Gospel, we must listen to St. Jerome, whose homily, for last night's Office, is put before us as the official interpretation of the sacred text. Let us, first, listen to the words of Scripture which the Saint quotes,they immediately follow those of our Gospel: He that is faithful in that which is least, is faithful also in that which is greater; and he that is unjust in that which is little, is unjust also in that which is greater. If, then, ye have not been faithful in the unjust mammon, who will trust you with that which is the true? These words, says St. Jerome, were said in the presence of the scribes and pharisees; they felt that the parable was intended for them; and they derided the divine preacher. The one that was unjust in that which is little, is the jealous Jew, who, in the limited possession of the present life, refuses to his fellow-men the use of those goods which were created for all. If, then, you avaricious Scribes are convicted of mal-administration in the management of temporal riches, how can you expect to have confided to you the true, the eternal, riches of the divine word, and the teaching of the Gentiles ?2 Terrible question, which our Lord leaves thus unanswered; let these unjust Stewards, the depositaries of the figurative Law, deride Jesus as much as they please, and pretend that his question does not refer to them; but, they will soon be giving the true answer: the answer will be,the ruin of Jerusalem.

Meanwhile, the little humble flock of the elect of Juda, leaving these hard-hearted men to the vengeance which their proud madness is hurrying on,is continuing its journey, knowing that the promises of Sion belong to it. The Offertory-Anthem is the expression of their faith and their hope.

St. Luke, xvi. 10-14. 2 S. HIERON. Ep. ad Algasiam, cap. vi.

OFFERTORY.

Populum humilem salvum facies, Domine, et oculos superborum humiliabis: quoniam quis Deus præter te, Domine?

Thou wilt save the humble people, O Lord! and thou wilt humble the eyes of the proud for, who is God besides thee, O Lord?

It is from God that we receive the gifts, which he deigns to accept at our hands; and yet, the sacred mysteries, which are about to transform our Oblation, do, none the less, obtain for us, by his grace, the sanctification of our present life, and the joys of eternity.

Suscipe, quæsumus Domine, munera quæ tibi de tua largitate deferimus: ut hæc sacrosancta mysteria, gratiæ tuæ operante virtute, et præsentis vitæ nos conversatione sanctificent, et ad gaudia_sempiterna perducant. Per Dominum.

SECRET.

Receive, we beseech thee, O Lord, the offerings we bring, which are the gifts of thine own bounty: that these most holy Mysteries may, by the power of thy grace, make our conduct in this life holy, and bring us to those joys that will never end. Through, etc.

The other Secrets, as in page 135.

The hope which man has in his God could never disappoint him; what stronger pledge could he wish for, than the sweetness of the divine banquet which he is now enjoying?

COMMUNION.

Gustate, et videte, quoniam suavis est Dominus: beatus vir, qui sperat in

eo.

Taste and see, that the Lord is sweet! blessed is the man that putteth his trust in him.

The heavenly nourishment, we have now received, has power to renew both our souls and bodies: let us

make ourselves worthy of experiencing the fulness of its effects.

POSTCOMMUNION.

May this heavenly mystery, O Lord, renew us both in soul and body; that we may find in ourselves the effects of what we celebrate. Through, etc.

Sit nobis, Domine, reparatio mentis et corporis cœleste mysterium: ut cujus exsequimur cultum, sentiamus effectum. Per Dominum.

The other Postcommunions, as in page 137.

VESPERS.

The Psalms, Capitulum, Hymn, and Versicle, as above, pages 74-84.

ANTIPHON OF THE MAGNIFICAT.

What shall I do, because my lord taketh away from me the stewardship To dig I am not able; to beg I am ashamed. I know what I will do, that, when I shall be removed from the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses.

LET US PRAY.

Grant us, O Lord, we beseech thee, the spirit of always thinking what is right; and grant us, mercifully the spirit of doing it: that we, who cannot subsist without thee, may live according to thee. Through, etc.

Quid faciam, quia dominus meus aufert a me villicationem? Fodere non valeo, mendicare erubesco. Scio quid faciam, ut cum amotus fuero a villicatione, recipiant me in domos suas.

THE NINTH SUNDAY

AFTER PENTECOST.

The lamentation over Jerusalem's woes is, in the Western Church, the subject of to-day's Gospel; and it gave its name to this ninth Sunday after Pentecost, at least, among the Latins. We have already observed, that it is easy to find, even in the Liturgy as it now stands, traces of how the early Church was all attention to the approaching fulfilment of the prophecies against Jerusalem, that ungrateful City, upon which our Jesus heaped his earliest favours. The last limit put by mercy upon justice, has, at length, been passed. Our Lord, speaking of the ruin of Sion and its Temple, had foretold, that the generation, that was listening to his words, should not pass, until what he announced should be fulfilled.1 The almost forty years accorded to Juda, that he might avert the divine wrath, have had no other effect than to harden the people of deicides in their determination of not accepting Christ as the Messiah. As a torrent, which, having been long pent back, rushes along all the fiercer when the embankment breaks,-vengeance at length burst on the ancient Israel; it was in the year 70 that was executed the sentence himself had passed, when delivering up his King and God to the Gentiles, he cried out: His blood be upon us and upon our children!3

2

Even as early as the year 67, Rome irritated by

2 St. Matth. xx. 19.

1 St. Luke, xxi. 32.

3 Ibid. xxvii. 25.

the senseless insolence of the Jews, had deputed Flavius Vespasian to avenge the insult. The fact of this new General being scarcely known was, in reality the strongest reason for Nero's approving of his nomination: but, to the hitherto obscure family of this soldier, God reserved the empire, as a reward for the service done to divine justice by this Flavius and his son Titus. Later on, Titus will see and acknowledge it,'—that it is not Rome, but God himself, who conducts the war and commands the legions. Moses, ages before, had seen the nation, whose tongue Israel could not understand, rushing, like an eagle, upon his chosen people and punishing them for their sins. But no sooner has the Roman eagle reached the land where he is to work the vengeance, than he finds himself visibly checked by a superior power; and his spirit of rapine is held back, or urged on, just precisely as the prophets of the Lord of hosts had spoken it was to be. The piercing eye of that eagle, as eager to obey as it was to fight, almost seemed to be scrutinising the Scriptures. It was actually there, that he found the order of the day for the terrible years of the campaign.3

As an illustration of this, we may mention what happened in the year 66. The army of Syria, under the leadership of Cestius Gallus, had encamped under the walls of Jerusalem. Our Lord intended this to be nothing more, in His plan, than a warning to his faithful ones, which he had promised them when foretelling the events that were to happen. He had said : When ye shall hear of wars, and seditions, and rumours of wars, be not terrified; these things must first come to pass; but the end is not yet presently. But, when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed about with an army, then know, that the desolation thereof is at hand. The Jews had been, for years, angering Rome by their 1 Jos. De bell. vi. 9. 2 Deut. xxviii. 49. 3 St. Luke, xxi. 22. St. Matth. xxiv. 6; St. Luke, xxi. 9. 5 Ibid. 20, 21.