Page:Meditations For Every Day In The Year.djvu/171

 thought or  detracting  word! Reflect how  many  do  the same repeatedly,  and  in  the  extremes  of  folly  and  madness renounce  their  God  like  Judas. "A fool  worketh mischief,  as  it  were  for  sport"  (Prov.  x.  23),  says  Solomon. Take care  not  to  be  of  this  class,  and  endeavor  to  appease God's  indignation  against  those  who  are  in  this number.

I. Christ  ate  the  paschal  lamb  with  His  disciples  the day before  He  suffered,  in  order  to  teach  His  followers obedience to  the  laws  of  God  in  every  circumstance  of life. He therefore  sent  Peter  and  John  to  procure  for that purpose  "a  large  dining-room  furnished." (Mark xiv. 15.)  Such  ought  to  be  your  soul,  dilated  with  pure charity, and  furnished  with  all  the  ornaments  of  virtue, as often  as  you  receive  in  holy  communion  the  Lamb  of God  who  takes  away  the  sins  of  the  world. Ponder the words the  Master  addressed  to  His  disciples:  "With desire  I  have  desired  to  eat  this  pasch  with  you  before  I suffer." (Luke xxii.  15.)  Admire  the  excess  of  His  love towards us:  He  longed  for  the  moment  in  which  He  was to leave  us  His  precious  body  and  blood,  and  to  suffer and die  for  us. Oh that  you  were  as  desirous  of  suffering for Him!

II. Christ observed  all  the  ceremonies  prescribed  by the  law,  in  eating  the  paschal  lamb. In each  of  these ceremonies He  reflected  upon  Himself  and  His  passion, of which  these  were  the  prefigurative  representations. " Christ  our  pasch,"  says  the  Church,  "  is  immolated,  for He  is  the  true  Lamb  who  takes  away  the  sins  of  the world." Imagine you  see  Christ  with  His  disciples  stand-