prophet, " He will overshadow thee with His shoulders." (Ps. xcl. 4.) He suffered from man, for man.
How does He suffer? By His own free choice, cheerfully, constantly, and in silence. " He was dumb as a lamb before His shearers." (Is. liii. 7.)
When did this scene take place? During the solemn festival of the pasch, at a time when the city was unusually crowded with strangers who had resorted thither from all parts to celebrate the feast. These circumstances increased the ignominy of His sufferings and the confusion of the sufferer.
FOURTH SUNDAY IN LENT.
Christ the Food of your Soul.
"Come eat My bread and drink the wine which I have mingled for you." (Prov. ix. 5.)
Christ with five loaves fed five thousand persons. (John vi.) The same Christ will enter this day into your soul, to feed it with a food the most wholesome and the most precious that ever could exist, His own precious body and blood: " For My flesh is meat indeed, and My blood is drink indeed." (John vi. 56.) To remove your apprehensions and fears, He himself invites you to His feast: "Eat, O friends, and drink, and be inebriated, my dearly beloved." (Cant. v. 1.)
II. Corporal food produces three effects on the body; it strengthens, satiates, and preserves life. Three similar effects, as the Angelical Doctor observes are produced in the soul by the eucharistic bread. This divine food strengthens it by giving it grace and virtue to overcome vice and bad habits. Next, it satiates the soul, by creating a disgust of earthly pleasures; for, as the Wise Man says, "a soul that is full shall tread upon the honey-
