Page:Meditations For Every Day In The Year.djvu/167

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chief priests and to the scribes." He had communicated to them this knowledge before, but not so explicitly. He made frequent mention of His passion, though so terrible in itself, because He always bore it in His mind; and even amidst all the glories of His transfiguration He treated " of His decease, which He should accomplish in Jerusalem." (Luke ix. 31.) Endeavor, on your part, to entertain a pious and feeling recollection of this passion; it will console your suffering Saviour, and induce Him to bestow on you all the treasures of His redemption.

III. " And they understood none of these things." (Luke xviii. 34.) The Apostles were as yet worldly men, and bent upon honors and preferments. There was a " strife among them, which of them should seem to be greater." (Luke xxii. 24.) They consequently understood nothing of the mystery of the Cross, or of the advantages resulting from humility and patience under reproach. Divest yourself of all undue worldly affections if you desire to comprehend the divine secrets of the Cross. Ponder the severe rebuke which Christ gave to St. Peter when He dissuaded him from suffering the ignominy of His passion: "Get thee behind me, Satan; thou art a scandal unto me, because thou savorest not the things that are of God, but the things that are of men." (Matt. xvi. 23.) Give the same answer to selflove when it attempts to dissuade you from imitating


TUESDAY.

Christ's Entrance into Jerusalem.— I.

I. When our Lord approached Jerusalem, He sent two of His disciples to bring Him an ass, on which He intended to ride into the city. On other occasions He was