Two blind men [one of whom was] Bartimeus the blind man, the son of Timeus, sitting by the wayside, heard that Jesus passed by, and they cried out, saying: O Lord, thou Son of David, have mercy on us. The multitude rebuked them that they should hold their peace; but they cried out the more: O Lord, thou Son of David, have mercy on us. Jesus stood, and called them, and said: What will ye that I do to ye? They say to him: Lord, that our eyes be opened. And Jesus having compassion on them, touched their eyes. Immediately they saw, and followed him."

CHAPTER LI.

MARY POURS PRECIOUS OINTMENT OVER JESUS CHRIST.-MURMURING OF JUDAS AND THE APOSTLES.-DESIGN OF KILLING LAZARUS.—TRIUMPHANT ENTRY INTO JERUSALEM.-VEXATION OF THE PHARISEES.

In the mean time the day was approaching when the Lamb of God was to wash out with his blood the sins of the world, and that innocent victim advanced towards the altar whereon he was to be immolated by the hands of sinners. Continuing his journey towards Jerusalem, he (a)" came to Bethania, where Lazarus had been dead, whom Jesus raised to life." This small town which lay upon his road was only a little more than one league from the capital. Jesus arrived there "six days before the pasch (1)," not including the (a) St. John, xii. 1–6; St. Mark, xiv. 3; St. Matthew, xxvi. 7.

(1) Saint Matthew, before he commences the following narrative, represents Jesus Christ as saying to his disciples: You know that after two days shall be the pasch. Some have sought to infer from thence that there were two anointings-one occurring two days before the passover, and the other six days previous, as Saint John expressly states. When Saint Matthew sets about relating the betrayal by Judas, which was planned, in point of fact, two days before the passover, he takes up previously the narrative of the anointing which suggested the design to the traitor. We can conceive that he might have done this, although this fact occurred four days before. Lastly, there are certain circumstances which prove these two to be one and the same occurrence. These are principally, the murmurings of Judas and the disciples,

day of his arrival, nor that of the passover. Hence it was on a Friday; and as he only arrived towards evening, when the repose of the Sabbath had already commenced, this was a reason for his tarrying there. Those who loved him joyfully availed themselves of this occasion to manifest the tender attachment which they entertained towards his person. "They made him a supper there in the house of Simon the leper (2)." Apparently this was one of those public entertainments at which women were not allowed to be present. Thus, "Martha served, but Lazarus was one of them that were at table with him." As for Mary, she again chose the better part, and testified her love in a manner that was peculiar to herself. "She took a pound of ointment of right spikenard (3), of great price, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair; and

What proba

and the Saviour's answer, which are in both instances exactly the same. bility is there that the disciples would have repeated, four days subsequently, that which had drawn down upon them a reprimand so severe, and which they could not have so soon forgotten?

(2) It is thought that this is the same individual as Simon the Pharisee, at whose house this sinful woman, who, as we have said, was no other than Mary, watered with her tears the feet of the Saviour. He is termed Simon the leper, perhaps because, in point of fact, he had had the leprosy, and that Jesus Christ had cured him of it; for he was not then laboring under it, since he was allowed to eat in their company. Or, perhaps this may have been a family name, derived from the fact of some one of his ancestors having been a leper, as we find amongst ourselves people denominated the red-haired, the blind-eyed, the hump-backed, the deaf, without having themselves any of these corporal blemishes. This fashion of speech, they made him a supper there, has occasioned the question to be mooted, whether it was Simon who was at the expense of providing it. Most probably it was he, although several doubt whether it was not Lazarus rather, and his two sisters, or even the inhabitants of Bethania, who were singularly attached to the Saviour, and this latter supposition is not impossible. In this case we should say that they had selected the house of Simon the leper as being the most suitable, and that apparently because it was the most spacious.

(3) In the text, pistici. This word, which is derived from the Greek, appears, in its proper meaning, to signify faithful: here it means pure ointment, which does not deceive, because it is not adulterated; for every precious liquor is liable to be adulterated. It is in this sense that the Latin authors sometimes term it pure and genuine ointment— nardum purum et sincerum. Saint Mark makes use of the term spicati, which signifies ointment extracted from the ear, because the best ointment, in point of fact, was extracted from the ear of this plant, the quality of that extracted from the leaves being very inferior. The word "excellent" expresses all this in French. The Douay version translates it "right spikenard."

breaking the alabaster box (4), she poured it out upon his head (5) as he was at table, and the house was filled with the odor of the ointment. Then one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, he that was about to betray him, said: Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence, and given to the poor? Now he said this, not because he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief, and having the purse, carried the things that were put therein." However, the reason was specious, and the disciples, who believed it to be sincere, were induced by a spirit of charity to make the same objection. (a) "There were some had indignation within themselves," after his example, "and said," like him: "Why was this waste of the ointment made? For this ointment might have been sold for more than three hundred pence, and given to the poor; and they murmured against her."

She acted right, and they spoke wrongfully. "And Jesus knowing it,” wished at the same time to instruct them and to defend her. Thus, without waiting to unmask the hypocrisy of the traitor, whose reputation he carefully screened until the very end, he contented himself with refuting the reason which Judas had first advanced, and by which the others had allowed themselves to be hurried away. He "said to them," therefore, addressing his speech to all: "Why trouble this woman? She hath wrought a good work upon me (6). For the poor you have always with you, and whensoever

do

you

(a) St. Mark, xiv. 4-9; St. Matthew, xxvi. 10-12.

