POINT I. What must we do to be saved?

CONSIDERATION. Jesus having entered one sabbathday into the synagogue to teach as He was wont to do, 'a certain lawyer stood up, tempting Him, and saying, Master, what must I do to possess eternal life?' He did not put this question seriously, he only hoped to get some answer from our Lord which might afterwards be turned against Him. Our Lord would therefore have been perfectly justified in treating him with silent contempt, yet, for the sake of those who stood round, He deigned to reply.

APPLICATION. If you happen to meet with unprincipled persons who ask questions in a captious spirit, or pretend to have doubts about the faith, do not enter into any discussion with them, as if you believed in their sincerity (for they would only laugh at you), unless the honour of our religion required it, or you saw that it would give you an opportunity of explaining things to others who were present. But, in this case, do nothing rashly. Our Lord did not say to all indiscriminately, I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to resist and gainsay.' If you are not a priest or theologian, well acquainted with the subject, avoid controversy. It may do great harm to religion, as well as to those who hear you, and impiety will triumph. AFFECTIONS and RESOLUTIONS.

POINT II. How we should love God.

CONSIDERATION. Our Lord, wishing to show the lawyer that it was not for the sake of instruction that he asked the question, replied, 'What is written in the law how readest Thou? He answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind, and thy neighbour as thyself. And He said to him, Thou hast answered right; this do and thou shalt live.'

APPLICATION. Give your whole mind to study the practical meaning of each of the terms in this great commandment, so that you may keep it more perfectly.

With thy whole heart.' This is to love nothing so much as God, nothing except in and for God, to be habitually disposed to do anything or suffer anything to please God, to desire only what leads to God, to hate all that turns us from Him.

With thy whole soul. This is to be ready to give your life for God, to lose everything rather than lose the grace of God, to banish from your mind every thought which could displease God, or hinder an intimate union with Him.

With all thy strength.' This is to spare neither pain nor trouble to advance the glory of God; it is to consecrate to Him our time, our talents, our body, our health, our repose, and every energy of our soul.

With all thy mind.' This is to be ever striving to come to a better knowledge of the infinite perfections and the will of God, and only to engage in secular studies so far as they make us more fit to work for God. Judge from this how much you love God.

AFFECTIONS and RESOLUTIONS.

POINT III. How we should love our Neighbour.

CONSIDERATION.

The lawyer, mortified by the exposure of his insincerity, wished to set himself right with the others round him; he therefore asked another question, And who is my neighbour?' But our Lord, answering him by the parable of the Good Samaritan, laid bare all the pride, malice, and selfishness which lurked in his heart, and in those of his colleagues, nominally doctors, but really corrupters of the law.

APPLICATION. By trying to justify ourselves like this proud lawyer, we make our position worse both before God and before men.

COLLOQUY with our Divine Saviour.

SEPTEMBER 26.

PARABLE OF THE GOOD SAMARITAN: ITS LITERAL

MEANING.

1st Prel. Picture to yourself a man robbed and wounded, suc coured by a charitable stranger.

2d Prel. Ask for a compassionate and generous charity.

POINT I. Selfishness of the Priests and Doctors of the Synagogue.

CONSIDERATION. Our Lord's object in the parable (or, as some Fathers say, the history) of the Good Samaritan was publicly to stigmatise the selfish teaching of the doctors of the synagogue, who only recognised as their neighbours those of their own nation who were just, a title which they arrogated to themselves. To the question,And who is my neighbour?' our Lord replied, 'A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among robbers, who also stripped him, and having wounded him, went away, leaving him half dead; and it chanced that a certain priest went down the same way, and seeing him, passed by; in like manner also a Levite, when he was near the place and saw him, passed by.'

APPLICATION. We have here a picture drawn by our Lord Himself of the want of charity amongst the priests and Levites. How consoling it is to turn from this to the boundless charity of our priests, whether secular or religious There is no disease either of soul or body which they do not seek out and strive to cure. They have filled the world with institutions for the relief of misery in every form for the child still in its cradle, for the forsaken, the aged, the blind, the deaf and dumb, the insane, the sick of all ages and all ranks, the plaguestricken, the incurable. And everywhere the laity nobly second their efforts; even women, not content with giving their money, give themselves, and seek in fardistant lands for sufferings to alleviate, for souls to win.

O Jesus, it is to You, to Your Divine teaching, to Your example, that we owe these wonderful effects of charity, which, until Your coming, the world had never seen! AFFECTIONS and RESOLUTIONS.

POINT II. The generous Charity of the good Samaritan.

CONSIDERATION. With the miserable selfishness of the priest and Levite, our Lord contrasts the noble generosity of a Samaritan, whom the Jews would not condescend to recognise as a neighbour. But a certain Samaritan, being on his journey, came near him, and seeing him, was moved with compassion. And going up to him, bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine; and setting him upon his own beast, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. And the next day he took out two pence, and gave to the host, and said, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou shalt spend over and above, I, at my return, will, repay thee.'

APPLICATION. Our Lord evidently wished us to understand by this, 1st, that we should look upon all, without exception, as our neighbours, even though they may be of a different nation or religion, as were the Jews and Samaritans ; 2nd, that the only charity which is worth having, is that which shows itself by its deeds; 3rd, that the simple, when their hearts are right, understand their duty better than learned men who are proud; it is a Samaritan who sets an example to a Jew, a layman to a priest. Take care not to be surpassed in generosity by pious laymen.

AFFECTIONS and RESOLUTIONS.

POINT III. Humiliating Confession of the Lawyer.

CONSIDERATION. After our Lord had spoken this parable, He asked the Lawyer, which of these three, in thy opinion, was neighbour to him that fell among the robbers? But he said, He that showed mercy to him.' Thus it was that our Lord, for the second time, condemned him out of his own mouth, and having left

him without excuse, He bid him, 'Go and do thou in like manner.'

APPLICATION. Fac similiter. In these last words our Lord tells us that our charity, like that of the Samaritan, should be active and generous, that we should exercise it at the expense of our personal comfort, of our tastes, our health, even of our life, if the salvation of our neighbour requires it. How far does your charity go? COLLOQUY.

SEPTEMBER 27.

SPIRITUAL INTERPRETATION OF THE PARABLE.

Preludes as before.

POINT I. The Traveller robbed and wounded a Type of the Sinner.

CONSIDERATION. The mystical meaning which many Fathers attach to this parable, and which our Lord may have had in view, is not hard to discover. It is the whole race of man, fallen and bruised by the sin of Adam, raised up again, and finally cured by the Word made flesh, the Redeemer of the world. In a more restricted sense, it is the sinner and his Saviour. Consider, first, how all that happened to the unfortunate traveller who fell among the thieves has its coun terpart in the soul which falls through mortal sin into the devil's power. It is robbed of all—of its innocence, its bridal robe, of sanctifying grace, of its supernatural beauty which made it like the angels, of its rights of Divine adoption, of all its merits. It is covered besides with hideous wounds which sin has made in it; in short, having only faith without charity, it is half dead.

APPLICATION. Wretched I should rightly call myself, if in my life I have committed but one mortal sin; wretchel, when I think of the state to which I