Thursday the Octave of the Ascension

promis8um Patris in nos, the Spirit of truth, promised

Spiritum veritatis, alleluia, by the Father, alleluia.

We have already seen how the Ascension of our Emmanuel won Him the empire over our understanding: it was the triumph of faith. The same mystery gave Him a second victory: the victory of love, whioh makes Him reign in our hearts. For eighteen hundred years, in whom have men believed, firmly and universally, except Jesus P In what have men agreed, except the dogmas of faith? What countless errors has this divine torch dispelled ! What light has it given to the nations that received it! And in what darkness has it left those which rejected it after having once received it !

In like manner, no one has been loved as our Jesus has been, ever since the day of His Ascension ; no one is so loved now or ever will be, as He. But that He might thus win our love He had to leave us, just as He had to do in order to secure our faith. Let us return to our text, that we may get deeper into the beautiful mystery. * It is expedient for you that I go ! ' 1 Before the Ascension, the disciples were

1 St. John, xvi. 7.

OCTAVE OF THE ASCENSION as inconstant in their love as they were in their faith. Jesus could not trust them. But no sooner had He left them, than they became warmly devoted to Him. Instead of complaining of their bereavement, they returned full of joy to Jerusalem. The thought of their master's triumph made them forget their own loss, and they hastened, as He bade them, to the oenacle, where they were to be endued with power from on high. Watch these men during the subsequent years ; examine what their conduct was from that time to the day of their death ; count, if you oan, their aots of devotedness in the arduous labour of preaohing the Gospel ; and say, if any other motive than love for their master could have enabled them to do what they did. With what cheerfulness did they drink His chalice ! 1 With what raptures did they hail His cross, when they saw it being prepared for themselves !

But let us not stop at these first witnesses ; they had seen Jesus, and heard Him, and touched Him. 2 Let us turn to those who came after them, and knew Him by faith only; let us see if the love, which burned in the hearts of the apostles, has been kept up by the Christians of the past eighteen centuries. Inrst of all, there is the contest of martyrdom, which has never been altogether interrupted since the Gospel began to be preached. The opening campaign lasted three hundred years. What was it that induced so many millions to suffer, not only patiently but gladly, every torture that cruelty could devise P Was it not their ambition to testify how much they loved their Jesus? Let us not forget how these frightful ordeals were cheerfully gone through, not only by men hardened to suffering, but also by delicate women, by young girls, yea even by little ohildren. Let us oall to mind the sublime answers they gave to their 1 St. Matth. zz. 23; 3 1 St. John, i. 1, persecutors, whereby they evinced their generous ardour to repay the death of Jesus by their own. The martyrs of our own times, in China, Japan, the Corea, and elsewhere, have repeated, without knowing it, the very same words to their judges and executioners as were addressed to the proconsuls of the third and fourth centuries by the martyrs of those days.

Yes, our divine King who has ascended into heaven, is loved as no other ever was or could be. Think of those millions of generous souls, who, that they might be exclusively His, have despised all earthly alfections, and would know no other love than His. Every age, — even our own, in spite of all its miseries, — has produced souls of this stamp, and God alone knows how many.

Our Emmanuel has been, and to the end of time will ever be, loved on this earth. Have we not reason to say so, when we consider how many there have always been, even among the wealthiest ones of the world, who, in order that they might bear a resemblance to the Babe of Bethlehem, have given up everything they possessed? What an irresistible proof of the same truth we have in the countless sacrifices of self-love and pride, made with a view to imitate the obedience of the God-Man on earth ! And what else but an ardent love of Jesus oould have prompted those heroic acts of mortification and penanoe, whereby the sufferings of His Passion have been emulated, and, as the apostle says, filled up P 1

But grand as all this is, it was not enough to satisfy man's devoted love of His absent Lord. Jesus had said: ' Whatsoever you do to the least of your brethren, you do it to Me.' 2 Love is ever quick at catching the meaning of our Redeemer's words. It took advantage of these, and saw in them another

1 CoJobs. i. 24 T * gt. Matth. xxv. 40 T

OCTAVE OF THE ASCEN8ION means for reaohing Jesus,— reaching Him through the poor. And as the worst of poverties is the ignorance of divine truths, because it would make a man poor and miserable for eternity, therefore have there risen up in every age zealous apostles, who, bidding farewell to home and fatherland, have carried the light of the Gospel to them that sat in darkness and in the shadow of death. They heeded not the fatigues or the perils of such a mission: what cared they for all these things, if they could but make Jesus known and honoured and loved by one poor savage or Hindoo?