(4) This vase was of alabaster: to break it so as to pour out the very last drop was the highest honor of the kind which could be tendered.

(5) Saint Matthew and Saint Mark speak only of the anointing of the head, and Saint John speaks only of that of the feet: the first anointing was in use, and not the second. Mary performed both; but the two evangelists only state what was usually done, and the third what was peculiar to this saintly woman, and what appears to have been specially the result of her devotion.

(6) There are times wherein even the sacred vases must be sold in order to feed the poor: such are times of famine. In ordinary times it is always good, and sometimes even better, to make one's pious gifts subservient to the honoring of Jesus Christ by the decoration of his altars. We know that every one does not entertain this opinion; but it is that of Jesus Christ, and the contrary opinion has Judas for its author.

If it be true, as every one admits, that the decorum and splendor of external worship

you will you may do them good; but me you have not always. What she had she hath done; for she, in pouring this ointment upon my body, hath done it for my burial (7); she is come beforehand to anoint my body for the burial. Amen, I say to you, wheresoever this Gospel shall be preached in the whole world, that also which she hath done shall be told for a memorial of her (8).”

The prophecy is fulfilled, and the fame of this action has resounded to the very extremities of the earth. Those who censured it at By consigning it in after

first have been themselves its heralds. times to the holy books, they have immortalized its memory. All ages have known and shall know it: the most eloquent tongues have eulogized and shall eulogize it, even until the end of time. The more inconsiderable the thing may appear in itself, the more miraculous is the accomplishment of the prophecy which promises her this dazzling and eternal glory; and it is with reason that this accomplish

serves to foster and to augment piety, we must infer from thence that to contribute thereto is giving spiritual alms.

(7) We read in Saint John, "Let her alone, that she may keep it against the day of my burial," which can only be understood in this manner: Do not be displeased at her having kept this perfume for my burial; for Jesus Christ could not say that they should let her retain for a future purpose what he then approved of her pouring out. This sense which we give to the words of Saint John is the sense of the two other evangelists, Saint Matthew and Saint Mark, and it is by reference to them that we explain the passage. The Saviour says that Mary had kept this perfume for his burial, inasmuch as he was upon the point of dying. He knew that after his death she would wish to embalm him, but that she should be prevented from doing so by his resurrection. Now, he wished that she should have the consolation of having rendered this duty to him before his death, since she could not do it afterwards: it is thus that she has embalmed his body beforehand. It is thought that this idea was suggested to her by the Holy Ghost, but we are ignorant whether the Holy Ghost had also revealed to her the entire mystery.

(8) The most vaunted exploits of heroes have never been celebrated so highly nor yet so universally as this action of Mary. The glory which she reaps from it upon earth is but the shadow of that which she shall eternally reap in heaven. Thus shall be honored whom the King of Glory hath a mind to honor (Esther, vi.). But he shall only wish to honor what shall have been done for his glory: all the rest shall be only cause of reproof. The lustre of brilliant talents, of valor, and of conquests shall be buried in the darkness of the abyss. To the darkness of an obscure but innocent life shall succeed a glory more dazzling than the stars of the firmament. Such is the object of the ambition of the saints, wherefore they may be regarded as the most ambitious, whilst at the same time they are the most humble of men.

ment has been regarded as one of the best proofs of the truth of religion.

We have this proof, which the Jews had not. They had another, which we likewise have, but which was much more striking for them than for us, inasmuch as we are always much more struck by what we see that was the resurrection of Lazarus, which occurred in a place and at a time which served to heighten the lustre of this miracle. It took place, as it were, at the very gates of Jerusalem, and at a time when the approach of the passover had attracted to that great city an innumerable multitude of Jews, of all nations under the sun. How ardently must they have desired to see a man resuscitated within a few days! and how much must this desire have been increased by the news which had just been spread abroad, that the author of this miracle had reached Bethania, and that a person might with ease see these two such wonderful men speak and eat together! (a)" A great multitude, therefore, of the Jews knew that he was there; and they came not for Jesus' sake only, but that they might see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead."

This sight produced the effect which might be expected, viz., it brought conviction to every mind. Those whose hearts were good yielded at once to the evidence before them, and became faithful. Those whose hearts were wicked and hardened recognized the truth, in the only way by which the wicked do recognize truth which is odious to them, to wit, by an accumulation of rage, and a new series of crimes. They decided upon annihilating evidence which they could not contest; and in order that not a single vestige thereof should remain upon the earth, after having resolved, as we have said, upon the death of Jesus, "the chief priests thought to kill Lazarus also, because many of the Jews, by reason of him, went away, and believed in Jesus."

The most brilliant day of the Saviour's mortal life, that day on which he was to be publicly acknowledged as the Messiah and as the King of Israel, was at last arrived. It concerned his glory that the bulk of the people should proceed so far as that recognition; and if, in the end, that same majority should repudiate him, the nation, whilst acting thus, must stand forth in glaring opposition to itself. For he (a) St. John, xii. 9.