Leaving Nazareth behind Him, our Lord made His way to the banks of the Jordan, and following the river southward through Galilee, Samaria and Judea, arrived at a ford near Jericho. On His road He had fallen in with troops of people of all classes going in the same direction, and here assembled at the ford was a vast multitude covering both banks. On one point all eyes were fixed. Standing on the river bank was a man of rough and uncouth appearance. His face, from constant exposure to sun and wind, was of the colour of brown parchment; his eye was bright and piercing; his frame lean with fasting, and freely over his shoulders fell his long hair, for his locks had never been shorn. He wore a garment of coarse camel's hair gathered in at the waist by a leather girdle.

Who was this extraordinary man? People said he was the son of the priest Zachary, who, thirty years ago, whilst offering incense in the Temple had seen an Angel and been struck dumb by the vision. His name was John. He had spent his life from childhood in the desert, where his food was locusts and wild honey. And now he had suddenly appeared on the borders of his desert and was telling the crowds who went out to see him that they must repent of their sins and prepare for the Messiah, for the Kingdom of Heaven was at hand.

"The Kingdom, the Messiah's Kingdom at hand!"

A cry of rapture rang through the land. He was near, then, who should free them from bondage and raise the fallen fortunes of Israel; who should march at their head against the heathen Gentiles, bring the whole earth under His rule, and begin a thousand years' reign of prosperity and glory for the people of God! Men, women and children from Jerusalem and all the country about the Jordan, nay, from distant towns and villages, flocked in thousands to the wilderness—Pharisees and Sadducees, priests, publicans, soldiers, forgetting in the common joy and expectancy their mutual jealousy and hate.

But John's speech to them was not of coming pomp and pleasure, but of penance. He flattered none; he told all to confess their sins and be baptized. In stern and fearless words he rebuked the proud, the self-indulgent, the unrepenting sinner. Seeing among the crowd some Pharisees and Sadducees, he cried out:

"Ye offspring of vipers, who hath shewed you to flee from the wrath to come?"

But he spoke gently to the humble and the poor. Standing one day on a hillock, his voice thundered over the wilderness:

"Now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree, therefore, that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down and cast into the fire."

The people terrified cried out :

"What, then, shall we do?" and he said:

"He that hath two coats, let him give to him that hath none, and he that hath meat let him do in like manner."

And the publicans who came to be baptized said to him : "Master, what shall we do?"

And he said to them : " Do nothing more than that which is appointed you." For as collectors of taxes they were accustomed to cheat.
 
And the soldiers also asked him saying: "And what shall we do ?"

And he said to them : " Do violence to no man, neither accuse any falsely, and be content with your pay."

He did not tell men to lead a hard life like his own, but to keep the Commandments of God and be faithful to the duties of their state of life. In this way they would be getting ready for the Messiah.

The rugged appearance and stern speech of the young preacher, so far from scaring the people away, drew them to him. His words that the Messiah was about to appear caused the greatest excitement throughout the country; thousands were baptized by him in the Jordan confessing their sins, and disciples began to gather round him. And as people were thinking that perhaps John might be the Christ, he said to them:

"I indeed baptize you with water, but there shall come One mightier than I, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to loose. He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire."

The Coming of Christ—this was always the subject of his instructions. It was this that made his dark eye kindle and his countenance glow. Men who knew how stern his speech could be marvelled at the burning love that from his heart overflowed upon his lips when he spoke of Him whose messenger and forerunner he was.

Day by day his words of prophecy grew clearer, and the expectation of his hearers more intense. The Messiah was close at hand. John had said it, and all men held John to be a prophet. He was at hand; when and where would He show Himself? One day John was preaching as usual and as usual the stillness of the vast audience showed that his words
were reaching every heart. Suddenly he broke on and fixed his gaze with a look of reverent wonder on something or someone at a distance.  All eyes followed his.