But what of those other poor ones, the sick, in whom Jesus suffers? Fear not: He is too muoh loved to be forgotten there. Once let the Church be free enough to develop her plans of charity, and there will be an institute of relief for every class of sufferers. The poor, the sick, all will be cared for and comforted. There will be vocations to charity, to meet every want; and women, too, urged by the love of their divine Lord, will deem it an honour to be the nurses and attendants of a suffering or dying Lazarus. The world itself is in admiration at their heroism ; and though it knows not the divine principle whioh originates these charitable institutions, yet is it obliged to acknowledge the extraordinary good they effect.

But man's observation can only reach the exterior ; the interior is the far grander reality, and it is beyond his notice. What we have said so far is, therefore, but a very feeble description of the ardour wherewith our Lord Jesus Christ has been, and still is, loved on this earth. Let us picture to ourselves the millions of Christians who have lived since the first foundation of the Churoh. Many, it is true, have had the misfortune to be unfaithful to the object of their existence ; but what an immense number have loved Jesi}s with all their heart and soul and strength!

Some have never flagged in their love ; others have needed a conversion from vice or tepidity, returned to Him, and slept in the kiss of peaoe. Count, if you can, the virtuous actions, the heroic sacrifices, of those countless devoted servants of His, who are to be arrayed before Him in the valley of Josaphat. His memory alone can hold and tell the stupendous total of what has been done. This well-nigh infinite aggregate of holy deeds and thoughts, from the seraphic ardour of the greatest saint down to the cup of cold water given in the name of the Redeemer, what is it all but the ceaseless hymn of our earth to its beloved absent One, its never-forgotten Jesus? Who is the man, how dear soever his memory may be, for whom we would be devoted, or sacrifice our interests, or lay down our lives, especially if he had been ten or twenty ages gone from us? Who is that great Dead, the sound of whose name can make the hearts of men vibrate with love, in every country, and in every generation ? It is Jesus, who died, who rose again, who ascended into heaven.

But we humbly oonfess, 0 Jesus, that it was necessary for us that Thou shouldst go from us, in order that our faith might soar up to Thee in heaven, and that our hearts, being thus enlightened, might burn with Thy love. Enjoy thine Ascension, 0 Thou King of angels and of men ! We, in our exile, will feast on the fruits of the great mystery, waiting for it to be fulfilled in ourselves. Enlighten those poor blind infidels, whose pride will not permit them to recognize Thee, notwithstanding these most evident proofs. They continue in their errors concerning Thee, though they have such superabundant testimony of Thy Divinity in the faith and love Thou hast received in every age. The homage offered Thee by the universe, represented, as it has ever been, by the chief nations pf the earth and by the most virtuous and learyied

OCTAVE OF THE ASCENSION men of each generation, is as nought in the eyes of these unbelievers. Who are they, to be compared with such a cloud of faithful witnesses ? Have mercy on them, 0 Lord ! save them from their pride ; then will they unite with us in saying: 4 It was indeed expedient for this world to lose Thy visible presence, 0 Jesus ! for never were Thy greatness, Thy power, and Thy Divinity, so recognized and loved, as when Thou didst depart from us. Glory, then, be to the mystery of Thine Ascension, whereby, as the psalmist prophesied, Thou reoeivedst gifts, that Thou mightest bestow them upon men V 1

We will take a hymn to-day from the Greek Church: it is the one she sings in honour of our Redeemer's triumph, at her evening Office of Ascension day.

HYMN

( In Asmmptione Domini, ad magnum Vespertinum.)

Assumptus est in ccelos Dominus, ut mundo mitteret Paraclitum. Coeli praeparaverunt thronum ejus, et nubes ascensum ejus. Mirantur angeli, supra seipsos hominem videntes. Pater suscipit quern habet in sinu coaeternum. Spiritus sanctus omnibus angelis suis imperat: Attollite portas, principes, vestras. Omnes gentes plaudite manibus, quia ascendit , Christus ubi erat prius.

Domine, Assumptione tua obstupuerunt Cherubim,

The Lord ascended into heaven, that he might send the Paraclete into this world. The heavens prepared his throne, and the clouds his Ascension. The angels are lost in wonder at seeing man exalted above them. The Father receives him who is in his own bosom, his co-eternal Son. The Holy Ghost speaks this bidding to all his angels: 4 Lift up your gates, 0 ye princes! ' Clap your hands, all ye people, for Christ hath ascended to the heaven where he has ever been.

