lowing the man bearing the pitcher of water, and we shall say to the goodman of the house, that is, to the Holy Ghost, Who has come down to the Church to indwell her till the end of time, "The Master saith, Where is the guestchamber, where I shall eat the passover with my disciples?" For the Master said to His followers that the Holy Ghost should teach them, and should lead them into all truth.

1. First of all the divine Spirit reveals to us our Lord's will concerning His Church. "He shall show you a large upper room, furnished and prepared." The Church must be large enough to take in believers from all nationstherefore she is named Catholic; and all penitents find room in her to serve and praise the Lord Who has redeemed them. The Church is an upper room, for she must ever carry on her work on a plane above the strifes and the pettiness and the opportunism of this world. She must be absorbed in unearthly things, and so dwell far above temporal conditions, quite unmoved by them. Furthermore she is furnished and prepared, that is, fully provided with all things for the convenience and delight of those who shall be called to sit down to the marriage supper of the Lamb.

2. Secondly, the divine Spirit makes known to each docile believer that which the Master

requires as preparation for Himself in the heart, in order that He may enter in and dwell there. There must be found within us a large room, for He is a jealous Lord, and will not take second place the best must be His. It must be an upper room, dominating perfectly the cares and riches and pleasures of this life—a room raised so high above the pettiness and sordidness of temporal things, that when we pray or worship in it, they are not able to distract us. It must be a room furnished with many loving deeds of reverence, devotion, and charity, and prepared with very honest penitence for the receiving of the all-holy Christ.

Third Thought.-"There make ready for us." How condescendingly He associates us altogether with Himself; the Church and the inner temple of the soul, both are to be made ready for His meeting with us, and His gracious abiding with us.

1. We cannot be too earnest to make the Church in all respects such as He may delight in, striving by zealous missionary effort to draw in all sorts and conditions of men, that He may show Himself Lord and Saviour of all. Striving also to so reach out after the ideal of His religion, that our churches may set forth the

fullest possible glory of worship, the most plenteous stewardship of every grace.

2. Nor can we over-estimate the necessity of increasing effort to so purge our consciences of every spot of sin that the Master may never draw back from entering our hearts; while we also so tirelessly seek to furnish our souls with every grace that He may delight to enter into them and remain.

CII.

"And as they sat and did eat, Jesus said, Verily I say unto you, One of you which eateth with me shall betray me. And they began to be sorrowful, and to say unto Him one by one, Is it I? and another said, Is it I? And He answered and said unto them, It is one of the twelve, that dippeth with me in the dish. The Son of man indeed goeth, as it is written of Him: but woe to that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! good were it for that man if he had never been born." -St. Mark xiv. 18-21.

Exposition.-Swete says: "The meal has now begun. We see the Twelve and the Lord reclining on the divans which were ready for their use. It seems to have been a part of the original ritual of the passover to eat standing, but the recumbent posture had become customary, and was interpreted as a sign of the freedom from slavery, which had been inaugurated by the Exodus. The guests lay on their left side, with their feet resting on the ground, and the couches seem to have been grouped in sets of two or

three; when these were placed together, the central position was that of greatest dignity. Hitherto they had known only that He should be delivered into the hands of His enemies, and probably no suspicion had been entertained of Judas. One of you revealed a new feature in the history of the passion which was more intolerable than any, involving the Twelve in a horrible charge from which they could only escape when the traitor was made known. That dippeth with me in the dish. The reference is probably to the sauce charoseth, a compound of dates, raisins, and vinegar, into which at a certain moment the master of the house dipped pieces of the unleavened cake with bitter herbs between them, which were then distributed to the company. . . . The act described is difficult to realize under the circumstances of the paschal feast, and in connection with the charoseth, but the words, especially in St. Mark, point to the baseness of the treachery which sacrificed an intimate friend. To dip into the same dish was a token of intimacy. The Son of man indeed goeth, literally, goeth His way, as beginning His return to the Father. As it is written of Him, according to the divine purpose expressed in the symbolism and predictions of the Old Testament. The saying has no flavour of Pharisaic fatalism; it is not a blind neces