PASSION SUNDAY.
Christ a Hidden God.
" I will wait for the Lord, who hath hidden His face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for Him. (Is. viii. 17.)
I. Christ hid Himself from the Jews; for they wished to stone Him to death. (John viii. 59.) In memory of this the crosses are this day covered in our churches. Christ Himself is termed by Isaias a hidden God. " Verily Thou art a hidden God, the God of Israel, the Saviour." (Is. xlv. 15.) Speaking of Him in His passion, the same prophet observes, " His look was as it were hidden and despised." (Is. liii. 3.) He concealed His divinity under the disguise of flesh and blood, His glory under the ignominy of His passion, and both His human and divine natures under the appearances of bread and wine. Hence the Royal Prophet with propriety exclaims, " O how great is the multitude of Thy sweetness, O Lord, which Thou hast hidden for those who fear Thee!" (Ps. xxx. 20.)
II. Not only is the flesh of Jesus Christ hidden from our senses in the holy Eucharist, but for the greater merit of our faith, the virtue and efficacy of this sacrament are often concealed. Hence, not all those who approach it taste of its sweetness. It is nothing less than " death to the bad, as it is life to the good." Even among the good, its effects are not always similar: Hence by the mouth of St. John, God says, "To him that overcometh, I will give the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, a new name written, which no man knoweth but he that receiveth it." (Apoc. ii. 17.)
III. If you desire to discover the sweetness of this hidden manna, you must master your inclinations and pas-