From the midst of the throng a Man was quietly advancing towards the little height on which the Baptist stood. His garments were poor, yet there was an indescribable majesty about Him joined to an innocence, simplicity and gentleness capable of winning every heart. He was a stranger, unknown to all but one. John saw Him, knew Him, and his heart leapt forth to welcome Him.

Painters have loved to show us the little Baptist standing with the Child Jesus at Mary's knee. The two were cousins, but we are not told that they had ever seen each other before this meeting by the Jordan. How, then, did John know our Blessed Lord? He himself tells us : "I saw the Spirit coming down as a dove from Heaven upon Him." The Precursor thought his work was now done; the Master had come, it was the place of the servant to retire. What, then, was his amazement and awe when our Lord, mingling with the sinners who were coming down to the water, and waiting His turn, stood at length before Him and humbly asked for baptism.

"I ought to be baptized by Thee," he said trembling, "and comest Thou to me ?"

"Suffer it to be so now," replied Jesus in a low tone, "for so it becometh us to fulfil all justice."

Then John with reverent hand poured the water on that sacred head, and that which was one day to make us children of God and heirs of Heaven was consecrated by the Baptism of Christ. As He came out of the water there was a glorious sight: the heavens opened, and in the midst of dazzling light the form of a Dove with outstretched wings was seen to overshadow Him, whilst a Voice like soft thunder was heard:

"Thou art My Beloved Son, in Thee I am well pleased."

This is the first time the Holy Trinity, One God in Three Persons, showed Itself to men—the Father in the Voice from Heaven, the Son in the Sacred Human Nature, the Holy Ghost in the form of a Dove. The Hidden Life was over, our Lord's Public Life had begun, and it began with an act of deep humility. But He that humbleth himself shall be exalted. So it has ever been; so it was by the Jordan now. Christ, the All-Holy, had humbled Himself, appearing among sinners as a sinner. And His Father had glorified Him by declaring before that vast multitude that He was no sinner but His own well Beloved Son.

We might have thought that at last His time for preaching had come. He was thirty years of age; the people prepared by John were in eager expectation. They had heard Him proclaimed from Heaven to be the Son of God. How they would flock to Him and welcome Him if He were to come among them and teach them now!

But God's ways are not like ours. Our Lord was indeed going to teach, not, however, the people of His own land, but His followers in every land and throughout all time, to teach us all one of the most important lessons we have to learn in this world. And He was going to a battlefield to meet a cruel and powerful adversary. What was this lesson? where was this battlefield? Let us follow Him and see.
A printable file of this chapter as well as a coloring picture can be found below.

" Too long hast Thou been silent, O Lord Jesus, and
very much too long; begin now at last to speak" says St. Bernard in one of his sermons.
We can scarcely imagine a greater contrast than the thirty years of our Lord's Life now past, and the three that are to come. Hitherto He has been hidden away as the carpenter of an obscure village, unknown except to His humble relations, and very imperfectly known even to them. Now, with a band of devoted disciples, He is to come and go along the highways of the land, to be a familiar Figure in the Temple at the time of the great yearly Feasts, a Teacher in the synagogues up and down the country, the Guest of Pharisees of distinction.

He will be followed from city to city, and across the wilderness and up the mountain slopes by multitudes of every age and class and calling. He will be found amidst friends and enemies, at festive gatherings, at the bedside of the sick and lonely poor. To know Him better we will try to get some idea of the land to which He is coming as Teacher of its people. If we take a map of the world we shall find that the little country of Palestine lies just in the heart of the Eastern hemisphere. It forms part of Asia, it adjoins Africa, and the same sea that bathes its shore washes all those of southern Europe; as if to show by its very situation that the Land from which salvation flowed to all lands should be the centre to which the men of every age and race and clime should turn with love and thankfulness.

It seems to belong to all lands in another way—by sharing what is special to each. Nowhere out of Palestine are to be found natural features so opposite, and the animal and vegetable life of such different parts of the globe.

