combat wolves. How true it is, that "the weak things of this world hath God chosen, that He may confound the strong." (i Cor. i. 27.) He, moreover, admonishes His ministers to be harmless and meek as sheep, not returning evil for evil, but employing themselves entirely for the benefit of their neighbors.
II. " Be ye, therefore, wise as serpents, and simple as doves." Thus He wishes the serpent's wisdom to be united with the simplicity of the dove in the character of His Apostles. %He requires that they should be prudent, in seizing proper occasions and times of doing good to their neighbors; simple, in acting with sincerity and purity of intention without double-dealing, acrimony or malice. "Thy eyes are as those of doves," says the spouse in the Canticle, that is, pure and simple. Let these be the model of your rectitude of intention.
III. " Going, preach, saying, the kingdom of Heaven is at hand; and going forth, they preached that they should do penance." (Matt. x. 7, and Mark, vi. 12.) Their discourses did not turn on vain, curious or trivial matters, but on subjects, the most interesting in a spiritual point of view. Such ought to be the endeavors, and such the method of preaching, of all those, who are entrusted with the care of souls; they should speak inwardly to the heart, and aim at the spiritual profit of their hearers, and not preach themselves. "Let your applause," says St. Jerome, " be the tears of your auditory."
SATURDAY.
The Disciples' Return from Preaching.
I. When the disciples returned from preaching, they felt, as the holy Fathers explain the passage, in some
