may sift you as wheat (19); but I have prayed for you (20), that thy faith fail not (21); and thou being once converted, confirm thy brethren (22)."

Knowing that they would need to be thus confirmed, (a) “Then Jesus saith to them: All you shall be scandalized in me this night. For it is written: I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be dispersed. But after I shall be risen again, I will go before you into Galilee."

Peter could not bear that his Master should confound him with the crowd, from which, however, he was only to distinguish himself by a more shameful and a more criminal cowardice. (b)" Answering [therefore], he said to him: Although all shall be scandalized in thee, I will never be scandalized; I am ready to go with thee, both into prison and into death. I will lay down my life for thee. Jesus answered him: Wilt thou lay down thy life for me? Amen, amen, I say to thee, Peter, the cock shall not crow this day (23) till thou thrice deniest that thou knowest me. Amen, I say to thee, to-day,

(a) St. Matthew, xxvi. 31, 32.

(b) St. Matthew, xxvi. 33; St. Luke, xxii. 33, 34; St. John, xiii. 37, 38; St. Mark,

xiv. 30.

(19) That is to say, to tempt you violently; as the grain which is winnowed or sifted

is shaken and tossed about.

(20) We can only resist by means of grace, and grace is given to us only because Jesus Christ, who has purchased it for us by the effusion of his blood, asks and obtains it for us.

(21) Peter's faith never failed, but he failed in courage to confess it.

(22) These words give room for believing that Peter, whose conversion followed so soon after his fall, exerted himself immediately to bring back the scattered disciples, and to strengthen their tottering faith. All antiquity has admitted that these words are not only addressed to Saint Peter, but also to his successors, to whom it has been given to constitute after him the foundation-stone which contributes to give to the Church that immovable firmness against which it is said that the gates of hell shall never prevail.

(23) According to one evangelist, the Saviour said: The cock shall not crow this day till thou thrice deniest that thou knowest me. According to another evangelist, he said: Before the cock crow twice thou shalt deny me thrice. We have combined in the text these two expressions, without being able to decide which of the two the Saviour really used. The cock crowed the first time after the first denial of Saint Peter. Two other denials having followed it, the cock crowed again the second and third time. Thus when it is said, The cock shall not crow this day till thou thrice deniest that thou knowest me, means that the cock shall not finish his nightly crowing until thou thrice deniest that thou knowest me.

even in this night, before the cock crow twice, thou shalt deny me thrice." A man can only become thoroughly acquainted with himself by being put to the proof. Peter, who thought that he loved his Master more than his life, although, in point of fact, he loved his life more than he did his Master, (a) "spoke the more vehemently: Although I should die together with thee, I will not deny thee. In like manner also said they all," whether it was that the same presumption urged them to speak thus, or whether they were ashamed to show themselves less resolute than their chief.

The past inspired them with this hope for the future; but that future which they hoped to find like unto the past, was to be of a far different aspect. Jesus, though always exposed to the malignity of the Pharisees, had hitherto retained the love and veneration of the people. The disciples, who had suffered but little from the personal hatred which the Pharisees entertained towards their Master, had reaped in abundance the fruits of the admiration and gratitude so eminently due to him, and which the multitude so willingly rendered. Such was the past, but how very different was the future to be. The people, duped by their magistrates and by their teachers, were to enter into a league with them against the Saviour: the conspiracy was to be general; and after having shown favor to the disciples, because of the Master, they were now going, on his account, to persecute them to the very utmost. It was this alarming change, and the different treatment they were about to receive, that Jesus Christ wished to set before their eyes when he said to them: (b)" "When I sent you without purse and scrip, and shoes, did you want any thing? But they said: Nothing. Then said he unto them: But now he that hath a purse, let him take it, and likewise a scrip; and he that hath not, let him sell his coat, and buy a sword. For I say to you, that this that is written must yet be fulfilled in me: And with the wicked was he reckoned (24). For the things (a) St. Mark, xiv. 31; St. Matthew, xxvi. 35.

(b) St. Luke, xxii. 35–38.

(24) Jesus Christ, as we have said, was about to be treated like a malefactor, and the world, by whom he was to be so treated, would, consequently, persecute his disciples, as the accomplices of his crimes. This is what the Saviour means when he declares that the moment is come wherein this prophecy is to be accomplished, and with

concerning me have an end. And they said: Lord, behold here are two swords; and he said to them: It is enough (25).”

He did not countermand the order which he had previously given them of going without provisions, and of dwelling in the world like sheep in the midst of wolves. But he gave them notice that, after having been regarded as the disciples of the Messiah, they were henceforth to be treated as the accomplices of a malefactor; that the world was about to declare against them that irreconcileable war which should only end with their life, and that hostilities were just on the point of commencing; that they, therefore, stood in need of courage, but that they should not depend too much upon that courage which they evinced by words, inasmuch as it had not as yet been put to the trial. The sword of which he had spoken was only indicative of that state of warfare on which they were going to enter. Peter, who understood it literally, provided himself in reality with a sword. Jesus did not hinder him from so doing, because the use which this impetuous disciple was to make of his weapon was destined to furnish the Saviour with an occasion of further displaying his meekness and his power at the moment of his capture; and he postponed till another opportunity the information that it is not allowable for private individuals to oppose force to public authority, even when it makes a tyrannical use of its rights.