In a country about the size of Switzerland are snow-capped mountains, parched deserts, beautiful lakes; plains scarlet with poppies, and desolate stony wastes; groves of feathery palms, and oaks, chestnuts, pines, and firs; vines, melons, pomegranates, the sugar cane; and apples, nuts, and fields of waving corn.

The lion, rhinoceros, wild bull, and bison, are no longer found, but there are camels and bears, wolves and hyenas, jackals and apes, with the horses, asses, sheep, and goats, hares and foxes of our own land. Palestine has our birds, too, all the warblers of our woods and hedges, the blackbird, thrush, and cuckoo, with sparrows, rooks, and jackdaws. The robin spends his winter there; all about Bethlehem the goldfinch is common, wild ducks abound in the Jordan valley, whilst soaring above most rocky ravines are the vulture and the eagle. Might we not think that the various creatures familiar to us in different parts of the world are gathered together in the Holy Land to be blessed for every land?

To bring home to ourselves the Life of our Blessed Lord on this earth of ours, it helps us to know the kind of country and scenery that lay around Him, the animals and birds and flowers He would see; to be able to picture to ourselves the little white houses with their low roofs and blinking windows that would come within sight when He neared a village; the sort of people with whom He would have to mix, their manners and customs
and dress. We must not, then, think it dull and uninteresting to learn something of the state of the country when He came. Trouble is well bestowed if it helps us to know Him better, to feel as well as to know what His life on earth must have been, and what He went through, not uncomplainingly only, but willingly and brightly for the love of us. A word, then, about the government of the country.

When Abraham, the father of the Jewish people, was led thither out of Mesopotamia, he found there the fierce and wicked race of Canaan, from whom it takes the first name by which we know it. God promised it to Abraham and his children, who called it the Land
of Promise. They did not, however, get possession of it till more than five hundred years after Abraham.

Then Jewish kings reigned there for five hundred years, till the Jews were taken into captivity by the Assyrians, and again for another hundred years before they came under Roman rule. It was because two royal brothers quarrelled about the crown that the Romans were called in. They soon settled the dispute by making the country a Roman province, obliging the Jews to pay a yearly tribute to Rome, and setting over them as king a foreigner, Herod the Great, in whose reign our Lord was born.

The Jews hated everything that reminded them of their subjection to Rome, the sight of the Roman eagles set up in public places, of Roman soldiers stationed here and there to keep them in order, of the Roman coins with which they had to pay the tribute; they even hated and despised their fellow-countrymen, the publicans, who collected the taxes for the Romans. They were always ready for revolt, always prepared to follow any of the imposters who at this time of universal expectation pretended to be the long looked for Deliverer of the people. It was as a deliverer from the Roman yoke, a king who would shower upon them honours and riches, and make them the first nation of the earth, rather than as One coming to free them from sin and teach them the way to Heaven, that they regarded and ardently desired the Messiah. We have to bear this in mind in order to understand how the whole people could turn against Him and deliver Him up to the Romans and to death.

He came at a time when things were at their worst, not only in the great pagan world that lay outside His own Land, but in that favoured Land itself. The priests, even the High Priests, were men of evil life and a scandal to the nation. It was they who became the bitterest enemies of our Blessed Lord and stirred up the masses against Him.

The people, instead of being united in fervent preparation for the coming Redeemer, were divided into sects and parties, bitterly opposed to one another. There were the Pharisees who made pretence of being better than the rest of men, " whited sepulchres," our Lord called them, fair without, loathsome within. There were the wealthy, luxurious Sadducees who denied the existence of spirits and the resurrection of the dead, men determined to enjoy this world as they did not believe in another, wanting no Messiah who would disturb a state of things with which they were quite satisfied. And there were the Herodians, who flattered those in power in order to gain their own ends and have a comfortable, easy life.

