Page:Meditations For Every Day In The Year.djvu/438

 his repose,  my  spikenard,"  says  the  spouse  in  the  Canticle, "sent  forth  the  odor  thereof."  (Cant.  i.  n.)  "The spikenard," says  St.  Bernard,  "is  a  low  plant,  and  an emblem  of  humility. Be, therefore,  ready  to  prepare such food  for  your  Guest,  as  you  know  He  will  gladly feed on."  Seek,  therefore,  the  virtue  of  humility  in every  action  of  your  life.

III. This Guest  of  our  souls  is  so  liberal,  that  He  brings gifts and  presents  with  Him,  for  those  who  receive  His visits worthily. In this  spirit  of  liberality,  He  in  a  Pharisee's house  cured  a  person  laboring  under  the  dropsy. If you  examine  yourself  accurately,  you  will  more  than: probably discover,  that  you  labor  under  some  spiritual complaint which  requires  immediate  relief. Discover your spiritual  ailment,  and  then  humbly  and  fervently implore the  Giver  of  all  good  things,  to  grant  you  His assistance to  effect  a  lasting  cure.

I. God  bestowed  a  great  benefit  on  the  Jews,  in  making the  "  probatic"  pond  a  cure  for  all  diseases. It was situated near  the  temple,  and  the  sheep  that  were  to  be offered  in  sacrifice,  were  washed  in  it. The water  in  this pond was  stirred  by  an  angel,  and  hence  it  received  the virtue of  curing  all  diseases  in  the  person  who  first entered it,  after  the  waters  were  moved. This probatic pond was  a  type  of  the  sacraments  of  baptism  and  penance, in  which  those,  who  wish  to  follow  Christ,  are washed for"  the  sacrifice  of  justice." (Ps. 1.  21.)  These sacraments possess  a  heavenly  virtue,  which  is  given  to them  by  "the  angel  of  the  testament,"  that  is,  in  the  lan-