have produced the miraculous effect without making the man stretch out his hand, but He wished to teach us, that every spiritual effect is generally produced with the concurrence of His creatures. "Turn to Me, saith the Lord of hosts, and I will turn to you." (Zach. i. 3.) Extend, therefore, your right hand to good works, to the assistance of your brethren, and to your God in prayer, and you will without doubt obtain perfect spiritual health. " Whatever thy hand is able to do," says the Wise Man, "do it earnestly." (Eccles. ix. 10.)
III. The Scribes and Pharisees, always ready to find fault with Christ, instead of taking advantage of His miracles for their own salvation, make use of every one of His actions as a motive to destroy Him. "But He that dwelleth in the heavens, shall laugh at them." (Ps. ii. 4.) Christ, however, although He might have annihilated them in a moment, chose to bear with their insolent audacity, in order to teach His followers to be like Himself, "meek and humble of heart." (Matt. xi. 12.)
SATURDAY.
The Woman who was Bent Down.
I. Christ being again in the synagogue according to His custom, "behold, there was a woman, who had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and she was bent down, and could not look upward at all." (Luke xiii. 11.) This infirmity was caused in her by the devil, as Christ Himself tells us, either in punishment of her sins, as was the case with Giezi the leper, or by God's permission to try her virtue, as was the case with holy Job. In a mystical sense, our infernal enemy induces all those to labor
