THIS day brings us to the middle of Lent, and is called Mid-Lent Thuriday. It is the twentieth of the forty fasts imposed upon us, at this holy Season, by the Church. The Greeks call this Thursday Mesonestios, that is, the mid-Fast. They give this name to the entire week, which, in their Liturgy, is the fourth of the seven which form their Lent. But the Thursday of this week is, with them, a solemn feast, and a day of rejoicing, whereby they animate themselves to courage during the rest of the Season. The Catholic nations of the West, though they do not look on this day as a Feast, yet have they always kept it with some degree of festivity and joy. The Church of Rome has countenanced the custom by her own observance of it; but, in order not to give a pretext to dissipation, which might interfere with the spirit of fasting, she postpones to the following Sunday the formal expression of this innocent joy, as we shall see further on. Yet, it is not against the spirit of the Church that this Mid-Day of Lent should be marked by some demonstration of gladness; for example, by sending invitations to friends, as our Catholic forefathers used to do; and serving up to table choicer and more abundant food than on other days of Lent, taking care, however, that the laws of the Church are strictly observed. But, alas! how many there are, even of them that call themselves Catho

lics, who have been breaking, for the past twenty days, these laws of abstinence and fasting! Whether the Dispensations they trust to be lawfully or unlawfully obtained, the joy of Mid-Lent Thursday seems scarcely made for them. To experience this joy, one must have earned and merited it, by penance, by privations, by bodily mortifications; which is just what so many now-a-days, cannot think of doing. Let us pray for them, that God would enlighten them, and enable them to see what they are bound to do, consistently with the Faith they profess.

At Rome, the Station is at the Church of Saints Cosmas and Damian, in the Forum. The Christians of the Middle Ages, (as we learn from Durandus, in his Rational of the Divine Offices,) were under the impression that this Station was chosen because. these two Saints were, by profession, Physicians. The Church, according to this explanation, would not only offer up her prayers of this day for the souls, but also for the bodies of her children: she would draw down upon them,-fatigued as she knew they must be by their observance of abstinence and fasting, she would draw down upon them the protection of these holy Martyrs, who, whilst on earth, devoted their medical skill to relieving the corporal ailments of their brethren. The remarks made by the learned liturgiologist Gavantus, in reference to this interpretation, lead us to conclude, that although it may possibly not give us the real motive of the Church's selecting this Station, yet is it not to be rejected. It will, at least, suggest to the Faithful to recommend themselves to these Saints, and to ask of God, through their intercession, that they may have the necessary courage and strength for persevering to the end of the holy Season, in what they have, so far, faithfully observed.

hurt;
I will dwell with you
in this place, in the land which
I gave to your fathers from
the beginning and for ever
more, saith the Lord Al-
mighty.

ritis in malum vobismetipsis: habitabo vobiscum in loco isto, in terra quam dedi patribus vestris, a sæculo et usque in sæculum, ait Dominus omnipotens.

There is not a single duty in which the Church does not instruct her Children. If, on the one hand, she insists on their fulfilling certain exterior practices of penance, she, on the other, warns them against the false principle of supposing, that exterior observances, however carefully complied with, can supply the want of interior virtues. God refuses to accept the homage of the spirit and the heart, if man, through pride or sensuality, refuse that other service which is equally due to his Creator, namely, his bodily service; but to make one's religion consist of nothing but material works, is little better than mockery; for God bids us serve him in spirit and in truth. The Jews prided themselves on having the Temple of Jerusalem, which was the dwelling-place of God's glory; but this privilege, which exalted them above other nations, was not unfrequently turned against themselves, inasmuch as many of them were satisfied with a mere empty respect for the holy Place; they never thought of that higher and better duty, of showing themselves grateful to their divine Benefactor, by observing his Law. Those Christians would be guilty of a like hypocrisy, who, though most scrupulously exact in the exterior duty of fasting and abstinence, were to take no pains to amend their lives, and follow the rules of justice, charity, and humility. They would deserve that our Lord should say of them what he said of Israel: This people glorify me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.2 This Christian pharisaism is very rare now-a-days. What we have

to fear is a disregard for the exterior practices of religion. Those of the Faithful who are diligent in the fulfilment of the laws of the Church, are not, generally speaking, behindhand in the practice of other virtues. Still, this false conscience is sometimes to be met with, and is a scandal which does much spiritual injury. Let us, therefore, observe the whole law. Let us offer to God a spiritual service, which consists in the heart's obedience to all his commandments; and to this let us join the homage of our bodies, by practising those things which the Church has prescribed. The body is intended to be an aid to the soul, and is destined to share in her eternal happiness: it is but just that it should share in the service of God.

GOSPEL.

Sequentia sancti Evangelii
secundum Lucam.
Cap. IV.

In illo tempore: Surgens Jesus de synagoga, introivit in domum Simonis. Socrus autem Simonis tenebatur magnis febribus: et rogaverunt illum pro ea. Et stans super illam, imperavit febri: et demisit illam. Et continuo surgens, ministrabat illis. Cum autem sol occidisset, omnes qui habebant infirmos variis languoribus, ducebant illos ad eum. At ille singulis manus imponens, curabat eos. Exibant autem dæmonia a multis, clamantia et dicentia: Quia tu es Filius Dei. Et increpans non sinebat ea loqui : quia sciebant ipsum esse Christum. Facta autem die,

Sequel of the holy Gospel according to Luke.

Ch. IV.

At that time: Jesus rising up out of the synagogue, went into Simon's house. And Simon's wife's mother was taken with a great fever, and they besought him for her. And standing over her, he commanded the fever, and it left her. And immediately rising, she ministered to them. And when the sun was down, all they that had any sick with divers diseases, brought them to him. But he laying his hands on every one of them, healed them. And devils went out from many, crying out and saying: Thou art the Son of God. And he, rebuking them, suffered them not to speak, for they knew that he was Christ.