The Cherubim were in amazement at thine Assump-

1 Ps. lxvii. conspicientia te Deum in nubibus ascendentem, super ipsa sedentem; et glorificamus te, quoniam benigna est misericordia tua: Gloria tibi.

In montibus Sanctis tuas videntes exaltationes, Christe, splendor gloriae Patris, f ulgentem vultus tui speciem iterum atque iterum celebramus; tuas adoramus passiones, resurrectionem honoramus, inclytam glorificantes Assumptionem: miserere nobis.

Domine, quando te in nubibus elevatum viderunt apostoli, cum gemitibus lacrymarum tristitia repleti, Christe vit® dator, lamentantes dicebant: Domine, utpote misericors, ne derelinquas nos orphanos, quos propter clementiam dilexisti servos tuos; sed mitte, sicut promisisti nobis, sanctissimum Spiritum tuum, illuminantem animas nostras.

Domine, dispensationis impleto mysterio, tuos assumens discipulos, in montem Olivarum tecum ducebas; et ecce firmamentum coeli intrasti. Qui propter me egenus sicut ego f actus es, et illuc ascendisti unde non es separatus, sanctissimum tuum mitte Spiritum, illuminantem animas nostras.

A sinu paterno non sepa- tion, O Lord; they beheld thee ascending upon the clouds, thee their God, who sittest upon them. We glorify thee, for compassionate is thy mercy : Glory be to thee!

Seeing thy risings upon the holy mountains, 0 Christ, thou brightness of the Father's glory! we tire not in praise of the brilliant beauty of thy Face. We adore thy Passion, we honour thy Resurrection, we glorify thy noble Assumption: have mercy on us!

When the apostles saw thee, 0 Lord, raised up to the clouds, they sighed, and wept, and were sad. Thus to thee, 0 Christ, thou giver of life, did they speak their sorrow: i Thou art merciful, 0 Lord! then, leave not orphans us thy servants, whom, in thy goodness, thou hast loved; but send upon us, as thou hast promised, thy most holy Spirit, who will enlighten our souls.'

Having, 0 Lord, fulfilled the mystery of the dispensation, thou didst lead thy disciples to Mount Olivet; when, lo! thou ascendest into the firmament of heaven. 0 thou, that for my sake, wast made poor as I, and ascendest to the realm which thou hadst never left, send thy most holy Spirit to enlighten our souls!

Living as Man with them.

OCTAVE OF THE ASCENSION ratus, dulcissime Jesu, et cum iis qui sunt in terra sicut homo conversatus, hodie a monte Olivarum assumptus es in gloria, et lapsam naturam nostram pro misericordia elevans, cum Patre sedere fecisti. Unde ccelestia incorporeorum at gmina, prodigium stupentia, admiratione stabant attonita ; et tremore comprehensa tuum erga homines amorem magnificabant. Cum quibus et nos in terra existentes, tuam ad nos descensionem et a nobis Assumptionem glorificantes, rogamus dicentes: Qui discipulos et genitricem tuam Deiparam infinito gaudio in tua Assumptione replevisti, nos quoque electorum tuorum laetitia dignare, precibus eorum, propter magnam misericordiam tuam. that were on earth, thou, sweetest Jesus! wast not separated from thy Father's bosom. On this day, thou wast taken up in glory from Mount Olivet ; and mercifully raising up our fallen nature thou placedst it on thy Father's throne. The heavenly host of angels stood in astonished admiration at the sight of the prodigy; and, seized with awe, they celebrated in songs of praise thy love for man. Together with them, we also, who dwell on earth, do glorify thy coming down unto us and thine ascending up from us, and thus do we pray: 0 thou that, in thine Assumption, filledst the disciples and thy Mother with infinite joy; vouchsafe, through their prayers, and thine own great mercy, to give us a share in the joy of thine elect.

As a close to this glorious ootave, we offer the eighth and last of the beautiful prayers given by the Mozarabio breviary in honour of our Lord's Ascension.