The apostles were troubled at what they had just heard, and it was natural that they should be so. Jesus Christ was on the point of quitting them, without any possibility of their following him. One of their number was to betray him, and even their chief was to

the wicked was He reckoned. Such is the common explanation; and what most favors this interpretation is, that Saint Mark, after having mentioned that Jesus Christ was crucified between two thieves, immediately quotes this prophecy: And with the wicked He was reputed. Some interpreters have explained it in a different manner; according to ⚫ the latter, Jesus Christ wished his disciples to have swords, because he foresaw that Saint Peter would make use of his sword for the purpose of wounding one of those who came to arrest his Master, and that this violence towards men charged with the execution of an order from the magistrates would be set down as an act of revolt, which would give occasion for arraigning Jesus Christ as the leader of a seditious band. Thus the prophecy which says, And with the wicked He shall be reputed, which was accomplished by the crucifixion between two robbers, had also its fulfilment in this circumstance.

(25) That is to say, two swords are enough for the purpose which I have in view.

deny him. The pastor was to be soon struck down, and the sheep, left to themselves, were to wander to and fro, hunted and despised. Weak as they were, we may conceive what sadness and what terror must have filled their souls at the sight of a futurity so near and so terrible. This charitable pastor, more. affected by their state than by the evils with which he was menaced, appears to forget himself in order to occupy himself with the care of consoling his beloved disciples. It is with this design that he is going to address to them this admirable discourse of which we have already spoken, in which we may say that his beautiful soul unfolds itself entirely before their eyes-his wisdom and his charity having never appeared with greater lustre. Taking occasion, therefore, from the trouble in which they were, he begins, in order to compose their minds, to speak to them in these terms.

CHAPTER LX.

DISCOURSE AFTER THE SUPPER. THE DISCIPLES ENCOURAGED AND CONSOLED.-WHO SEETH THE FATHER SEETII THE SON.THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH PROMISED.

(a) "LET not your heart be troubled" at what you have just heard. My promises should dispel your fears. For, as "you believe in God, believe also in me (1)." I am going, as I have said to you, and I have hitherto told Peter only that one day he shall follow me whither I go. Yet this should not alarm you: neither he nor any other could exclude you from that happy abode. "In my Father's house (2) there are many mansions. If not, I would have told you

(a) St. John, xiv. 1–31.

(1) Have in me the same faith and the same confidence which you have in God. This text is one of those which prove the Saviour's divinity.

(2) Although these words do not formally express the inequality of the places founded upon inequality of merit, nevertheless the Catholic Church has always recognized it here; and we now-a-days make use of these words, in order to prove it; Jovinian himself, who thought that the saints in heaven are all equal in glory, admitted that inequality was expressed in this text. His only resource was to apply the text to the Church

that I go to prepare a place for you," and let this proof of my love prevent you from suspecting that I could entertain the design of deceiving you. Do not, therefore, hesitate to believe it, even when you shall see me no more, and rest assured that, "if I shall go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and will take you to myself; that where I am, you also may be (3). And whither I go you know, and the way you know.".

He was going to his Father, and it is through him alone that any one is enabled to go there after him. He had told them this so often, and in so many ways, that they could not be in utter ignorance of the fact. But, either because they did not then remember it, or because they had but a very imperfect idea of the way and the end thereof, "Thomas saith to him: Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way? Jesus saith to him: I am the way, and the truth, and the life (4). No man cometh to the Father but by me; if you had known me, you would, without doubt, have known my Father also. From henceforth you shall know him, and you have seen him."

They had seen him, and, notwithstanding, they had yet to know him. That confused knowledge which makes people say indiscriminately, that they know and that they do not know, is sufficient excuse for the apparent contradiction which is found in these modes of speech. They had, therefore, seen the Man-God; they had been witnesses of his deeds; they had heard the words which issued from his adorable lips. Both one and the other emanated from the divinity which dwelt within him, and would have unveiled him to eyes more spiritual than theirs, to eyes sufficiently clear-sighted to

militant and to the different degrees of its hierarchy. Other heretics, such as the Pelagians, make a difference between the mansion and the kingdom. The latter being more excellent, according to them, is destined for those who receive baptism; and the mansion is the dwelling of those children who die without having been baptized, as if the mansion were not in the kingdom, and as if it did not sometimes imply more to be in the mansion than to be in the kingdom; besides, Jesus Christ speaks here to the apostles, who were surely not to be classed with children who have died without baptism. (3) He shall return at the moment of their death to conduct their souls thither, and at the day of the last judgment, to lead them there, both body and soul.

(4) I am the way which you should follow, the truth which you shall believe, and the life which is to resuscitate you to a life eternal and eternally happy.