In the Cenacle He promised: I will ask the Father, and He will send you another Comforter.

Another Comforter, He said, because till now He has been their Comforter above measure. But now the Comforter shall want comfort, and sore shall be His need.

Let us in spirit follow our Lord, watching carefully, listening attentively--and trying reverently to read His thoughts.

Anima Christi, sanctifica me.

The Cenacle, as we have seen, stands in the south-west corner of the city. Gethsemani, the country place or farm in which there was a garden, lies due east of the city and north-east of the Cenacle. The brook of Cedron, dry in the summer months, and a torrent in the rainy season, flows down the narrow valley of Josaphat, between the eastern wall of the Holy City and Mount Olivet. Midway between the southern and northern extremity of this eastern wall, at the base of Mount Olivet and close to the high-road which skirted the torrent Cedron, lies the country place which is called Gethsemani. As we are told, there are eight gardens there, and one of them belongs to the Blessed Virgin. The sepulchre of her parents stood then where now the church stands, which, like many other sacred sanctuaries, has been wrested from the Catholics and is held by Schismatic Armenians.

C. Silently then Jesus is walking eastward through the quiet streets. His path lies close to the Palace of the Priests, but He knows that He is secure, because His hour is not yet come. From Mount Sion He descends by steps into the lower quarter called Ophel, where the poor are gathered ; and thence, through a gate in the south-eastern angle, He leaves the city, for the last time as a free man. The next time that He passes through the gates another shall lead Him as a prisoner.

As soon as He goes out of the city, He at once descends the steep pathway that leads to the little bridge over the Cedron. After to-night the pathway shall have a

In times to come it is to be known as the road of the Captivity. Jesus, the Son of David, and the most obedient and loving Son of the Eternal Father, is now walking in silence and in sorrow past the spot where, even as late as the sixteenth century, passers-by were wont to

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cast one stone more on the heap near the so-called monument of Absalom, saying as they moved on : “ Accursed Absalom the Parricide! Accursed they who wickedly persecute their parents !” Jesus has now passed that tomb, and is bending His steps northward under the high walls of the city, when at a distance of about one hundred and fifty yards from the Garden, and not far from the brook Cedron, He halts and breaks the silence.

STATION II. He said to His disciples : Sit you here, till I go yonder and

pray (St. Matt. xxvi. 36). From what follows we see that this word was not addressed to all, but only to eight of the eleven who were with Him. There is no memorial chapel standing on the spot, but the site is pointed out, and the plot of land adjoining has been secured, in the hope that a sanctuary may be there erected.

A. Sit you here, till I go yonder and pray.

Contemplate the thoughtful and compassionate care of our Saviour for His disciples. He knows that their weakness could not bear the sight of His infirmity: they would be overmuch scandalised and shaken. Despite His own trouble, He is full of solicitude for them.

* Attendite.” This we must not fail to note; for sorrow easily demoralises us, and renders selfishness more intense and quite deadens sympathy for others.

B. Nay, at times, sorrow when very great hurries men into hopeless despair. Hence St. Paul directs that the chastisement of the scandalous sinner at Corinth shall not be prolonged unduly. To him that is such a one this rebuke is sufficient that is given by many. . So that contrariwise you should rather pardon and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow (2 Cor. ii.). Overmuch sorrow easily destroys hope, and brings in despair, which blights and kills all the virtues. Hence it is that our Blessed Saviour not only gave to Holy Church the power of forgiving sins, but added on a most necessary kindred power of remitting by Indulgences, wholly or in part, the temporal punishment which so often remains due to sin after the guilt has been forgiven. In His infinite charity He extends to us the full benefit of our communion with the saints, He allows His own superabundant atonement, and the unspeakable sufferings of His Blessed Mother, and the blood of the martyrs, and the penances of saintly monks and hermits and innocent virgins to be used in payment of our debts; and Holy Church requires us to believe that this merciful arrangement is most wholesome and salutary for Christian people. Surely so, since it removes that great danger of our being swallowed up by overmuch sorrow and depression, if we had to pay unaided and alone the vast debt which often remains due after a valid absolution has taken away the guilt of sin. Purgatory too, where we can do penance without incurring fresh guilt and without despairing, is another invention of the charity of our Father in Heaven and His beloved Son, our Saviour.

