The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1899-12-23
Life Of Our Savior


to be found After an anxious night
] the holy couple started back tc
/ Jerusalem arriving there only al
nightfall, and darkness and the con-
fusion of departing caravans hindered
/ further search till the morning; and
! that was the third day Finally they
! found him in the Temple, sitting in
/ the midst of the doctors, hearing them
and asking them questions"
And he worked at his trade with
/ Joseph, being over his bench, his
/ chisel in hand, or his saw or hammer
and thus his neighbors knew him until,
! eighteen years afterwards. he resumed
Isthe life-work he had claimed from his
parents in the Temple at that memoir
able Passover.
How all nature prayed when Jesus
prayed on the green hilltop! The
earth and the sun and the heavenly
bodies all spoke a language to him but
vaguely guessed at by the poets. How
the whispering wind and the genial
sunshine, and the musical notes of the
birds, the happy voices of the little
children. the murmur of the brooks. the
bright tints of the flowers, the well
come rainbow all were eloquent of
God to the heart of Jesus Christ at
Nazareth!
Now there is at Jerusalem a pond
called Probatica, which in Hebrew is
called Bethsaida, having five proches
In these lay great multitude of
sick, of blind, of lame, of whithered
waiting for the moving of the Ayater."
1t was place of miracles, one of those
Holy Wells which Gods loving provi-
dence had scattered over all parts of
the world. And an angel of the Lord
descended at certain times into the
pond, and the water was moved. And
he that went down first into the pond
after the motion of the water. was
made whole of whatsoever infirmity he
lay UNDER
As Jesus passed there, he saw among
the anxious watchers of the waters
motion a sufferer whose air of despon
dency aroused his compassion;s he had
been lnf1rm for thirty eight years, and
our Savior knew that he had been long
and Vainly waiting for his cure wilt
thou be made whole?" he asked him.
The man supposed he meant the heal
ing given by the pool. His pitiful and
even reproachful answer deepened the
sympathy Of the Savior, whose heart
is very ocean of healing. Il have
no man to put me into the pond: as
If to say, other invalids are rich and
have their servants to lift them up
and hurry them in before me, a miser-
able pauper: by the time that / have
dragged myself TO the bottom of the
steps the angel is gone. But Jesus
lifted him up quickly and by a mere
word: Arise, take up thy bed and
walk" Instantly the blood flowed new
and fresh into his withered legs, the
dead nerves began to tingle with the
warmth of life. He stood up immedi-
ately, leaped and jumped, took up his
bed and walked"
When the first man, the Old Adam.
was created, it was byS infinite power,
breathing spirit life into dead clay. He
breathed into his face the breath of
life, and man became a living soul. .
When it pleased the Blessed Trinity to
renew the race Of man through the
Word made flesh, the New Adam was
not brought into existence by a new
act of creation; but God -breathes the
breath of life into the heart of Mary
of Nazareth, unites the divine life to
her pure blood, and thus forms Jesus
Christ for the renewal of the fallen
race. The New Adam is conceived and
born of the old race, but generated by
an exclusive act of infinite power and
love without the cooperation of hui
man paternity.
Gods living condescension went even
further than taking the same human
nature that Adam had tainted by sin:
j esus Is not merely Adams descendant.
and that of sanity men and chaste
women, with the greatest of saints for
his mother; but his blood is also that
of apostate and idolatrous kings and
shameless harlots. By his mother, how
ever, that blood was passed to him as
if through divine alembic and
cleansed till it was the immaculate
blood of a perfect humanity-worthy
if such a thing We're possible, to be
the humanity which should be made
instinct with the divinity This is the
full meaning of the words of Isaias:
"A virgin shall conceive and shall bring
forth a Son, and his name shall be
called Emmanuel-God with us
Jesus was, however, a perfect type
Of the Hebrew people. The renowned
race of Israel made Jesus of Nazareth
its heir. The fulness of Davids mighty
was his; Abraham's peaceful
contemplation of God and faith in the
promises were his: every noble human
quality of kindness or loyalty or brav-
cry or patient inherent in the Jewish
nature flowed down into the heart of
Jesus. In the supernatural order, all
the predestination of God for this IA
vored people was concentrated upon
Jesus, together with the completeness
Of all possible spiritual endowments of :
faith ard hope and love. The glorious
memories of the heroic past shall be !
radiant upon the brow of the Hebrew !
Messias Lowly as may seem his lot. |
the Man Christ shall outshine all his |
ancestors in majesty, majesty only /
the more inspiring because it adorns |
the gracious quality of universal love. /
which is the paramount prerogative of |
his royalty.