therefore, your mind and heart are oppressed, enter thou into the rock with Isaias, " and hide thee in the pits, from the face of the fear of the Lord." (Is. ii. 10.) Remember that that "rock is Christ," and those pits His sacred wounds. Remain, therefore, " in the cliffs of the rock, in the hollow places of the wall." (Cant. ii. 14.)
SECOND SUNDAY AFTER EASTER.
Christ the Good Shepherd.
" The Lord ruleth me, and I shall want nothing; He hath set me in a place of pasture." (Ps. xxii. 1.)
I. In the Gospel of this day Christ says of Himself, " I am the good Shepherd." (John x. 11.) Ponder how well He merits this title. Jacob was a good shepherd, and he says of himself, " Day and night was I parched with heat and with frost, and sleep departed from my eyes." (Gen. xxxi. 40.) But Christ was still a better pastor, for after suffering these heats and colds. He finally laid down His life for His sheep. He even descended to their level and below them, for He verified the oracle of Isaias, " He shall be led as a sheep to the slaughter." (Is. liii. 7.) But what shepherd ever fed His sheep with His own blood? In order to elevate them to a supernatural state of happiness, Christ has done so. He gave them His flesh for food and His blood for drink. Who would not wish to be guided by such a shepherd?
II. This divine shepherd will visit you to-day, to feed you, and to defend you from the wolves of hell. There is no part of a shepherd's duty which He does not perform most willingly. Hence He says by His prophet, " Behold, I Myself will seek My sheep: and will visit them as the shepherd visits his flock: I will feed them in the most fruitful pastures; I will seek that which was lost,
