STATION VII.

She, in pouring this ointment upon My Body, hath done it for My burial (St. Matt. xxvi. 12).

What she had, she hath done. She is come beforehand to anoint My Body for the burial (St. Mark xiv. 8).

A. This does not mean that Magdalen was aware that the Death of her loved Master was so near and was preparing for the burial; but only that He accepted her pious work for His burial; and that His Heart, foreknowing that it was well timed for His burial, gave to hers the inspiration to do this act of charity.

St. John's version is a little different: Let her alone, that she may keep it for the day of My burial. From these words. we are inclined to think that some of Magdalen's precious spikenard was kept for the burial. This would be a consoling interpretation, but the commentators explain the words to mean: "Let her alone, for hereafter she will have the comfort of knowing that what she has done to-day was a preparation for My burial". The Greek text points to this interpretation.

What consolation these words must, in after years, have given to Magdalen!

How blessed are they who follow good inspirations from Heaven! We hear sometimes the news: He died quite suddenly last evening without the sacraments, but he had been to Confession and Communion in the morning. How consoling for a priest when he can say: "The patient I was attending died very unexpectedly yesterday, when all thought that he was mending; but luckily I had gone in an hour before, and, though I saw no danger, I heard his confession and absolved him!" A few years ago a well-known man died during the night. The doctor had said when going away: "There is no danger to-night, you can all go to bed". But his good old mother sat by him and said next morning: "How glad I am that I did

not go away!

I was saying the Litany for him when he was born, and I was saying the Rosary for him when he died."

B. She hath done it for My burial. We know how our Blessed Saviour appeared to St. Martin of Tours, and to St. Peter, the tax-collector, wearing the cloaks they had given to the poor, and saying: "This is the cloak Martin gave to Me. This is the mantle Peter gave Me." Therefore, if we help to bury a poor man or to take care of his bereaved orphans, our Lord will be grateful as if we had devoutly taken part in His burial.

STATION VIII.

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 memory of her (St. Matt. xxvi. 13).

O you who go by the way, pause here a little while, or rather a long time, to contemplate the gratitude of our Lord's Sacred Heart. What Magdalen has done is to be recorded by the inspired Evangelists alongside the story of His own Life and Death, and to be remembered until the consummation of the world. All the Church of the saints shall declare (her) alms (Ecclus. xxxi.). And when all is over in this world-both the holy deeds of men and their sinsthe gratitude of our Saviour's Heart will not die, but be fresh for ever: The just shall be in everlasting remembrance (Psalm cxi.). For ever, and for ever, Magdalen will be made aware, in a thousand ways, that the Sacred Heart of her Master is still saying: She did it for My burial.

145

CHAPTER IV.

PALM SUNDAY TO HOLY THURSDAY.

SCENE I.

FROM BETHANY TO JERUSALEM.

BETHANY, as we have seen, was on the eastern slope of Mount Olivet, not far from the base. From thence our Blessed Saviour had a choice of two ways to Jerusalem.

One by the high-road round the base of the hill. This road runs southward for a short distance, and then turning round Mount Olivet enters into the valley of the Cedron and runs northward along the eastern wall of the city, passing the Garden of Gethsemani.

The other and shorter route lay over Mount Olivet. Certain modern English writers maintain that we have no means of ascertaining which road our Saviour chose on the Palm Sunday.

But with regard to this triumphal procession of our Lord, one thing is certain from the Gospel, that it passed through Bethphage. If the site of Bethphage can be ascertained, the question is settled. These English writers, because no traces remain above ground of the little town, conclude at once that it is impossible to fix its site. The Franciscan Fathers, on the other hand, who have been for six centuries the Guardians of the Holy Places, consider that there is no doubt about the site of Bethphage, and all except a few English and American writers side with the Franciscan Fathers.

In ascertaining the position of ancient Bethphage the Franciscans followed the same method which they had found to be so successful in other parts of Palestine. They began by inquiring diligently among the Arab inhabitants whether there was any tradition among them as to this site. They found that the Arabs had no doubt as to the spot where the town stood. Quite recently, a traveller told his guide to ask an Arab whom he met by chance on Mount Olivet whereabouts was the town of Bethphage. He pointed at once unhesitatingly to the spot which is commonly believed to be the true site. The Franciscan Fathers after a long experience have learned to place great reliance on

the fidelity of tradition among the Arabs, and by excavating have been able to furnish most wonderful proofs of the correctness of their traditions.