The Pharisees appear so often in the Gospel story that we must try to have a clear idea of them. Their name describes them well, for it means" the Separated" the holy ones set apart from the multitude. They looked down upon the poor and the ignorant who had not studied the Law of Moses, and called them " accursed." They prided themselves on their knowledge of the Law and their exact observance of all it required as to fasting, purification, the paying of tithes and particularly as to the keeping of the Sabbath. According to them it was unlawful to make a knot, to kill a stinging insect, to clap one's hands on the Sabbath day. They were most strict about the washing of hands, and cups, and dishes. But the holiness of the soul they did not trouble themselves about. The greatest saint was not he who most loved God and his neighbour, but he whose phylactery was the broadest and tassels longest, and face the gloomiest on fasting days.

These men had great influence with the people, who looked up to them with awe, called them " Rabbi;" that is "Master," and showed their veneration by touching respectfully the tassels of their mantles.

Our Lord showed Himself condescending but firm with the Pharisees. He meekly bore their rudeness and even their blasphemy. He went to their houses, though He knew He was invited only that they might watch and inform against Him. But, when at the end of His ministry He saw that they remained obstinate, hindered His work, and turned the simple folk against Him, He spoke to them with terrible severity, and boldly reproved them for their pride and deceit. He called them hypocrites who might indeed deceive men with their show of goodness, but could not escape the All seeing eye of God. His fearless exposure of their wickedness enraged them, and the people's admiration for Him filled them with envy and hatred. For they wanted to be the leaders of the nation, and could not bear to be put into the shade by this carpenter of Galilee. The divine beauty of our Lord's character and teaching and works they did not wish to see. To them He was only a rival who must be got rid of. And because they feared as well as hated Him they leagued with their enemies the Sadducees to bring about His destruction.

Such were the masters to whom the people looked for guidance and example. It was amongst such as these that our Lord found Himself when He left the wilderness and began His work of teaching.

Palestine was at this time divided into six districts. West of the Jordan were Galilee in the north, Samaria in the centre, Judea in the south. East of the river were Ituria, Trachonitis and Perea. Herod the Great had ruled as a vassal king under the Romans over all Palestine. On his death his kingdom was divided among his three sons, Archelaus, Herod Antipas, and Herod Philip, who governed their territories with the title of tetrarchs. Archelaus ruled over Judea and Samaria, but after ten years of a cruel reign he was deposed and banished and his tetrarchate was made into a Roman province under a procurator or governor. Herod Antipas governed Galilee and Perea with the title of king, though he was only a tetrarch. He was still reigning at the time our Lord began His public ministry. Pontius Pilate was procurator of Judea and Samaria. Tiberias Caesar was Emperor of Rome.

The scenes of our Blessed Lord's Life lay occasionally in Samaria, oftener in the towns and highways of Judea, oftenest in Galilee, among the towns and villages dotted along the western shore of its beautiful lake, and up the grassy slopes to the east.

You will find a printable file of this chapter below.

                                     THE HIDDEN LIFE.
Next time the doctors of the Temple met they wondered if that marvellous Child would come again and teach them. They went over together all He had said, and when they got puzzled afresh they wished they had asked Him who He was and where He lived. He was very young to be a prophet, but surely none of the prophets had spoken as He had done; those who called themselves masters in Israel were no more than children beside Him. He knew the hidden meanings of the Scripture, and, as some of them had found out, He could read their most secret thoughts. They made inquiries and talked about Him for a time, and then, as they could learn nothing, the memory of Him faded from their memory, and most of them forgot Him.

And what is He doing who made such a stir among these learned men? Standing by Joseph's side in the workshop to see how yokes and ploughs are made; how the hammer and the saw and the chisel are used; guiding the tools with weak, unsteady hand; learning to be a carpenter. Later on He works under Joseph's direction, and during the hot hours of the morning and afternoon the two may be seen day after day at their heavy toil. Then our Lord sweeps up the shavings, tidies the shop, and takes the finished work to the little homes around. He waits to see if it gives satisfaction, and holds out His hand for the pay.

