life, sanctifying grace and all that was connected with it. We are born (spiritually) dead. This is the sin of our origin from Adam.
8. Necessity of faith in the Divine Redeemer. Our Lord teaches the necessity of such faith by these words: "That whosoever believeth in Him may not perish”; — “He that believeth in Him is not judged, but he that doth not believe is already judged.” He who wilfully refuses to believe in the Incarnate Son of God has no part in Redemption. Such an unbeliever refuses to have a Redeemer. He is hopelessly lost, because he refuses to be saved! “The wrath of God abideth in him” (John 3, 36).
Application. Your body, too, is the temple of the Holy Ghost. Have you ever defiled it by unworthy pursuits? Make a firm resolution to honour your body as the temple of the Holy Ghost, and never to defile it!
Many Christians behave irreverently in church, in the Presence of the Blessed Sacrament. Such people deserve indeed to be driven out of church with scourges! Our Lord does not, it is true, drive them out now, but at the Day of Judgment He will deal more severely with them than He dealt with the buyers and sellers in the Temple at Jerusalem.
Do you thank God every day for your Baptism, and for all the graces which, without any merit of your own, you received with it?
Do you love God, who is so infinitely good, with your whole heart? How do you show your love? Do you pray willingly and devoutly? Do something special to-day, for the love of God.
Chapter XVI.
JESUS AT THE WELL OF JACOB.
[John 4, 1 — 12.]
NOW it came to pass that Herod [1] cast John the Baptist into prison; whereupon the Pharisees, taking courage, began to persecute[2] the Saviour. He therefore left Judaea[3] and returned
- ↑ Herod. This was Herod Antipas. He cast John into prison, because the holy prophet reproved him for a grievous sin he had committed (see chapter XXXII). The unbelieving Pharisees in Judaea had delivered up the holy man to his mortal enemy; for they, also, hated John, because all the people ran after him.
- ↑ Persecute. Having got rid of John, they turned all their hatred against Jesus, because He had even more followers than John (4, 1), and they now made attempts against both His liberty and His life, as they had already done by the holy Baptist.
- ↑ Left Judaea. Because the time for Him to suffer and die was not yet come.