They acted thus at Bethphage. On the slope of Mount Olivet, about midway between Bethany and the top of the hill, they purchased a small plot of ground on the site where the Arabs placed Bethphage. On the surface there was nothing at all to justify this expenditure. But when they excavated they came on two very consoling witnesses. In the first place they uncovered a block of stone between three and four feet in height and about the same in length and breadth. When the earth was all cleared away from this block they were able to discern ancient paintings on its sides. These paintings are still to be seen. The Fathers have built a small house on the spot, so that the stone and the paintings are now under cover. One of these paintings represents the ass being brought to our Saviour. Another, the raising of Lazarus.

On clearing away the ground still further, the indefatigable Franciscan Fathers and Brothers uncovered the foundation of a small church; one of the many, it is supposed, with which St. Helen did honour to the Holy Places. We may, therefore, safely trust the Arab tradition, and take for granted that Bethphage stood higher up on Mount Olivet than Bethany. This being so, it is quite clear that our Lord on Palm Sunday went by the shorter route over the hill to Jerusalem. This conclusion is, I think, rendered certain by the words in St. Luke xix.: When He was now coming near the descent of Mount Olivet. Near the descent, would be when He had reached the top, and was about to descend.

A further question arises here as to the time of this triumphal entry of our Lord. St. Matthew tells the story of this procession in his 21st chapter, and does not speak of the supper at Bethany till the 26th chapter. St. Mark follows the same order. He records the entry into Jerusalem in his 11th chapter, and the supper in Simon's house, in the 14th. If we had nothing but these two Gospels to guide us, we should not dare to place this entry of our Lord after the supper; but in St. John's Gospel we find these two incidents in reversed order: the supper first, and the entry on the day after. St. John on this point is very precise and clear. Immediately after his account of the supper, he writes, On the next day a great multitude took branches of palm trees, etc. Commentators without hesitation adopt this chronology of St. John, first because he wrote much later than the other Evangelists, and one of his objects was to clear up points left unsettled by them; and secondly, because they have ascertained by careful study that St. Matthew and St. Mark, in many parts of their narrative, do not propose to arrange events in chronological order, but merely to leave on record some of our Lord's remarkable sayings or doings.

St. John then gives us two dates not given by the other

Evangelists. He tells us, first, that our Lord arrived at Bethania six days before the Pasch (St. John xii.). This might mean on the Friday or Saturday of Passion Week. For the six days might be counted either from Good Friday, or Holy Thursday; since though the Paschal supper was held on the Thursday night, yet the following day could be, as we have seen elsewhere, called the day of the Pasch.

Then, secondly, St. John also tells us that our Lord's entry took place the day after the supper-on the next day (St. John xii.).

The order then appears to be that our Saviour arrived from Jericho on Friday, that the supper at Simon's house took place on Saturday, and the procession to Jerusalem on our Palm Sunday.

STATION I.

And when they drew nigh to Jerusalem, and were come to Bethphage, unto Mount Olivet, then Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them: Go ye into the village that is over against you, and immediately you shall find an ass tied and a colt with her (on which no man yet hath sitten), loose them and bring them to Me. And if any man shall say anything to you, say ye that the Lord hath need of them, and forthwith he will let them go. And the disciples going did as Jesus commanded them. And they found the colt tied before the gate in the meeting of two ways. And as they were loosing the colt, the owner thereof said, Why loose you the colt? But they said, Because the Lord hath need of him, and they brought him to Jesus (St. Matt. xxi.; St. Mark xi.; St. Luke xix.).

A. Say ye that the Lord hath need of them, and forthwith he will let them go.

So, by rights, it should always be. As soon as I hear that the Lord hath need of anything that He has given to me, at once I ought to let it go. For the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away. As it hath pleased the Lord so is it done. Blessed be the name of the Lord (Job i.). Is not He thy Father, that hath possessed thee, and made thee, and created thee? (Deut. xxxii.). But, alas! O my God, to Thee only have I sinned (Psalm 1.). If a great man on this earth asks, I am in a hurry to give. If Thou ask, I am slow.