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IT is incontestable, that from the time of the Apostles, this week has been devoted to the Honour of the Mysteries of the Passion, the Death, and the Sepulture of Jesus Christ, to retrace them to the eye and mind of the Faithful by the Offices which are sung, and by the ceremonies that are observed.

St. John Chrysostom gives us the following detail, in a Homily he composed on this subject:

"We call these days the Great Week, on account of the great things that our Lord has done in it. Then he put an end to the long tyranny of the devil, destroyed death, bound the strong one, and despoiled him of his arms, effaced sin, abolished the malediction, opened paradise and the entrance into heaven, re-united men to angels, demolished the wall of separation, and removed the veil of the sanctuary; the God of Peace, re-establishes peace between heaven and earth......It is on that account that the faithful redouble their attention; some augmenting their fast, others prolonging their vigils, multiplying their alms, occupying themselves with good works, and the practices of piety, to testify to God their gratitude for the great blessings he has deigned to grant us......It is not a single city which goes to meet Jesus Christ, as after the resurrection of Lazarus, but many churches throughout the world present themselves before him, not with Psalms, but with works of charity, humanity, and courage: with fasting, prayers, tears, vigils, and practices of piety. Even our Emperors observe these Holidays with exactitude. They cause the public affairs to stop, to the end that their subjects, free from all other cares, may meditate only on the worship of the Lord. Let, say they, the occupations of the law, trials, disputes, public vengeance, and puishments be suspended. The sufferings and the

graces of the Saviour are for all, let his servants therefore now do good to their brethren. Now let prisoners be set at liberty. As our Saviour descended into hell, to set at liberty all those whom death held in captivity, so his servants, according to the measure of their power, and to imitate his mercy, break the corporal chains of the guilty, not having it in their power to break their spiritual ones."Bingham Orig. Eccles. l. 21. c. 1. § 24.

"There is nothing sweeter," says Père Crasset, "than to think of the Passion of Jesus, because it discovers to us the excess of his love, and inspires us with a lively confidence that God will pardon our sins, and grant us mercy; for God the Son has satisfied the justice of God the Father. For us has he made over all his merits; and the price at which he has purchased us, is worth infinitely more than all the blessings of grace and glory we hope from his goodness. What consolation ought so sweet a thought to diffuse in the soul; what delight, to draw waters from the fountains of grace and salvation. Our consciences are oppressed by our sins, but their troubles shall be appeased when we think of the wounds of our Saviour, for it was for our sins he received them.

"The remembrance of the Passion of our Lord is also essential, because, by it, we are rendered victorious over our enemies-the devil, the world, and the flesh. The devil tempts us by despair and presumption: despair comes from an ignorance of the mercy of God, and presumption from an ignorance of his justice. The Passion of Jesus discovers to us the bowels of the mercy of God, who delivered his Son to death for the salvation of sinners, and who received his sufferings in payment of their debt. He makes known his justice, in treating so rigorously his most innocent and most holy Son, covering him with the shadow of our crimes, and making him answer for them.

"The Passion of Jesus renders us victorious over the world, that tempts us, by the love of pleasure and the fear of pain. Who can be in love with pleasure, seeing his Saviour consumed with sufferings? Who will fear afflictions, knowing that He preferred them for the love of us, to all the delights of Paradise?

"The Flesh is our most dangerous enemy;—it is that which tempts us through love and fear; but the Passion of Jesus gives us a horror for all the pleasures that it loves, and a love for all the evils which it fears. When I see the body of my Saviour covered with wounds, I cannot, said a Saint, look at mine without them.

"O Saviour of my soul, I am not astonished that I should be strongly tempted, and that I should fall into temptations, since I think so seldom of your sacred Passion. I have had a horror of your sufferings, and turned aside from the sight of your wounds. I will henceforth establish my dwelling on Calvary. It is there where I would live;-it is there where I would die. It is not on Mount Thabor I will fix my tent, but on the mountain of sorrows. On that Mount I will say, Oh, it is good to be here! Oh how profitable and consoling-to behold a God expiring for our love on the Cross."

FINIS.

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