PRAYER

Christe Jesu, terribilis Deus noster, et rex noster, cujus in nativitate cum pastoribus angeli gloriam detulerunt; cui devicto mortis auctore, omnes gentes manibus cordibusque plauserunt; quern trophaea victricia reportantem ad aethe-

O Christ Jesus! our God of dread majesty, and our King! at whose birth the angels and shepherds gave glory; at whose victory over the author of death all nations clapped their hands and were filled with joy; at whose ascending, with thy trophies, into heaven, the apos-

PASCHAL TIMK ra, apostolorum est fides prosecute: fac nos redemptionis nostra et Ascensionis tu» mysteria fidei jubilatione cantare; et cum principibus populi Deo Abraham fideli famulatu placere. Amen. ties were perfected in their faith: grant that we, also, with fervent faith, may sing our canticles of praise in honour of the mysteries of our Redemption and of thine Ascension; and that, with the princes of thy people, we may, by our faithful service, be well -pleasing to the God of Abraham. Amen.

FBIDAY

AFTER THE OCTAVE OF THE ASCENSION

O Hex glorias, Domine O King of glory, Lord of virtutum, qui triumphator hosts, who didst this day as- hodie super omnes coelos cend in triumph above all the ascendisti, ne derelinquas heavens! leave us not orphans, nos orphanos; sed mitte pro- but send upon us the Spirit of missum Patris in nos, Spiri- truth, promised by the Father, turn veritatis, alleluia. alleluia.

The octave is over; the mystery of the glorious Asoension is completed ; and our Jesus is never again to be seen upon this earth, until He comes to judge the living and the dead. We are to see Him only by faith ; we are to approach Him only by love. iSuoh is our probation ; and if we go well through it, we shall, at last, be permitted to enter within the veil, as a reward for our faith and love.

Let us not complain of our lot; rather let us rejoice in that hope, whioh, as the apostle says, oonfoundeth not. 1 And how can we be otherwise than hopeful, when we remember that Jesus has promised to abide with us even to the consummation of the world? 2 He will not appear visibly ; but He will be always really with us. How oould He abandon His bride the Church ? And are not we the children of this His beloved bride ?

But this is not all: Jesus does something more for us. One of His last words was this, which shows us how dearly He loved us: *I will not leave you or-

1 Bom. v. 5. * St. Matta. xx?iii. 20,

PASCHAL timk pliaus.' 1 When He used those other words, upon whioh we have been meditating during the last few days, ' It is expedient for you that I go', He added: * For if I go not, the Paraolete will not oome to you.' 2 This Paraolete, this comforter, is the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of the Father and of the Son ; He is to descend upon us a few short hours henoe ; He will abide with us, making us feel His presence by His works, until Jesus shall again come from heaven that He may take His elect from a world which is to be condemned to eternal torments for its crimes. But the Holy Ghost is not to come until He be sent ; and as the sacred text implies, He is not to be sent, until ' Jesus shall have been glorified.' 3 He is coming that He may continue the great work, which was to be begun by the Son of God, and carried on by Him as far as the eternal decrees had ordained. 4

Jesus laboured in this work, and then entered into His rest, taking with Him our human nature, which, by assuming it, He had exalted to the divine. The Holy Ghost is not to assume our humanity ; but He is coming to console us during J esus' absence ; He is coming to complete the work of our sanctification. It was He that produced those prodigies which we have been admiring: the faith and love of man in and for Jesus. Yes, it is the Holy Ghost who produoes faith in the soul; it is the Holy Ghost who i pours the charity of God into our hearts.' 5

So, then, we are about to witness fresh miraoles of God's love for man ! A few hours henoe, the reign of the Holy Ghost will have begun on earth. There is but the interim of this one short day, for to-morrow evening the solemnity of Pentecost will be upon us. Let us then linger in our admiration of our

1 St. John, xiv. 18. 3 St. John, vii. 39.

2 Ibid. xvi. 7. 4 Ibid. xvii. 4.

^Bonat. y. 5.

#BIDA* A#TEB TflB OCtfAVB 01* THE ASCENSION 2t>5

Emmanuel. The holy liturgy has daily gladdened us with His presenoe, beginning with those happy weeks of Advent, when we were awaiting the day on which the Virgin Mother was to give us the ever blessed Fruit. And now He is gone ! O sweet memories of the intimacy we enjoyed with our Jesus, when we were permitted to follow Him day by day, we have you treasured within us ! Yea, the holy Spirit Himself is coming to impress you still deeper on our hearts; for Jesus told us that, when the Paraclete should oome to us, He would help us to remember all that we have heard, and seen, and felt in the company of the God who deigned to live our life that so He might teach us to live His for all eternity. 1

Neither let us forget how, when quitting this His earthly home, — where He was conceived in Mary's womb, where He was born, where He spent the three and thirty years of His mortal life, where He died, where He rose from the grave, and from which He ascended to the right hand of His Father — He left upon it an outward mark of His love. He left the impress of His sacred feet upon Mount Olivet, as though He felt separating Himself from the earth to whioh so many years and mysteries had endeared Him. St. Augustine, St. Paulinus of Nola, Saint Optatus, Sulpicius Severus, and the testimony of subsequent ages, assure us of the prodigy.

