and love for sinners made them expect that He would absolve the guilty woman, and that thus they would have an opportunity of charging Him with disregard to the Law of Moses.

But His prudence and charity ended the matter to their great confusion. He gave them no answer, but stooped down, and wrote with His finger upon the ground.' They repeated the question, and insisted upon an answer. Raising Himself up, He said: "Let him that is without sin amongst you, cast the first stone at her :" then stooping down again, He wrote as before on the ground. Thereupon the accusers shrunk away one by one, and left the woman standing in the midst. Jesus then raised Himself up, and asked her if any had condemned her; and when she answered "No one," "Neither," He replied, "shall I. Depart in peace, and beware thou sin

By this example, our blessed Saviour teaches us to look into ourselves, and to examine our own conduct rather than censure that of our neighbour. It is unpardonable in a Christian, harshly to censure and condemn his brother, for having fallen into a fault of which he himself happens to be innocent. It would better become him to humble his soul before God, by whose mercy he has been hitherto preserved from falling into sins still more enormous; which, considering the instability of his heart, he knows not how soon it may be his own misfortune to commit.

If we expect to be treated with lenity in our misfortunes, we should not forget to show that lenity to others. Lenity is one of the most effectual methods to make the delinquent sensible of his fault. The lenity that Jesus Christ showed upon this occasion, had, without doubt, a

salutary effect upon the mind of the adulteress, than all the severity of the Mosaic Law. It is this spirit which the Church, in imitation of her Spouse, has adopted with regard to her children; she turns her back upon none, however grievous their sins may be ; she beholds them with the eye of a tender mother; she invites them to perform their Christian duties; she stands with open arms to receive the penitent, and she absolves them from their guilt, the moment she is assured of the sincerity of their repentance.

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The Man who was born Blind.-John, ix.

Our Blessed Saviour having silenced the Scribes and Pharisees by His unexpected answer, continued His instructions to the people, reiterating with increasing distinctness and authority, His claims to be received as the Messias, and pointing out the many proofs which had been given of His Divine mission. At length He openly stated His Eternal Godhead. Then the people took up stones to cast at Him as a blasphemer. But He withdrew from their midst, and went out of the Temple.

As He passed along, He saw a beggar who had been blind from his birth. The disciples asked Him to what cause, whether to the man's own sin, or to the sins of his parents, his blindness was to be attributed. "Neither to the one nor to the other," replied our Saviour, "but that the glory of God may be manifested in his cure: I am the Light of the world." Then He spat upon the ground, and with His spittle moistened the dust into clay, which He spread upon the eyes of the blind man, bidding him go and wash in the pool of Siloe. The man went, and washed, and came back healed.

The miracle which was a distinct challenge to the Chief Priests, inasmuch as it was wrought upon the sabbath day, soon reached their ears. 'They were confounded at the overwhelming evidence of the sign which our Lord had thus given them, but instead of submitting their minds to the truth which it forced on them, they questioned, and cavilled, and examined the man and his parents in a way which only served to make the truth of the miracle more evident than before It had already been determined that any one who acknowledged our Lord to be the Messias should be excommunicated, and now this severe punishment was enforced in the case of the man who had been born blind. Our Lord then sought him out and asked him whether he believed in the Son of God. Then revealing Himself to be such, He received his profession of faith and adoration.'

Thus this poor man became, in the strict sense of the name, the first confessor of the faith in our Lord.'

Thrice happy, say the holy Fathers, was the man who through his corporal blindness discovered the true Light which enlighteneth every man that cometh into this world. He not only believed our Lord, and adored Him, but he also defended Him against His enemies; unshaken by their threats, he boldly declared the truth, and silenced their captious arguments against it. The Jews cast him out of their synagogue, but Jesus received him into His communion, and made his heart the living temple of the Holy Ghost.

