from the dead. Our Mother, the Church, rejoices still more over those who are raised from a spiritual death” (St. Augustine).
Application. 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.
Chapter XXIV.
JOHN THE BAPTIST SENDS MESSENGERS TO CHRIST.
[Luke 7, 18—35.]
HEROD 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[1] 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[2]. Herod would
- ↑ Not lawful. You were told in chapter XVI that Herod Antipas, Tetrarch of Galilee, had thrown the holy Baptist into prison, the Pharisees having delivered him up to him. In this chapter we are told the reason why Herod persecuted John. He had, in defiance of God’s commandment, taken to himself the wife of his half-brother Philip. Gently but solemnly the holy Baptist reminded the light-minded king of God’s commandment, and said to him: “It is not lawful for thee to have her.”
- ↑ In prison. He was kept shut up in the fortress of Machaerus, which stood on a high rock to the east of the Dead Sea. His imprisonment, however, was not a very severe one, for his disciples had access to him, and were able to tell him about the wonderful works of Jesus.