These venerable authorities tell us that when the Roman army, under Titus, was encamped on Mount Olivet while besieging Jerusalem, divine Providence proteoted these holy marks, the farewell memorial left by our Lord to His blessed Mother, to His disoiples, and to us: it is here that He stood when last seen on earth, it is here that we shall again see Him when He oomes to judge mankind. Neither the rude

1 St. John, xiv. 26.

PaschaL time tramp of the soldiers, nor the ponderous chariots, nor the horses' hoofs, were permitted to efface or injure the sacred footprints. Tes, it was on this very mount, forty years after the Ascension, that the Roman banner was first unfurled, when the time of God's vengeance came upon the city of deicide. Let us call to mind, firstly, how the angels announced that the same Jesus, who had just ascended, would again come to judge us ; and secondly, how our Lord Himself had compared the two awful events, the destruction of Jerusalem, and the end of the world. These sacred marks of Jesus' feet are, therefore, the memorial of His affectionate farewell, and the prophecy of His return as our terrible Judge. At the foot of the hill lies the valley of Josaphat, the valley of the judgement ; and the prophet Zaoharias has said: ' His feet shall stand, in that day, upon the mount of Olives, which is over against Jerusalem, towards the east.' 1

Let us humbly give admission to the feeling of fear, wherewith our Lord thus inspires us, that we may be more solidly grounded in His love ; and let us affectionately venerate the spot on whioh our Emmanuel left the impress of His feet. The holy empress, St. Helen, was entrusted with the sublime mission of finding and honouring the objects and plaoes that our Redeemer had sanctified by His visible presence. Mount Olivet was sure to elicit her devoted zeal. She ordered a magnificent churoh of circular form to be built upon it; but when the builders came to pave the church with rich marble, they were prevented, by a miraculous power, from covering the spot on which were imprinted the holy footmarks. The marble broke into a thousand pieces, which struck them on the faoe; and after several attempts, they resolved to leave that part of the rock unoovered.

1 Zach. xiv, 4.

#rida¥ a* rtitt THE OCTAVE OP Ttffi AsCEfcStOtt 257

This fact is attested by many holy and creditable authors, several of whom lived in the fourth century, when it occurred. But our Lord would do more than keep open to our view these His last footprints, which seem to be ever saying to us: * Tour Jesus is but now gone, and will soon return.' He would, moreover, have them teach us that we are to follow Him to heaven. When the time came for roofing the church, the men found that thtey had not power to do it ; the stones fell as often as they attempted to put them up, and the building was left roofless, as though it had to be our reminder that the way opened by Jesus on the summit of Mount Olivet is ever open for us, and that we must be ever aspiring to rejoin our divine master in heaven.

In his first sermon for the feast of the Asoension, St. Bernardino of Siena relates an edifying story, which is in keeping with the reflections we have been making. He tells us that a pious nobleman, desirous of visiting the places that had witnessed the mysteries of our Redemption, passed the seas. Having reached Palestine, he would begin his pilgrimage by visiting Nazareth, and there, on the very spot where the Word was made Flesh, he gave thanks to the infinite love that had drawn our God from heaven to earth, in order that He might save us from perdition. The next visit was to Bethlehem, where our pilgrim venerated the place of our Saviour's birth. As he knelt on the spot where Mary adored her new-born Babe, the tears rolled down his cheeks, and, as St. Francis of Sales says (for he also has related this affeoting story), ' he kissed the dust whereon the divine Infant was first laid.' 1

Our devout pilgrim, who bravely travelled the country in every direotion, went from Bethlehem to the banks of the Jordan; he stopped near Bethabara, 1 Treatise on the Love of Qod. Book vii. ohap. xii.

PA1CH TIMS. xix. S at a little plaoe oalled Bethany, where St. John baptized Christ. The better to honour the mystery, he went down into the bed of the river, and entered with much devotion into the water, thinking within himself how that stream had boen sanctified by its contact with Jesus' sacred Body. Thence he passed to the desert, for he would follow, as nearly as might be, the footsteps of the Son of God ; he contemplated the soene of our Master's fafcting, temptation, and victory. He next went on towards Thabor ; he ascended to the top, that he might honour the mystery of the Transfiguration, whereby our Saviour gave to three of His disoiples a glimpse of His infinite glory.