Then comes the meeting at the evening meal that makes up for the hard work of the day. The joys and sorrows of these blessed Three are the same, and their hearts are so united that nothing ever happens to disturb their peace. Troubles there are every now and then, and hardships always, for they are poor people. But Jesus makes up to Mary and Joseph for all beside.

No mother ever had such joy as Mary, because none ever had a son so perfect and so loving. But she had sorrows too that were hers alone. Some of us find it hard to keep a secret. God's greatest secret was trusted to Mary, and at times she found it hard to keep. Let us see why.

We know how reverently the Church treats the Blessed Sacrament. Her priests alone may touch it. Their hands must be clean; the corporal on which It rests spotless. A veil must hang before the tabernacle door where It is reserved, a lamp must burn day and night before it. Flowers are to be set around the little throne where It is exposed for Benediction, sweet incense must rise up before It, and hymns be sung in Its praise. And when It is waved above their heads, the faithful bow down in adoration. All we can do must be done to honour the Hidden God who makes Himself so little for love of us.

Now Mary knew as no one else has ever known who He was that went out to work each morning and came home tired at night, who took orders from the villagers, and helped to earn the daily bread. We get used to the miracle of the Blessed Sacrament, as our genuflections before the tabernacle show. But the Real Presence at Nazareth was always as wonderful to Mary as It had been at the first. Her love and her worship, so far from growing less, grew more intense as time went on. And when she spoke to her Son with the authority of a mother, she never forgot that she was His creature and little handmaid. She knew that whilst He slept on His hard mat at night, or worked in the shop by day, legions of Angels were prostrate in adoration before Him.

It was the keenest pain to her to see Him treated with any want of reverence. When neighbours came into her little home in Egypt, and, meaning to be kind, took up her Babe and dandled and played with Him as if He had been an ordinary child, still more when the townsfolk of Nazareth spoke to Him roughly, found fault with His work, ordered Him here and there, it was hard to look on and say nothing. But she had God's secret to keep, and until the hour had come for her Son to show Himself to the world she must be content to adore in silence and try to make up to Him by her loving reverence for the neglect of those who knew Him not.

Time went on, went quickly in the Holy House, for they were all so happy. Our Lord was quite grown up now, and did all the hard work at the shop. For Joseph's strength was failing. Still he liked to go to the little timber yard, for Jesus was there, and He could sit and watch Him even if he could not help. And there he did sit hour after hour, his eyes fixed on his Foster-Son, watching and wondering why he should have been chosen to be His guardian, why people were allowed to call that Holy One "the Son of Joseph."

At last he could no longer get to his place in the yard. Then, a little later, the end came. There was no illness; the old man simply seemed to fade away. Our Lord prepared him for death, making with him the acts of Faith, Hope, and Charity which get us ready to die. Joseph had always willed just what God willed. It was this habit that made his face so peaceful that his neighbours used to wonder if he had any troubles. Yet sometimes the Will of God was hard. It was hard now.

When other saints die they are glad because they are going to God whom they love, going to be with Jesus and Mary for ever. But Joseph had lived with Jesus and Mary almost all his life. He had toiled for them, provided their daily bread, gone and come with them wherever they went. To look upon the face of Jesus, to be trusted and loved by Mary—this had made the happiness of his life. And now he must leave them and go down to Limbo, the dark, dreary place of waiting. Our Lord knew it was hard. But He comforted him by telling him that the separation would not be for long, and gave him sweet messages to take to the waiting souls. Only three years more and the world would be redeemed, and as soon as the price was paid on Calvary He would come to them and turn Limbo into Paradise.

The end of Joseph's wonderful life was come. His head lay on the breast of Jesus, his hand was clasped in the hands of Mary—and so he died. How they had loved him and how they missed him now! By the parting at that holy deathbed, and by the vacant place
in the little home, Jesus and Mary learned to weep with those that weep, and to feel for hearts torn and bleeding by the breaking of the ties that God Himself has made.

