he healed:

17. That it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by the prophet Isaias, saying: 'He took our infirmities, and bore our diseases.

Chronology would require that from verse 14 of this chapter, to the end of the 9th chapter should be written, as it happened, before the Sermon on the Mount. S. Matthew changed the order of events and grouped the miracles of Capharnaum and its neighbourhood together. One of the events recorded is his own vocation, which certainly happened before the Sermon. The place, in point of time, for this portion of the Gospel would be after the 22nd verse of chapter iv.

1Peter's house.-Commentators raise a discussion about this. If Peter left all things, as he said he did, how did he keep his house? It would seem rather a childish matter, did not some take it up seriously. The house he lived once in might still be called his, as he left it to his wife and her mother. He was of Bethsaida. Might he not own two houses? Besides, Bethsaida was very near Capharnaum, and that they would all adjourn there for some refreshment, was the most natural thing in the world. Peter did not seem to know that his mother-in-law was ill. We do not read in the Gospels, of any other Apostle having been married. If they were, they left all things, and must have left their wives of course. 2He touched her hand.-Our Lord touched most of those He cured, or they touched Him. Even the touch of His garment healed. Some say this was done to show the power and virtue of His sacred Humanity.

"A good many seem to have been possessed by the devil in the time of Our Lord, and in the earlier ages of the Church. Possession or obsession is not so common now.

4He took our infirmities.-Commentators dispute about the sense in which Isaias, liii. 4, uses these words. S. Matthew had a right to quote them in whatever sense he pleased, even the accommodatitius.

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This ministering shows:
Ist. Gratitude.
2nd. Activity, and

3rd. Satisfaction in her work.

18. Videns autem JESUS turbas multas circùm se, jussit ire trans fretum.

19. Et accedens unus scriba, ait illi: "Magister, sequar te quocumquè ieris."

20. Et dicit ei JESUS: "Vulpes foveas habent, et volucres cœli nidos: Filius autem Hominis non habet ubi caput reclinet."

21. Alius autem de discipulis ejus ait illi: "Domine, permittè me primùm ire et sepelire patrem meum."

22. JESUS autem ait illi: "Sequere me, et dimitte mortuos sepelire mortuos suos."

2nd. To give correct information regarding distant events.

3rd. To reveal the hidden or secret faults of others; thefts, etc.

Many of these signs appear in modern Spiritualism.

18. And Jesus, seeing great multitudes about him, gave orders to pass over 'the water.

19. And a certain Scribe came, and said to him: Master, I will follow thee whithersoever thou shalt go.

20. And Jesus saith to him: The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air nests: but 'the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.

21. And another of his disciples said to him: Lord permit me first to go and bury my father.

22. But Jesus said to him: Follow me, and let the dead bury their dead.

This passing the sea across to the desert is supposed by many not to have happened, in point of time, immediately after the cure of Peter's mother-in-law. There are sound reasons for this supposition, inasmuch as she was cured towards the evening of a Sabbath day, and after sunset the multitudes came to get the same blessing. Those who think S. Matthew's order right (and they are the majority) must suppose that He crossed that very night. His falling asleep in the boat favours this view. The matter is not of very great importance.

'The water of the Sea of Galilee.-He passed in order to avoid the crowds. He had done His work amongst them, preached to them, and

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