At length, the good pilgrim entered Jerusalem. He visited the cenacle; and we can imagine the tender devotion wherewith he meditated on all the great mysteries that had been celebrated there, such as Jesus' washing His disciples' feet, and the institution of the Euoharist. Being resolved to follow his Saviour in each station, he passed the brook Cedron, and came to the garden of Gethsemani, where his heart well-nigh broke at the thought of the bloody sweat endured by the divine Victim of our sins. The remembrance of Jesus' being manacled, fettered, and dragged to Jerusalem, next filled his mind. ' He at once starts off,' says the holy bishop of Geneva, whom we must allow to tell the rest of the story : * treading in the footsteps of his beloved Jesus ; he sees Him dragged to and fro, to Annas, to Oaiphas, to Pilate, to Herod : buffetted, scoffed at, spit upon, crowned with thorns, made a show of to the mob, sentenced to death, laden with a cross, and meeting, as He carries it, with His heart-broken Mother and the weeping daughters of Jerusalem.

The good pilgrim mounts to the top of Calvary, where he sees in spirit the cross lying on the ground, and our Saviour stretohed upon it, while the execu- tfRIDA? AFTER TltE OCfAVE Otf l?fiE ASCENSION tioners cruelly nail Him to it by His hands and feet. He sees them raise the cross and the Crucified in the air, and the Blood gashing from the wounds of the sacred Body. He looks at the poor Mother, who is pierced through with the sword of sorrow ; he raises up his eyes to the Crucified, and listens with most loving attention to His seven words ; and, at last, sees Him dying, and dead, and His side opened with a spear, so that the sacred Heart is made visible. He watohes how He is taken down from the cross, and carried to the tomb ; and as he treads along the path all stained with his Redeemer's Blood, he sheds floods of tears. He enters the sepulchre, and buries his heart side by side with his Jesus' Corpse.

After this, he rises again together with Him ; he visits Emmaus, and thinks on all that happened between Jesus and the two disciples. Finally, he returns to Mount Olivet, the scene of the Ascension; and seeing there the last footprints of his dear Lord, he falls down and covers them with untiring kisses. Then, like an archer stretohing his bowstring to give his arrow speed, he concentrates into one intense act the whole power of his love, and stands with his eyes and hands lifted up towards heaven: " Jesus I" he says, " 0 my sweet Jesus ! where else am I now to go on earth seeking thee P Ah Jesus ! my dearest Jesus, let this heart of mine follow thee yonder ! " Saying this, his heart kept darting upwards to heaven, for the brave archer had taken too sure an aim, to miss his divine object.' 1

St. Bernadine of Siena tells us, that the companions and attendants of the noble pilgrim, seeing that he was sinking under the vehemenoe of his desire, hastened to call a physician, that they might

1 Treatise on the Love of God, Book yii. chap. xii. t»ASC&AL TtME bring him to himself again. But it was too late : the soul had fled to her Gtod, leaving us an example of the love that the mere contemplation of the divine mysteries can produce in man's heart. And have not we been following these same mysteries, under the guidance of the holy liturgy ? God grant that we may now keep within us the Jesus whom we have had so truly given to us ! And may the holy Spirit, by His coming visit, maintain and intensify in our souls the resemblance to our divine King which we have thus received !

In order the more worthily to celebrate the great mystery which closed yesterday, and the equally glorious one which begins to-morrow, we place between the two the sublime canticle, wherein the royal psalmist prophesies both the Ascension and the Christian Pentecost. The sixty-seventh Psalm (composed for the reception of the Ark of the Covenant on Mount Sion) is, as St. Paul himself has interpreted it, 1 a prophecy of Jesus' triumphant Ascension into heaven. It begins by oelebrating the victory gained by Christ over His enemies by His Resurrection ; it proceeds to speak of the favours bestowed upon the Christian people; it shows us the combats and triumphs of the Church ; in a word, it puts before us the commencement of the work by our Emmanuel, and its consummation by the Holy Ghost. With a view to facilitating the understanding of this mysterious psalm, we give a commentary rather than a translation ; and in doing so, we offer to our readers the interpretation given by the early fathers.