It is because of the happiness of St. Joseph's death, with Jesus and Mary by to help and comfort, that we beg this blessed Saint to be with us with Jesus and Mary when we come to die, and get us the faith, hope, and charity, the contrition, and resignation to God's Will which we shall need in that most dreadful hour:

Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, assist me in my last agony.Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, may I breathe forth my soul with you in peace.

Our Lord now became the carpenter at Nazareth. Morning and afternoon the sound of the hammer was heard in His shop. Passers by looked in now and then looked carelessly, their attention attracted by the noise. No one stopped to watch reverently, no one so much as dreamed that this—was God! He was expected to make and mend all the simple village furniture, to be grateful for orders, and to do His work cheaply and well. He must be at every one's beck and call, work after hours, leave what He was about, to do something wanted at once; this table must be altered, that plough was too dear. He listens patiently; He undoes His work and does it again. He tries to please His humble customers; He treats them with respect and obeys them cheerfully. And this day after day, all through the Hidden Life!

There need not have been all those years of heavy toil. Our Lord might have had a comfortable and a beautiful home. He might have taught in the synagogue, or written books, or trained disciples. Or, if He chose to work with His hands, His tasks might have been easier and more interesting. Had He thought of Himself things would have been different. But we are told that " He pleased not Himself." He knew that most of His followers would spend their lives in hard, distasteful labour—nothing to look forward to when they get up in the morning, always the same dreary round of little duties. The thought of Nazareth and of the Son of God earning His bread by the sweat of His brow would comfort and cheer these heavy-burdened ones.
 
This is why He spent almost His whole life in a cottage and a workshop. And there was another reason. What a prince touches, or does, or likes, receives a value which it had not before. When the Son of God came into the world, He found labour despised and shunned. So He consecrated it by the touch of His divine hands, and now it has become honourable and dear to those who love Him. We should esteem it as all the saints have done. How much better is a life of labour than one of ease and luxury ! Let us thank God
if we have to work hard with our heads or our hands. This will save us from the dangers that idleness brings; and if like our Lord we do our work for the love of God, it will be very pleasing in His sight and deserve a great reward.

When evening came our Lord and His Blessed Mother took their simple meal and said their night prayers together. He would speak to her of the time fast approaching when He must leave her to go out into the world and save the souls of men. She would see Him now and then during the time of His preaching, but His Father's business would fill His days, and prayer His nights. She must be content to follow Him with the holy women who would minister to Him, and mix in the crowd and see and hear Him from afar.

In His tender, loving talks during those last days at Nazareth, He would tell her many things about that Kingdom of His, the Church, which He was going to found, many secrets which because of her holiness she was fit to hear. When our Lord came to mix with men, we find Him sighing again and again at their want of faith, at the dullness of their understanding, at the slowness of their hearts. What a joy it must have been to Him to have such a one as Mary to teach, and how freely He must have spoken to her during those years of the Hidden Life when she was His one companion.

At last the day of parting came, and as they stood together at the door she bade Him farewell. He was leaving the little home in which God had had such perfect service, and going out into a world in which God was little known and loved. He left behind the one heart that understood His own, the Mother to whom He had trusted His joys, His sorrows, His plans for the souls of men. As time went on He would find many followers and a few devoted friends, but none like those who had made Nazareth a little Heaven upon earth. Mary's heart was breaking when she saw Him go. No one has ever known Jesus as she knew Him, and therefore no one can have any idea of the love with which she cherished and clung to Him. She alone among mothers was allowed, nay, was bound to worship her Son. For thirty years He had been the Life of her life. To part with Him was worse than death. Yet she would not have kept Him a day from the work to which He was going. She was the first and most faithful of His disciples, and she had learned from Him the worth of souls. She knew how dearly He loved them, how He was longing to give His blood to save them from sin and hell, and she was willing and eager to see them saved even at this tremendous price. He was going to torments and to death; the sword of sorrow must pierce her soul; but she bowed her head and said: "Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it done according to His Will."

A printable copy of this chapter as well as a coloring picture can be found below.