St. John, after narrating the cure of the blind man, goes on to relate the discourse addressed by our Lord to the

Jews, in which He describes the members of His Church as a congregation of believers, called together by Himself into one fold. Into this fold no one enters but by Him who is the door, Jesus Christ Himself; He is the Sovereign Pastor of our souls; He has spared no labour in seeking that which was lost; He has laid down His life for the salvation of His flock. He, therefore, calls Himself the Good Shepherd, who, with the tenderness of a father, watches over and defends His fold, while the mercenary hireling flies at the approach of danger, and abandons his flock to be dispersed and worried by the wolf. Continuing the allegory, He speaks of other sheep who were to enter into His fold, He specifies the character of docility and obedience which distinguishes

MISSION OF THE SEVENTY-TWO DISCIPLES.

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His flock from every other, and says, that they who are His, know His voice, and follow it; that He knows them, and they know Him; that He calls them by name, and they obey; that He goes before them, and they follow.

Mission of the Seventy-two Disciples; Parable of the Good Samaritan; Martha and Mary.-Luke ix.

This discourse on the Good Shepherd is the last incident mentioned by St. John, in his account of our Lord's presence in Jerusalem for this Feast of Tabernacles. It is not easy to trace, in the Gospel history, His movements during the six months which intervened between this festival and the Passover during which He suffered. It would seem, however, that this closing period of His ministry was spent in evangelising the country parts of Judea, as if He would, before His crucifixion, afford the inhabitants of that province the same opportunity of recognising His divine mission, which He had hitherto so bounteously bestowed upon the inhabitants of Galilee.*

From the narrative of St. Luke, it would appear that some time after the Feast of Tabernacles, our Lord retired for a while to Galilee. On His final departure from that province, to go up to Jerusalem, He sent messengers before Him to prepare the people to receive Him. A Samaritan city refused Him welcome, and St. James and St. John proposed that, in the spirit of Elias, He should call down fire from Heaven upon its inhabitants. But He rebuked their intemperate zeal, explaining to them that such was not the spirit of the Gospel.

He then sent as many as seventy-two disciples, two and two, to the places which He meant to visit. These disciples were sent by their Divine Master with power to preach, to

*Considerable diversity of opinion exists among commentators regarding the locality of the events recorded by St. Luke in this portion of his Gospel (Chapters, 9-18). Many prefer to suppose that the greater number of those events took place in Galilee. I have, however, as usual, adopted the view put forward by F. Coleridge, from whose work the first and second paragraphs of the section are, in substance, taken.

cast out devils, and to cure diseases. At the close of their mission they returned with great joy to announce to Him that in virtue of His holy name the impure spirits had obeyed their voice. Our Blessed Saviour saw the spark of vanity which was rising in their hearts, and checked it immediately, by telling them that He had seen Satan fall like lightning from Heaven: "I have given you the power,' said He, "to work miracles; but do not rejoice on that account; rejoice rather that your names are written in the Book of Life. You are happy in being privileged to see and hear the things you see and hear; many of the prophets and kings of old wished for the same privilege, but had it not.” Then, by a special impulse of the Holy Ghost, He returned thanks aloud to His Father, for having revealed to the humble those sublime mysteries which were hidden from the proud and the wise.

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One day, soon after the return of the disciples from their mission, a Doctor of the Law came to our Lord, tempting Him, and asking, what was the great commandment of the Law? Jesus, with His usual brevity, answered him, that it was to love God above all things, and his neighbour as himself. "And who is my neighbour?" replied the Doctor. Jesus answered him in the following parable: "A certain traveller, being on the way from Jerusalem to Jericho, fell into the hands of thieves, who, having robbed him, grievously wounded him, and left him half dead by the road side. Ă Priest who happened to be travelling the same way, found the man lying in that condition, but made him no offer of assistance. Soon after, a Levite passed by, and showed as little feeling as the Priest. At last came a Samaritan, who, being moved with compassion for the poor man in his forlorn situation, went to his relief, dressed his wounds, conveyed him to an inn, and recommending him to the care of the innkeeper, left money to procure everything necessary for his comfort. Now, which of these three," asked our Blessed Saviour, "was truly a neighbour to the wounded traveller ?" "It was he, no doubt," replied the Doctor, "who went to the poor man's assistance." Go, therefore," was our Lord's reply, "and do thou in like manner."

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During the same sojourn in Judea, occurred that visit of