they had
drunk the wine, they sang a hymn; then Jesus prayed or taught, and they
again washed their hands. After this they sat down.

Our Lord cut up another lamb which was carried to the holy women in
one of the buildings of the court, where they were seated at table. The
Apostles ate some more vegetables and lettuce. The countenance of our
Divine Saviour bore an indescribable expression of serenity and
recollection, greater than I had ever before seen. He bade the Apostles
forget all their cares. The Blessed Virgin also, as she sat at table
with the other women, looked most placid and calm. When the other women
came up, and took hold of her veil to make her turn round and speak to
them, her every movement expressed the sweetest self-control and
placidity of spirit.

At first Jesus conversed lovingly and calmly with his disciples, but
after a while he became grave and sad: 'Amen, amen, I say to you, that
one of you is about to betray me:' he said, he that dippeth his hand with
me in the dish' (Matt. 26:21.23). Jesus was then distributing the
lettuce, of which there was only one dish, to those Apostles who were
by his side, and he had given Judas, who was nearly opposite to him,
the office of distributing it to the others. When Jesus spoke of a
traitor, an expression which filled all the Apostles with fear, he
said: 'he that dippeth his hand with me in the dish,' which means: 'one of
the twelve who are eating and drinking with me--one of those with whom I
am eating bread.' He did not plainly point out Judas to the others by
these words; for to dip the hand in the same dish was an expression
used to signify the most friendly and intimate intercourse. He was
desirous, however, to give a warning to Judas, who was then really
dipping his hand in the dish with our Saviour, to distribute the
lettuce. Jesus continued to speak: 'The Son of Man indeed goeth,' he said,
'as it is written of him: but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man
shall be betrayed: It were better for him if that man had not been born.'

The Apostles were very much troubled, and each one of them
exclaimed: 'Lord, is it I?' for they were all perfectly aware that they did
not entirely understand his words. Peter leaned towards John, behind
Jesus, and made him a sign to ask our Lord who the traitor was to be,
for, having so often been reproved by our Lord, he trembled lest it
should be himself who was referred to. John was seated at the right
hand of Jesus