ment they brought back word that Jesus was coming forthwith. What! the great Prophet defile Himself by entering a Gentile house! Put Himself out to come so far! Obey his call like one of his own soldiers! In haste a messenger was sept to beg the Saviour not to trouble Himself, and as He still persisted in coming, the abashed centurion met Him at his gate crying: " Lord, forgive me my apparent presumption. I am a man accustomed to exercise authority, saying to one: ' Come/ and he cometh, and to another: ' Do this/ and he doth it, but far be it from me to even seem to command Thy services. Lord, I am not even worthy that Thou shouldst enter under my roof, but only say the word and my servant shall be healed/' It was a complete surrender of his will to Christ's will. Knowing how to command, he had not forgotten how to obey; exacting proper humility in others, he could be humble in the presence of his own superiors. What noble characters are often evolved by a course of military discipline! When once converted, what fervent, what humble, what blindly obedient Catholics unbelievers become! One knows not what should be the greatest: our regret that so many pure and honest souls are outside the pale of Israel, our gratitude that God takes heed of them and will bring them from the East and the West into His heavenly kingdom, or our dread lest we, His unworthy children, be cast out into exterior darkness.
Brethren, in the fifth chapter of the fourth book of Kings is a charming story in which to-day's scriptural readings and the lessons they convey are caught