Exsurgat Deus, et dissi- Let God, the Man-God arise, pentur inimici ejus: et fu- and let his enemies be scat-

PSALM 67

1 Eph. iy. 8. giant, qui oderunt eum, a facie ejus.

Sicut deficit fumus, deficiant: sicut fluit cera a facie ignis, sic pereant peccatores a facie Dei.

Et justi epulentur, et exsultent in conspectu Dei: et delectentur in lsBtitia.

Cantate Deo, psalmum dicite nomini ejus: iter facite ei qui ascendit super occasum: Dominus nomen Mi.

Exsultate in conspectu ejus, turbabuntur a facie ejus, patris orphanorum et judicis viduarum.

Deus in loco sancto suo: Deus qui inhabitare facit unius moris in domo.

Qui educit vinctos in fortitudine, similiter eos, qui exasperant, qui habitant in sepulchris.

Deus, quum egredereris in conspectu populi tui, quum pertransires in deserto: tered: and let them that hate him flee from before his face.

As smoke vanisheth, so let them vanish away: as wax melteth before the fire, so let the wicked perish at the pre- t sence of God.

And let the just feast, and rejoice before God, and be delighted with gladness.

0 ye that have been redeemed, sing to God, sing a psalm to his name! make a way for him who ascendeth upon the west, as on a throne. He is the Son of Man, and yet Jehovah is his name.

Rejoice ye before him:' but his enemies, the wicked spirits, shall be troubled at his presence, for he is come that he may be the father of orphans, the judge and defender of the widow, the Redeemer of mankind, which sin had made a slave of satan.

He is God in his holy sanctuary, and he would give them to dwell in his own house, who shall have lived in the unity of one faith and charity.

He delivers, by the strength of his arm, them that were strongly fettered; but them that provoke him by their resistance, he casts into the abyss.

0 God! 0 Christ! when thou didst go forth on this earth, leading thy chosen people: when-thou didst pass through the parched -.desert of this, world.

Terra mota est: etenim coeli distillaverunt a facie Dei Sinai, a facie Dei Israel.

Pluviam voluntariam segregabis, Dens, haereditati tu»: et infirmata est, tu vero perfecisti earn.

Animalia tua habitabunt in ea; parasti in dulcedine tna panperi, Dens.

Dominns dabit verbum evangelizantibus, virtute multa.

Rex virtutum dilecti dilecti: et speciei domus dividere spolia.

Si dormiatis inter medios cleros, pennae columbae deargentatae, et posteriora dorsi ejns in pallore auri.

Dum discernit coelestis reges super earn, nive dealbabuntur in Selinon: mons

The earth was moved, and the heavens dropped down a refreshing dew, at the bidding of the God of Sinai, the God of Israel, who had sent thee.

Thou hast reserved for thine inheritance, thy €hurch, a rain of blessings. Thine inheritance was lost: mankind was a prey to every misery when thou earnest upon the earth: but thou didst restore it and make it perfect.

In it shall henceforth dwell the flock, of which thou art the shepherd. In thy sweetness, O God, thou providest a nourishment that would strengthen its weakness.

That he may invite his elect to partake of these blessings, the Holy Ghost, who is also God, is about to give a tongue and voice to them that are to evangelize the world; they shall speak with a power that cannot be resisted.

Kings of mighty armies shall be subdued by him who is the dear and beloved one of the Father: and she that is the beauty of the house shall divide their spoils.

During the contest, ye, O children of the Church, shall sleep in safety in the enclosure that protects you; ye shall be as the silvery-feathered dove, whose back reflects the richness of gold.

When he, whose throne is in heaven, shall execute judgement upon these kings, they

Dei, mons pinguis.

Mon coagulatus, mons pinguis : ut quid suspicamini montes coagulatos?

Mons, in quo beneplacitum est Deo habitare in eo: etenim Dominus habitabit in finem.

Currus Dei decern millibus multiplex, millia laetantium: Dominus in eis in Sina in sancto.

Ascendisti in altum, cepisti captivitatem: accepisti dona in hominibus:

Etenim non credentes, inhabitare Dominum Deum.

Benedictus Dominus die quotidie : prosperum iter faciet nobis Deus salutarium nostrorum.

Deus noster, Deus salvos faciendi: et Domini Domini exitus mortis.

Verumtamen Deus confringet capita inimicorum suorum : verticem capilli that are under his protection shall be fair as the snow which covers the top of mount Selmon. There is a mountain, the mountain of God.

