and loathe myself. O may I never delight in the praises or favour of men, but be occupied with thoughts of penitence and love: and may I feel the misfortunes of others, as if they were my own, and deplore their sins with a compassionate and loving heart. Amen. O Almighty GoD, Who didst send into this world Thy SON JESUS CHRIST Our LORD, that He might humble Himself to our condition, and call us back to Thee; Grant, O LORD, that as the Jews went forth to meet Him with branches of palm, thereby representing His triumph over the prince of death, and the riches of His mercy and peace, grant, we humbly beseech Thee, O holy LORD, Almighty and Eternal GOD, through the same LORD JESUS CHRIST, that we and all faithful people may go forth to meet Him with firm faith and by good works, and gaining by Him, and in Him, victory over the empire of sin and death, may be made partakers of His glorious resurrection. Amen. MONDAY IN HOLY WEEK. In the morning our Blessed LORD returned to Jerusalem, and on His way cursed the barren figtree. He went again into the Temple and drove out a second time those who bought and sold therein, which so incensed the Scribes and Pharisees, that they sought to destroy Him. JESUS then went out of the city. S. Matt. xxi. 18; S. Mark xi. 12; S. Luke xix. 45. TUESDAY IN HOLY WEEK. On Tuesday morning, our LORD and His disciples on their way to Jerusalem, passed the withered figtree, on which occasion JESUS instructed them in the great duties of faith, prayer, and charity. S. Matt. xxi. 21; S. Mark xi. 20. As JESUS was teaching in the temple, the Scribes and Pharisees asked by what authority He did these things. He then spake to them these parables. The Father and his sons. The Vineyard. The Marriage Feast, and other truths related in S. Matt. xxi. xxii.; S. Mark xi. xii.; S. Luke xx. He then condemned the Scribes and Pharisees. S. Matt. xxiii. And commended the poor widow. S. Mark xii. 41 ; S. Luke xi. 1. 3. On leaving the Temple, our Divine Master, the Judge of Quick and Dead, foretold the destruction of Jerusalem, and the end of the world, and spake the parables of 1. The ten Virgins. 2. The Talents. The Sheep and the Goats. And at night He went out and abode in the Mount of Olives. S. Matt. xxiv. xxv.; S. Mark xiii.; S. Luke xxi. 5, 37. WEDNESDAY IN HOLY WEEK. 1. The rulers conspire against JESUS, and covenant with Judas, to betray Him. 2. Mary anoints His Feet. Prophecy. Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against His Anointed. Ps. ii. 1, 2. And I said unto them, If ye my price; and if not, forbear. my price thirty pieces of silver. think good, give me So they weighed for Zech. xi. 12. Gospel Harmony. S. Matt. xxvi. 1-16. S. Mark xiv. 1-11. S. Luke xxii. 1—6. S. John xii. And it came to pass, when JESUS had finished all these sayings, He said unto His Disciples, Ye know that after two days is the feast of the Passover, and the Son of Man is betrayed to be crucified. Then assembled together the chief Priests, and the Scribes, and the Elders of the people unto the palace of the High Priest, who was called Caiaphas, and consulted that they might take JESUS by subtilty, and kill Him. But they said, Not on the feast-day, lest there be an uproar of the people, for they feared the people. Now when JESUS was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper, there they made Him a supper and Martha served; but Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with Him. Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly; and anointed the Feet of JESUS, (poured it on His Head,) and wiped His Feet with her hair and the house was filled with the odour of the ointment. But when His Disciples saw it, they had indignation, saying, To what purpose was this waste? Then saith one of His Disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, which should betray Him, Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence, and given to the poor? And they murmured against her. This he said, not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief, and had the bag, and bare what was put therein. When JESUS understood it, He said unto them, Let her alone : why trouble ye the woman? for she hath wrought a good work upon Me. For ye have the poor always with you, and whensoever ye will ye may do them good, but Me ye have not always. She hath done what she could; she is come aforehand to anoint My Body to the burying. Verily I say unto you, wheresoever this Gospel shall be preached in the whole world, there also shall this, that this woman hath done, be told for a memorial of her. Much people of the Jews therefore knew that He was there; and they came not for JESUS' sake only, but that they might see Lazarus also, whom He had raised from the dead. But the Chief Priests consulted that they might put Lazarus also to death; because that by reason of him many of the Jews went away and believed on JESUS. Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, (then entered Satan into Judas,-S. Luke,) went unto the Chief Priests and Captains, and communed how he might betray Him unto them; and they were glad, and covenanted to give him money. And he said unto them, What will ye give me, and I will deliver Him unto you? And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver. And from that time he sought opportunity how he might conveniently betray Him, in the absence of the multitude. Meditations.1 Didst Thou then, O my Saviour, wish to experience how bitter a cross it is to have an unfaithful friend? Thou didst receive Judas at Thy table, and overwhelm him with Thy favours; and, as a sincere friend, Thou didst communicate to him Thy plans, even when his heart was full of malice, and had determined to deliver Thee to Thine enemies. O Divine Wisdom! Who knewest the soul of this traitor, how didst Thou regard him with a kindly Eye in the midst of Thy other disciples who sincerely loved Thee. Thou didst wash his feet, and make him a partaker of Thy holy Eucharistic Feast, and Thou didst hide his perfidy, to spare him shame. Such is the constancy of Thy friendship, O Divine JESUS! Thou seest our betrayals and Thou seekest us still, in drawing us with the cords of Thy love, in gaining us by Thy blessings, and in endeavouring to soften our hard hearts, by the unction of Thy grace. What advantage can our friendship be to Thee, that Thou shouldst seek with so much care even those who betray Thee? But it is the property of Thy love, O my GOD! never to be repulsed, and to pursue us even when we flee from Thee! I look with astonishment and indignation on the perfidious Judas, who betrayed Thee without shame, by a token of love, and preferred a paltry sum to Thee, O my Saviour, in Whom are hid all the treasures of the Wisdom and Knowledge of GOD. But I for 1 For Reflections, see Williams on the "Holy Week." |