Page:PracticalCommentaryOnHolyScripture.djvu/539

 from  the  dead. Our Mother,  the  Church,  rejoices  still  more  over  those who are  raised  from  a spiritual  death”  (St.  Augustine).

Imagine that  you  yourself  were  dead  and  laid in your  coffin,  and  that  our  Lord  raised  you  from  the  dead. How, under such  circumstances,  you  would  thank  God,  and  promise faithfully to  love  Him  for  ever! But, in  fact,  each  morning  of your  life,  God  calls  you,  as  it  were,  back  to  life. He has  hitherto preserved your  life,  renewing  it  to  you  day  by  day. Have you thanked Him  for  this  gift? Do you  say  your  prayers  every  morning? Never again  omit  to  say  them! And when  you  say  them, thank God  for  the  new  day  of  life  which  He  has  vouchsafed  to give  you;  and  make  good  resolutions,  offering  to  Him  all  your thoughts, words  and  actions  of  the  day.

How do  you  behave,  when  you  follow  a body  to  the  grave? When you  do  so,  pray  for  the  soul  of  the  person  who  is  about to be  buried,  and  think  of  your  own  death.

EROD Antipas,  the  son  of  that  Herod  who  had  ordered the massacre  of  the  Innocents,  was  now  king  of  Galilee and Peraea. This Herod  was  living  with  Herodias,  the  wife  of his  brother  Philip,  while  the  latter  was  still  alive. Now John  the Baptist said  to  him:  “It  is  not  lawful  for  thee  to  have  thy brother’s wife.”

This rebuke  provoked  the  wrath  of  Herod  and  Herodias. John was  apprehended,  bound  and  put  in  prison. Herod would