d that Judas went out immediately after Jesus had given him
the bread; but it appears most probable, from the accounts of the other
Evangelists, that Judas received the Holy Communion under both forms,
and several of the fathers--St. Augustine, St. Gregory the Great, and St.
Leo the Great--as well as the tradition of the Catholic Church, tell us
expressly that such was the case. Besides, were the order in which St.
John presents events taken literally, he would contradict, not only St.
Matthew and St. Mark, but himself, for it must follow, from verse 10,
chap. 13, that Judas also had his feet washed. Now, the washing of the
feet took place after the eating of the Paschal lamb, and it was
necessarily whilst it was being eaten that Jesus presented the bread to
the traitor. It is plain that the Evangelists here, as in several other
parts of their writings, gave their attention to the sacred narrative
as a whole, and did not consider themselves bound to relate every
detail in precisely the same order, which fully explains the apparent
contradictions of each other, which are to be found in their Gospels.
The following pages will appear to the attentive reader rather a simple
and natural concordance of the Gospels than a history differing in any
point of the slightest importance from that of Scripture.

MEDITATION I.

Preparations for the Pasch

Holy Thursday, the 13th Nisan (29th of March).

Yesterday evening it was that the last great public repast of our
Lord and his friends took place in the house of Simon the Leper, at
Bethania, and Mary Magdalen for the last time anointed the feet of
Jesus with precious ointment. Judas was scandalised upon this occasion,
and hastened forthwith to Jerusalem again to conspire with the
high-priests for the betrayal of Jesus into their hands. After the
repast, Jesus returned to the house of Lazarus, and some of the
Apostles went to the inn situated beyond Bethania. During the night
Nicodemus again came to Lazarus' house, had a long conversation with our
Lord, and returned before daylight to Jerusalem, being accompanied part
of the way by Lazarus.

The disciples had already asked Jesus where he would eat the Pasch.
To-day, before dawn, our Lord sent for Peter, James, and John, spoke to
them at some length concerning all they had to prepare and order at
Jerusalem, and told them that when ascending Mount Sion, they would
meet the man carrying a pitcher of water. They were already