these Gospels how hard it was for the hearers of Our Lord to understand Him, and how many things patient students (with the accumulated wisdom and learning of nineteen centuries), fail still to make out. The consequence of reading Scriptures by yourself is what our Lord points out. "If another shall come in his own name, him you will receive." Luther, Calvin, and the Reformers came in their own names and were received, and the Church which teaches as the organ of Jesus Christ was rejected. But a modern Catholic writer may say: If heretics did not believe the Church, neither will they believe my words. 1Search the Scriptures.-This is generally now understood to be the indicative and not the imperative mood. The Greek and Latin bear both tenses. 2You think. Some consider these words ironical. They may be taken in their direct meaning without difficulty. They. The Scriptures. Come to me. He told them He had life in Himself, which He could give them but they would not have it. From men. He was not concerned about what men thought of Him, as were His listeners the Pharisees, who seemed to live only on public opinion. The love of God.-Their pretended zeal for the Sabbath and the Law was really a development of their spite against Our Lord. "In the name of My Father.-A man comes with authority and you will not receive him ; a man comes without, and you will. Then you ask for proofs, and when you get them you become worse. modern heretics! How very like One from another.—The pastor from the flock, and vice versa. God alone.-Disinterestedness is very rare, even nowadays. 10 Accuse you. There is no need of my accusing you. Indeed I excuse you to Him as much as I can. He did on the Cross. 11Moses.-The books of Moses were received even by the Sadducees. 12He wrote of me.-In Genesis xlix. 10, Deuteronomy xviii. 15, and elsewhere. All through by figures and shadows. 13 How will you believe my words ?—An argumentum ad hominem, which implies that they did not believe even in Moses. CHAPTER VI. Christ feeds five thousand with five loaves: he walks upon the sea; and discourses of the bread of life. 1. Post hæc, abiit Jesus trans mare Galilææ, quod est Tiberiadis. 2. Et sequebatur eum multitudo magna, quia videbant signa quæ faciebat super his qui infirmabantur. 3. Subiit ergò in montem JESUS, et ibi sedebat cum discipulis suis. 4. Erat autem proximum pascha, dies festus Judæorum. 5. Cùm sublevâsset ergò oculos JESUS, et vidisset quia multitude maxima venit ad eum, dixit ad Philippum: "Unde ememus panes ut manducent hi?" 6. Hoc autem dicebat tentans eum: ipse enim sciebat quid esset facturus. 7. Respondit ei Philippus: "Ducentorum denariorum panes non sufficiunt eis ut unusquisque modicum quid accipiat." 8. Dicit ei unus ex discipulis ejus, Andreas frater Simonis Petri: 1. After this Jesus went over the 'sea of Galilee, which is that of Tiberias: 2. And a great multitude followed him, because they saw the miracles which he did on them that were infirm. 3. And Jesus went up into a mountain, and there he sat with his disciples. 4. Now the pasch, the festival day of the Jews, was near at hand. 5. When Jesus, therefore, had lifted up his eyes, and seen that a very great multitude cometh to him, he said to "Philip: Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat? 6. And this he said to try him: for he himself knew what he would do. 7. Philip answered him: "Two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one may take a little. 8. One of his disciples, "Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, saith to him: 9. "Est puer unus hìc qui habet quinque panes hordeaceos et duos pisces: sed hæc quid sunt inter tantos ?" 10. Dixit ergò JESUS: "Facite homines discumbere." Erat autem fœnum multum in loco. Discubuerunt ergò viri, numero quasi quinque millia. 9. There is a boy here that hath five barley loaves and two fishes; but what are these among so many? 10. Then Jesus said: Make the men sit down. Now there was 10much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand. Nearly a year hath elapsed since Our Lord uttered the words which conclude Chapter iv. He had gone down again to Galilee, had called His twelve Apostles, preached the Sermon on the Mount, had sent the Twelve out on their apprenticeship, had performed numberless miracles and spoken in various synagogues. John had been put to death, the rage of the Pharisees was every day increasing. Our Lord had a grand revelation to make to them, a grand promise which was one day to be fulfilled. He prepared them for the trial of their faith by two stupendous miracles, and when the events narrated in this most important chapter had taken place He goes again to Jerusalem for another Pasch. 1 Sea of Galilee.-It was called Tiberias after Herod had built a semipagan city, to which he gave the name of Tiberias in compliment to his imperial master. 2Followed Him.-Our Lord and His Apostles crossed by boat and the multitude went round by land, as we see in the Fourteenth chapter of S. Matthew. 3Mountain. He passed over the sloping grassy declivity in order to get among the hard and barren rocks. The Pasch.-The third Pasch which Our Lord attended since the beginning of His ministry. MULTIPLICATION OF THE LOAVES. This miracle is related by all the four Evangelists. John tells more of the minute particulars and yet his account would not be complete without the other narratives. He generally omits what the others give, he is now preparing to give what they omitted. Philip.-John alone mentions him. Some say he was the simplest of the Apostles and brother to Nathaniel, who had no guile. To try him.-To see what Philip would say. Two hundred pennyworth.-About £7. 10s. of our money. It would be very little for ten or twelve thousand mouths. Andrew.—The name again. S. John was of course, present, and these small touches make us feel present also. "What are these ?-He seems to despair. 19Much grass.-This is another small remark of S. John's. |