verb, Hope that is deferred has been afflicting His Soul; and now desire when it cometh is a tree of life (Prov. xiii.). This is the day of the Azymes which His Blessed Soul with desire hath desired. To-day we may be sure that He is saying from the day-break: Father, My Heart is ready, O God, My Heart is ready (Psalm lvi.). O God, My God, to Thee do I watch at the dawning of this thrice blessed day (Psalm lxii.). My Heart watcheth because of the voice of My Father in Heaven Who is knocking (Cant. v.).

B. And surely we may assume that His heavy-laden Heart finds relief in communing a little while with His Blessed Mother in Bethany, and telling her the good tidings of great joy.

Ave, gratia plena! Arise, make haste, My Holy Mother, for My hour is come. For winter is now past (Cant. ii.).

Let us also say from our hearts: Ave, gratia plena, Dominus tecum. "The time is come, Blessed Mother, when thy Son and thy Lord shall be with thee in a new wayunited with thee more closely than ever in the work of redemption." Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

C. Then, too, we may contemplate with what tenderness our Blessed Saviour looks for the last time on the holy home of Mary and Martha and Lazarus; and on the house, too, of Simon the Leper. St. John tells us two things: (1) that Jesus loved Martha, and her sister Mary, and Lazarus; and (2) that having loved His own, He loved them to the end. Therefore He is now more than usually manifesting His loving kindness in that blessed home at Bethany, where His eyes and His Heart have remained so long (2 Paral. vii.).

"Blessed Saints of Bethany, and all ye holy disciples of our Lord, pray for us, that we may know our Divine Master more intimately and love Him better."

D. Alas! close to this fire that is coming from His Sacred Heart is standing also the traitor, cold and lifeless. While the rest are drinking in hope and contrition and

love from the fountains of their Saviour (Isaias xii.), he is absorbed in his one meditation: how he may conveniently betray Him.

What a meditation ! Each of us may say, "Under the eyes of the Blessed Mother, and my good Angel, and the holy saints, I, too, have in time past studied how 1 could betray my God conveniently; how I could sin against infinite goodness and not suffer for it; how I could sin and not be found out; sin and continue to prosper; sin and be able to say that blasphemous word which the Holy Spirit bids me never say: I have sinned, and what harm hath befallen me? (Ecclus. v.). O God, Thou knowest my foolishness; and my offences are not hidden from Thee" (Psalm lxviii.).

STATION II.

And he sent Peter and John, saying: Go and prepare the Pasch, that we may eat (v. 8).

A. The mid-day is come, and Mary and Martha and Lazarus and Simon the Leper are allowed to give for the last time frugal hospitality to Jesus and His disciples. It is said that at this dinner Judas is placed between Jesus and His Blessed Mother, and that Holy Mary begs him to watch over her Divine Son, for she knows how His enemies are raging. What a contemplation !

women

When the repast is ended, as the Apostles and others are gathered about Him on the hillside, and the holy are grouped perchance round our Blessed Lady, He reminds all that the first day of the Azymes (unleavened bread) is come; the day when it was necessary that the Pasch should be killed (St. Luke xxii.).

The disciples at once answer: Whither wilt Thou that we go to prepare for Thee to eat the Pasch? (St. Mark xiv.). B. Judas perchance joins in the question, for he is on the alert. Hitherto he has been the managing man, and if employed on this commission, he may find his opportunity of

betraying conveniently. But the desire of the sinner, like the subtlety of the Pharisees, shall perish. For the Lord is looking into the hearts of men, and into the most hidden parts (Ecclus. xxiii.). Already the sentence gone out against Judas is beginning to have its fulfilment: His bishopric, his Apostleship, his vocation, all his sacred offices and charges, let another take (Acts i.). "O fallen disciple of Christ, great as the sea is thy destruction (Lament. ii.); not a stone shall be left on a stone: not a vestige of thy heavenly dignity."

Miserere nostri, Domine-Have mercy on us, O Lord, and do not cast us away from Thy face.

C. Jesus has this time no trust, no commission for Judas. But for the great and sacred work to be done to-day, the remembrance of (all) His wonderful works, He selects the fitted ones; the disciple who loves Him, and the disciple whom He loves. He sent Peter and John, saying: Go and prepare the Pasch, that we may eat.