A fertile, rich, & fat mountain; it is his Church. Where else would you seek for mountains, whose richness can be compared to hers?

She is the mountain on which God is well pleased to dwell; there the Lord shall dwell unto the end.

The chariot of the Son of God, as he ascends into heaven, is grander than ten thousand chariots of war; thousands of angels stand in joy around it. The Lord is in their midst; he takes up his abode in his sanctuary, as heretofore he did on Sina.

0 Jesus! thou hast ascended on high; thou hast led with thee them that were captives in limbo. Thou, as Man, receivedst ineffable gifts, and thou hast lavished them upon us.

And even they that hitherto believed not, now confess that God dwells amongst us.

Blessed be the Lord day by day! God, the author of our salvation, will make our journey prosperous.

Yea, our God is the God of salvation. To the Lord, to the Lord doth it belong to deliver us from death.

But this God shall break the heads of his enemies, the proud heads of them that wall; perambulantium in delictis luis.

Dixit Dominus : Ex Basan convertam, convertam in profundum maris:

Ut intingatur pes tuns in sanguine: lingua canum tuorum ex mimicis, ab ipso.

Yiderunt ingressus tuos, Deus : ingressus Dei mei: Regis mei qui est in sancto.

Pr»venerunt principes conjuncti psallentibus, in medio juvencularum tympanistriarum.

In ecclesiis benedicite Deo Domino, de fontibus Israel.

Ibi Benjamin adolescentulus, in mentis excessu.

Principes Juda, duces eorum, principes Zabulon, principes Nephthali.

Manda Deus virtuti tuae: confirma hoc Deus, quod operatus es in nobis.

A templo tup in Jerusa- boastingly in the path of their crimes.

The Lord has said: c I will snatch them from Basan, I will cast them into the depth of the sea;

And thou, O my chosen people, shalt dip thy foot in their blood; and the tongue of thy dogs shall be red with the same. '

They have seen thine entrance into heaven, thy triumphant entrance, 0 my God, my king, who hast taken up thine eternal abode in thy sanctuary!

The princes of the angelic host went before; and with them went those that sing; and around them were young maidens playing on timbrels. Such is the retinue worthy of Christ: strength, melody, and purity.

Ye, then, that are on earth, bless the Lord in your assemblies; ye that come from the source of the true Israel, ye that are the children of the Church!

Let there be seen in the choir of the faithful, the young Benjamin, filled with holy enthusiasm;

Let there be seen the princes of Juda, with their leaders; & the princes of Zabulon, and the princes of Nephthali.

O Christ, our God, command in thy strength! send the Spirit of power! confirm, 0 God, by him, what thou hast wrought in us.

From thy temple in Jerq- f lem, tibi offerent reges munera.

Increpa feras arundinis: congregatio taurorum in vaccis populorum: ut excludant eos, qui probati sunt argento.

Dissipa gentes, quae bella volunt: venient legati ex iEgypto: ^Ethiopia prseveniet manus ejus Deo.

Begna terra cantate Deo: psallite Domino.

Psallite Deo qui ascendit super coelum coeli, ad orientem.

Ecce dabit voci su» vocem virtu tis: date gloriam Deo super Israel, magnificentia ejus, et virtus ejus in nubibus.

Mirabilis Deus in Sanctis suis: Deus Israel ipse dabit virtutem et fortitudinem plebi suae: benedictus Deus. salem, — the figure of thy Church, — kings shall offer presents to thee.

Bepress the wild beasts that hide in the reeds, the heresies which, like wild bulls, disturb the peace of thy flock. They have conspired to drive from thine inheritance them whose faith has been tried as silver.

Scatter thou the nations that delight in war. Lo ! Egypt shall send ambassadors, praying that she may be admitted to the knowledge of the true God; yea, even Ethiopia shall stretch forth her hands towards him; she shall come to him sooner than other people.

Sing to God, ye kingdoms of the earth; sing ye to the Lord.

Sing ye to God, who ascendeth above the heaven of heavens; he ascendeth from Mount Olivet, which is to the east.

Lo! the hour is come, and he is about to give new power to his voice by the preaching of the apostles. Give ye glory to God for all that he hath done for the new Israel : his magnificence and his power are made manifest in the messengers he hath sent, who are swift in their passage, as clouds.

God is wonderful in his holy sanctuary: it is he, the God of Israel, that will give to his new people the power and strength that will make them last to the end of the world, Blessed be God |