Jesus was, seeing Him, she fell down at His feet, and saith to Him: Lord, if Thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.

When Jesus, therefore, saw her weeping, and the Jews that were come with her weeping, He groaned in the spirit, and troubled Himself, and said: Where have you laid him? They say to Him: Lord, come and see. And Jesus wept. The Jews, therefore, said : Behold how He loved him. But some of them said: Could not He that opened the eyes of the man born blind, have caused that this man should not die? Jesus, therefore, again groaning in Himself, cometh to the sepulchre : now it was a cave: and a stone was laid over it. saith: Take away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto Him: Lord, by this time he stinketh; for he is now of four days. Jesus saith to her: Did I not say to thee, that if thou wilt believe, thou shalt see the glory of God? They took, therefore,

Jesus

the stone away. And Jesus lifting up His eyes, said:

Father, I give Thee thanks that Thou hast heard Me. And I knew that Thou hearest Me always; but because of the people, who stand about, have I said it; that they may believe that Thou hast sent Me. When He had said these things, He cried with a loud voice: Lazarus, come forth. And presently he that had been dead came forth, bound feet and hands with winding-bands, and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus said to them: Loose him, and let him go.

Many, therefore, of the Jews, who were come to Mary and Martha, and had seen the things that Jesus did, believed in Him. But some of them went to the Pharisees, and told them the things that Jesus had done. The chief priests, therefore, and the Pharisees gathered a council, and said: What do we, for this man doeth many miracles? If we let Him alone so, all men will believe in Him: and the Romans will come, and take away our place and nation. But one of them, named Caiphas, being the high-priest of that year, said to them: You know nothing at all. Neither do you consider that it is expedient for you that one man should

die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not. And this he spoke not of himself: but being the high priest of that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for the nation; and not only for the nation, but to gather together in one the children of God, that were dispersed. From that day, therefore, they devised to put Him to death.

CHAP. XXIX. Jesus heals on the Sabbath-day. He teaches humility and the love of God to sinners.

On a certain sabbath-day Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues; and there was a woman who had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years and she was bent down, and could not look upwards at all. And when Jesus saw her, He called her to Him, and said to her: Woman, thou art delivered from thy infirmity. And He laid his hands upon her, and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God. And the ruler of the synagogue, being angry that Jesus had healed on the sabbath, answering, said to the multitude: There are six days wherein you ought to work in them therefore come, and be healed, and not on the sabbath-day. And the Lord answering him, said: Ye hypocrites, doth not every one of you on the sabbath-day loose his ox or his ass from the manger, and lead them to water? And ought not this daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the sabbath-day? And when He said these things, all His adversaries were ashamed: and all the people rejoiced for all the things that were gloriously done by Him.

And a certain man asked Him if there would be few who would be saved. And Jesus bade him strive with all his powers for salvation, because the gate to heaven is narrow, and few enter therein. And He declared, that in the last awful day, multitudes from the Gentiles should appear among the elect, and enter into heaven with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, while so many of the Jews,

who boasted of being Abraham's children, were cast out for ever. And He cried to the city Jerusalem, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, that killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent to thee, how often would I have gathered thy children, as the bird doth her brood under her wings, and thou wouldst not? Behold, your house shall be left to you desolate.

And it came to pass when Jesus went into the house of a certain prince of the Pharisees on the sabbath-day to eat bread, that they were watching Him. And behold, there was a certain man before Him that had the dropsy. And Jesus answering, spoke to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying: Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath-day? But they held their peace. But He taking him, healed him, and sent him away. And answering them, He said: Which of you whose ass or his ox shall fall into a pit, and will not immediately draw him out on the sabbathday? And they could not answer Him to these things.

Then He taught them humility by a parable addressed to persons invited to a feast, marking how they chose the first seats at the table, saying to them: When thou art invited to a wedding, sit not down in the highest place, lest perhaps one more honourable than thou be invited by him and he who invited thee and him come and say to thee: Give place to this man; and then thou begin with blushing to take the lowest place. But when thou art invited, go, sit down in the lowest place: that when he who invited thee cometh, he may say to thee: Friend, go up higher. Then shalt thou have glory before them that sit at table with thee. Because every one that exalteth himself shall be humbled; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

And there went great multitudes with Him: and turning, He said to them: If any man come to Me, and hate not his father and mother, and wife and children, and brethren and sisters, yea and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. Not meaning that we are really to hate our friends and kindred, but that our love to them is to be as nothing when compared with our love to Christ; and that every earthly affection and duty, and even life

itself, is to be given up, when it opposes that which is the will of God. For there is no way to follow Christ but by willingly enduring, for His sake, all those sufferings which are to us like that cross

He died.

on which

And in other parables He taught them with what love He himself sought their salvation, and what joy there is among the angels in heaven when sinners are converted. The Pharisees were murmuring against Him for receiving the publicans and sinners who flocked to hear Him, and He reproved them, saying, What man is there that hath a hundred sheep, who if he shall lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety-nine in the desert, and go after that which was lost until he find it? And when he hath found it, doth he not lay it upon his shoulders, rejoicing; and, coming home, call together his friends and neighbours, saying to them: Rejoice with me, because I have found my sheep that was lost? I say to you, that even so there shall be joy in heaven upon one sinner that doth penance, more than upon ninety-nine just, who need not penance. Or what woman, having ten groats, if she lose one groat, doth not light a candle and sweep the house, and seek diligently till she find it? And when she hath found it, call together her friends and neighbours, saying: Rejoice with me, because I have found the groat which I had lost. So, I say to you, there shall be joy before the angels of God upon one sinner doing penance.

CHAP. XXX. The Parable of the Prodigal Son.

In another parable Jesus also taught them the great mercy of God to the penitent sinner. A certain man, He said, had two sons: and the younger of them said to his father: Father, give me the portion of substance that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his substance. And not many days after, the younger son gathering all together, went abroad into a far country, and there wasted his substance by living riotously.

And after he had spent all, there came a mighty famine in that country, and he began to be in want. And he went, and joined himself to one of the citizens of that country. And he sent him into his farm, to feed swine. And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him. And returning to himself, he said: How many hired servants in my father's house have plenty of bread, and I here perish with hunger? I will arise, and will go to my father, and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee: I am not now worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants. And, rising up, he went to his father. And when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and was moved with compassion, and, running to him, fell upon his neck, and kissed him. And the son said to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and before thee: I am not now worthy to be called thy son. But the father said to his servants: Bring forth quickly the first robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet: and bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it, and let us eat and make merry: because this my son was dead, and is come to life again : he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry. Now his elder son was in the field: and when he came, and drew nigh to the house, he heard music and dancing: and he called one of the servants, and asked what these things meant. And he said to him: Thy brother is come, and thy father hath killed the fatted calf, because he hath received him safe. And he was angry, and would not go in. His father, therefore, coming out, began to entreat him. And he answering, said to his father: Behold, for so many years I serve thee, and I have never transgressed thy commandment; and yet thou hast never given me a kid to make merry with my friends but as soon as this thy son is come, who hath devoured his substance with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf. But he said to him: Son, thou art always with me; and all I have is thine. But it was fit that we should make merry and be glad;

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for this thy