D. The disappointment ought to have been a grace to Judas. For it was when the prodigal could not get the husks of swine he craved for, that his thoughts at last turned homeward to his father. It was when Ignatius could not find a romance to read on his sick-bed at Loyola, that he was willing to read about Christ our Lord. Oh, that we would persevere for good as this fallen man perseveres in evil! For he only redoubles his earnestness to find out how to betray conveniently.

STATION III.

But they said: Where wilt Thou that we prepare? (St. Luke

xxii.).

A. How late it is to think of beginning preparations for the great Pasch! Clearly these are the preparations of poor men whose banquets can soon be got ready.

Blessed are the poor! "Draw us, O Lord, to Thy blessed poverty."

B. It is precisely because they know that their Master

is quite poor, that they ask: Where wilt Thou that we prepare? The Law prescribed: Let every man take a lamb by their families and houses (Exodus xii.). Where is Thy house, dear Lord?

The Holy House at Nazareth has long ceased to be His home and here in Judea, the foxes have holes, and the birds of the air nests, but the Son of Man hath not where to lay His Head (St. Matt. viii.).

The vengeance of the Rulers in Jerusalem has rendered it quite unsafe for any one there to harbour Jesus. When the blind man, restored to sight, dared to say a word in defence of Him, they cast him out. And this casting out meant at least the "Lesser Excommunication," which brought with it many severe sufferings.

C. Is it not a marvellous proof of the overruling care of Divine Providence that, notwithstanding the fierce storm raging in Jerusalem, there is such holy calm across Mount Olivet at Bethany? For the terrorism which paralyses the people in the city seems to have no effect at all upon the faithful disciples there, though only fifteen furlongs off.

"Your Father in Heaven takes care of the lilies, and of the birds of the air; and you, blessed Saints of Bethany, are you not of much more value than they?" (St. Matt. vi.).

D. The Apostles then have good reason to ask: Where wilt Thou that we prepare? Naturally they may expect that He will stay at Bethany and eat the Pasch where He is so welcome. But He has said: Go and prepare the Pasch, that we may eat. Possibly all who could do so were expected to keep the festival within the walls of the Holy City. Be this as it may, the Lord has said: Go and prepare: and the two commissioned are quite at a loss whither to go, for He is poor and homeless, and so are they.

E. We may pause a little while to contemplate the charitable poverty of Jesus. He was poor then, and remains quite poor still, in order that men may have continual opportunities of befriending Him, and that He

consequently may have abundant excuse for pouring out blessings on them through eternity. Come, ye blessed, for I was hungry, and you gave Me to eat (St. Matt. xxv.). When has it ever been heard that a Prince, the heir to the throne, lived in great poverty in order that he might, afterwards when King, largely reward those who were kind to him in his poverty?

"Blessed for ever, Lord Jesus, be Thy most loving poverty that is so needy, yet enriching many” (2 Cor. vi.).

STATION IV.

And He said to them: Behold, as you go into the city there snall meet you a man carrying a pitcher of water: follow him into the house where he entereth in. And you shall say to the good man of the house: The Master saith to thee: My time is near at hand, with thee I make the Pasch. Where is the guest-chamber where I may eat the Pasch with My disciples? (St. Luke xxii.; St. Matt. xxvi.).

A. Thrice happy they to whom our Lord can thus tell all His wants without any fear of a refusal! As He has sent His messengers to this favoured man to ask for the guest-room, so now when He has some good grace in store for us, He directs His poor to our door. They are His special messengers, sent to ask us to give Him an alms. For it is with Him a sacred rule, fixed and unalterable: Give and it shall be given to you (St. Luke vi.). Blessed are those who respond quickly and heartily, as this good man of the house does.

For we learn from tradition that the owner of the house was as overjoyed at the good news, as Zacheus had been last week at Jericho.

B. And he will show you a large dining-room furnished; and there prepare ye for us (St. Mark xiv.).

How happy that good man was through all the remainder of his life, how happy will he be through eternity, that he promptly gave what his God asked of him! Men con