In this holy hour, however, we see that sorrow cannot conquer either hope, or love, or compassion in the Heart of Jesus. Many waters cannot quench charity; neither can the floods drown it (Cant. viii.).

C. And Thou hast taught Thy people, O Lord, by such works that they must be just and humane (Wisdom xii.). Good Christian parents and Superiors learn from the charity of our Saviour not to prolong punishment unduly, nor to remember too long offences once punished, lest overmuch sorrow swallow up the offender committed to their care.

STATION III.
And He taketh Peter and James and John with Him

(St. Mark xiv. 33). A. James and John, the sons of Zebedee, are cousins of our Saviour, but flesh and blood can be of little help

They have, however, better gifts than the ties of kin. They, with Peter, were on Mount Thabor, and their faith was there strengthened, so that they can better bear the spectacle of their Master's great prostration. It is believed also that on these three He conferred in the Cenacle the fulness of sacerdotal power and grace by consecrating them as Bishops.

It is not then a chastisement, but a great privilege and an earnest of signal graces to come, when our Saviour chooses any of His disciples to be with Him in sorrow.

Even if we have not strength to drink the bitter chalice with Him, yet if we even watch with Him in His sorrow and listen to His sighs, He is most grateful, and virtue will surely come out from Him and grow in us.

B. And He taketh Peter and James and John with Him.

As with these three companions He walks slowly northward under the eastern wall of the city high above Him, He well understands, though His disciples do not, what is the meaning of the unusual sounds of life that come to-night from the area of the Temple and the barracks of the Roman Guard beyond. Ordinarily, Jerusalem is still after nightfall. For on this point, at least, God's ordinance prevails : The sun ariseth, and man shall go forth to his work and to his labour until the evening. Thou hast appointed darkness, and it is night, in it shall all the beasts of the woods go about (Psalm ciii.). On this exceptional night, however, men who have become like to senseless beasts are desecrating and profaning the sacred stillness of the dark hours. His Prophet was speaking as our Lord's mouthpiece when he said : Tribulation is very near--for the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful man is opened against Me. They have spoken against Me with deceitful tongues, and they have compassed Me about with words of hatred, and have fought against Me without cause (Psalm cviii.). Within His meek and humble Heart our Lord is saying: My people, what have I done to thee? In what have I molested thee?

C. He taketh Peter and James and John with Him.
He is now close to the country place, the farm called

Gethsemani. He is on the spot where five days ago He was seated on the ass's colt, and listening to the loud Hosanna to the Son of David, and Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord. That was His brief hour of consolation. Now the dark hour of desolation is settling on His soul. The change is no surprise to Him. My Heart hath expected reproach and misery (Psalm lxviii.).

SCENE II.

THE GARDEN OF GETHSEMANI.

STATION I. There was a garden, into which He entered with His

disciples (St. John xviii. 1). A. He has reached the battlefield which He Himself has chosen. It was in the garden given by God to the first Adam and the first Eve that Lucifer won his terrible victory. Of set purpose Jesus Christ, the second Adam, has bent His steps to this modest Garden of Gethsemani, which is the possession of His Blessed Mother, the second Eve. It is here that He has planned to begin the second conflict which is to make good all that was lost in the garden of man's ruin. Being Himself made after the form of the first Adam, He has planned that the Redemption also shall be worked on the same lines as the Fall. In a garden, therefore, His Passion shall begin; and when all is consummated, in a garden close beside the Cross His Sacred Body shall be laid.

B. There was a garden, into which He entered with His disciples.

To His legions of blessed angels, Jesus has now signified that Lucifer and the powers of darkness have permission to approach Him, and put forth their strength against Him, as far as the decree of His Eternal Father allows. The spirits of evil need no urging. Long have they wistfully watched this weary and emaciated and exhausted Man. They know the preparations which under