MONDAY, FOURTH WEEK OF LENT. THE Station is in the venerable Church of the Four Crowned (Brothers); their names are, Severus, Severianus, Carpophorus, and Victorinus; they suffered martyrdom under the persecution of Dioclesian. Their bodies, as also the Head of the great Martyr St. Sebastian, are among the Relics of this Church. habitabamus in domo una, et peperi apud eam in cubiculo. Tertia autem die postquam ego peperi, pepeerit et hæc et eramus simul, nullusque alius nobiscum in domo, exceptis nobis duabus. Mortuus est autem filius mulieris hujus nocte. Dormiens quippe oppressit eum. Et consurgens intempesta noctis silentio, tulit filium meum de latere meo ancillæ tuæ dormientis; et collocavit in sinu suo: suum autem filium, qui erat mortuus, posuit in sinu meo. Cumque surrexissem mane ut darem lac filio meo, apparuit mortuus: quem diligentius intuens clara luce, deprehendi non esse meum, quem genueram. Respondit altera mulier: Non est ita ut dicis, sed filius tuus mortuus est, meus autem vivit. E contrario illa dicebat: Mentiris filius quippe meus vivit, et filius tuus mortuus est. Atque in hunc modum contendebant coram rege. Tunc rex ait: Hæc dicit: Filius meus vivit et filius tuus mortuus est. Et ista respondit: Non, sed filius tuus mortuus est, meus autem vivit. Dixit ergo rex Afferte mihi gladium. Cumque attulissent gladium coram rege: Dividite, inquit, infantem vivum in duas partes, et date dimidiam partem uni, et dimidiam partem alteri. Dixit autem mulier, cujus one house, and I was delivered of a child with her in the chamber. And the third day after that I was delivered, she also was delivered; and we were together, and no other person with us in the house, only we two. And this woman's child died in the night, for in her sleep she overlaid him; and rising in the dead time of the night, she took my child from my side, while thy handmaid was asleep, and laid it in her bosom, and laid her dead child in my bosom. And when I rose in the morning to give my child suck, behold it was dead; but considering him more diligently when it was clear day, I found that it was not mine which I bore. And the other woman answered: It is not so as thou sayest, but thy child is dead, and mine is alive. On the contrary she said: Thou liest, for my child liveth, and thy child is dead. And in this manner they strove before the king. Then saith the king: The one saith my child is alive, and thy child is dead; and the other answereth: Nay, but thy child is dead, and mine liveth. The king therefore said: Bring me a sword. And when they had brought a sword before the king, Divide, said he, the living child in two, and give half to the one, and half to the other. But the woman, whose child was alive, said to the king, (for her bowels were moved upon her child,) I beseech thee, my lord, give her the child alive, and do not kill it. But the other said: Let it be neither mine nor thine, but divide it. The king answered and said: Give the living child to this woman and let it not be killed, for she is the mother thereof. And all Israel heard the judgment which the king had judged, and they feared the king, seeing that the wisdom of God was in him to do judgment. filius erat vivus, ad regem est St. Paul explained to us, in yesterday's Epistle, the antagonism that there is between the Synagogue and the Church; he showed us how Sara's son, who was the father's favourite, was persecuted by the son of Agar. The two women, who appear before Solomon, are another figure of the same truth. The child they both lay claim to, is the Gentile people, which has been brought to the knowledge of the true God. The Synagogue, typified by the woman who has caused death to her child, has misled the people confided to her care; and now unjustly claims one that does not belong to her. And whereas it is not from any motherly affection, but only from pride, that she puts forward such a claim, it matters little to her what becomes of the child, provided only he be not given to the true mother, the Church. Solomon, the King of Peace, who is one of the Scriptural types of Christ, adjudges the child to her that has given him birth, and nourished him; and the pretensions of the false mother are rejected. Let us, then, love our mother, the Holy Church, the Spouse of Jesus. It is she has made us children of God by Baptism. She has fed us with the Bread of Life; she has given us the Holy Spirit; and, when we had the misfortune to relapse into death by sin, she, by the divine power given to her, has restored us to life. A filial love for the Church is the sign of the Elect; obedience to her commandments is the mark of a soul in which God has set his kingdom. GOSPEL. Sequentia sancti Evangelii secundum Joannem. Cap. II. In illo tempore: Prope erat Pascha Judæorum, et ascendit Jesus Jerosolymam: et invenit in templo vendentes boves, et oves, et columbas, et nummularios sedentes. Et cum fecisset quasi flagellum de funiculis, omnes ejecit de templo, oves quoque, et boves, et nummulariorum effudit æs, et mensas subvertit. Et his, qui columbas vendebant, dixit Auferte ista hinc, et nolite facere domum Patris mei, domum negotiationis. Recordati sunt vero discipuli ejus quia scriptum est: Zelus domus tuæ comedit me. Responderunt ergo Judæi, et dixerunt ei: Quod signum ostendis nobis quia hæc facis ? Respondit Jesus, et dixit eis: Solvite templum hoc, et in tribus diebus excitabo illud. Dixerunt ergo Judæi: Quadraginta et sex annis ædificatum est templum hoc, et tu in tribus diebus excitabis illud. Ille autem dicebat de tem Sequel of the holy Gospel according to John. Ch. 11. At that time the Pasch of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. And he found in the temple them that sold oxen, and sheep, and doves, and the changers of money sitting. And when he had made as it were a scourge of little cords he drove them all out of the temple, the sheep also and the oxen; and the money of the changers he poured out, and the tables he overthrew. And he said to them that sold doves: Take these things hence, and make not the house of my Father a house of traffic. And his disciples remembered that it was written: "The zeal of thy house hath eaten me up." Then the Jews answered, and said to him: What sign dost thou shew us, seeing thou dost these things? Jesus answered and said to them: Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. The Jews then said: Six and forty years was this temple in building, and wilt thou raise it in three days? But he spoke of the temple of his body. When therefore he was risen again from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture, and the word that Jesus had said. Now when he was at Jerusalem, at the Pasch, upon the festival day, many believed in his name, seeing his signs which he did. But Jesus did not trust himself to them, because he knew all men, and because he needed not that any should give testimony of man, for he knew what was in man. plo corporis sui. Cum ergo resurrexisset a mortuis, recordati sunt discipuli ejus, quia hoc dicebat, et crediderunt Scripturæ, et sermoni quem dixit Jesus. Cum autem esset Jerosolymis in Pascha in die festo, multi credideruut in nomine ejus, videntes signa ejus, quæ faciebat. Ipse autem Jesus non credebat semetipsum eis, eo quod ipse nosset omnes, et quia opus ei non erat ut quis testimonium perhiberet de homine, ipse enim sciebat quid esset in homine. We read, in the Gospel of the first Tuesday of Lent, that Jesus drove from the Temple them that were making it a place of traffic. He twice showed this zeal for his Father's House. The passage we have just read from St. John refers to the first time. Both occasions are brought before us during this Season of Lent, because this conduct of our Saviour shows us with what severity he will treat a soul that harbours sin within her. Our souls are the Temple of God, created and sanctified by God to the end that he might dwell there. He would have nothing to be in them, which is unworthy of their destination. This is the Season for self-examination; and if we have found that any passions are profaning the sanctuary of our souls, let us dismiss them; let us beseech our Lord to drive them out by the scourge of his justice, for we, perhaps, might be too lenient with these sacrilegious intruders. The day of pardon is close at hand; let us make ourselves worthy to receive it. There is an expression in our Gospel which deserves a special notice. The Evangelist is speaking of those Jews, who were more sincere than the rest, |