The Ecclesiastical Hierarchy. From this chapter we see how our Lord gradually traced the outlines of the Hierarchy of the Church, i. e. of the higher and lower orders of sacred ministers. There we have Peter, the Apostles, the disciples and the faithful; here we have the Pope, the Bishops, the Priests [with Deacons, Subdeacons and four minor orders] and the faithful.
Prayer to God to send more labourers into His vineyard. Jesus, the Lord of the harvest, desires us to pray to Him to send more labourers, i.e. more bishops and priests, and this not only for our own sakes, but for the multitude of our fellow-men, who are still unbelievers. He alone, by His grace, can raise up true apostolic labourers for His vineyard. This prayer is very necessary. Even many Catholic countries are in sad want of priests; but, setting aside this want, the majority of men in this world are either heathens (of whom there are about 700,000,000) or Mahometans (of whom there are about 150,000,000). Only 250,000,000 belong to the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church; for out of those who claim to be Christians, 80,000,000 belong to the Greek schismatical Church, and about 90,000,000 to the various Protestant sects. The harvest is indeed still great, and the number of Catholic priests and missionaries small in proportion.
Our Lord sent out His disciples two and two 1. so that they could bear witness to the miracles wrought. “In the law it is written that the testimony of two men is true” (John 8, 17), and therefore men would more readily believe the word of two together than of one alone. 2. That they might practise mutual love and unity of spirit, and be thus better able to preach the Gospel of love and peace.
Application. You ought to pray to God, especially at the four Ember seasons when the ordinations take place, to send forth labourers into His harvest.
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Chapter XLII.
THE DOCTOR OF THE LAW.— THE GOOD SAMARITAN.
[Luke to, 25 — 37. Mat. 22, 35 — 40. Mark 12, 28 — 34.]
Again, when Jesus was on His way to Jerusalem, He met a doctor of the law[1], who, hoping to tempt[2] our Lord, asked him, through curiosity: “Master, what must I do to possess eternal
- ↑ The doctors of the law, or scribes, were a body of men whose profession it was to preserve the written law, interpret it, and guard it from being falsified.
- ↑ Tempt. He hoped to entrap our Lord into teaching some doctrine contrary to the law, or at any rate contrary to its received interpretation. Had he done so, the scribes would have been able to hold Him up as an enemy of the law.
