In order that you may be able to satisfy yourself of the accuracy of the story which you have heard from the lips of others.]

"How can I be sure of this?" Zechariah asked the angel. "For I am an old man and my wife is advanced in years."

And now you shall be silent and unable to speak until the day when this takes place, because you did not believe what I said, though my words will be fulfilled in due course."

"This is what the Lord has done for me," she said, "now that he has deigned to take away the reproach under which I have been living."

"I am the servant of the Lord," exclaimed Mary; "let it be with me as you have said." Then the angel left her.

But how have I this honor, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?

For, as soon as your greeting reached my ears, the child moved within me with delight!

And Mary said: "My soul exalts the Lord,

My spirit delights in God my Savior;

For he has remembered his servant in her lowliness; And from this hour all ages will count me happy!

Great things has the Almighty done for me; And holy is his name.

For my eyes have seen the Salvation

His parents were amazed when they saw him, and his mother said to him: "My child, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been searching for you in great distress."

"What made you search for me?" he answered. "Did not you know that I must be in my Father's House?"

His winnowing-fan is in his hand, that he may clear his threshing-floor, and store the grain in his barn, but the chaff he will burn with inextinguishable fire."

And the Holy Spirit descended, in a visible form, like a dove, upon him, and from the heavens came a voice--"Thou art my Son, the Beloved; in thee I delight."

"I will give you all this power, and the splendor of them; for it has been given into my hands and I give it to whom I wish.

If you, therefore, will do homage before me, it shall all be yours."

'The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, For he has consecrated me to bring Good News to the poor, He has sent me to proclaim release to captives and restoration of sight to the blind, To set the oppressed at liberty,

"Doubtless," said Jesus, "you will remind me of the saying-- 'Doctor, cure yourself;' and you will say 'Do here in your own country all that we have heard that has been done at Capernaum.'

When Simon Peter saw this, he threw himself down at Jesus' knees, exclaiming: "Master, leave me, for I am a sinful man!"

On one occasion Jesus was staying in a town, when he saw a man who was covered with leprosy. When the leper saw Jesus, he threw himself on his face and implored his help: "Master, if only you are willing, you are able to make me clean."

But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins"-- he spoke to the paralyzed man-- "To you I say, Get up, and take up your pallet, and go to your home."

After this, Jesus went out; and he noticed a tax-gatherer, named Levi, sitting in the tax-office, and said to him: "Follow me."

Then indeed you may be glad and dance for joy, for be sure that your reward in Heaven will be great; for that is what their ancestors did to the Prophets.

How can you say to your brother 'Brother, let me take out the straw in your eye,' while you yourself do not see the beam in your own? Hypocrite! Take out the beam from your own eye first, and then you will see clearly how to take out the straw in your brother's.

Why do you call me 'Master! Master!' and yet fail to do what I tell you?

Every one who comes to me and listens to my teaching and acts upon it--I will show you to whom he may be compared.

He may be compared to a man building a house, who dug, and went deep, and laid the foundation upon the rock. Then, when a flood came, the river swept down upon that house, but had no power to shake it, because it had been built well.

But those who have listened and not acted upon what they have heard may be compared to a man who built a house on the ground without any foundation. The river swept down upon it, and the house immediately collapsed; and great was the crash that followed."

So Jesus went with them. But, when he was no great distance from the house, the Captain sent some friends with the message-- "Do not trouble yourself, Sir; for I am unworthy to receive you under my roof.

That was why I did not even venture to come to you myself; but speak, and let my manservant be cured.

For I myself am a man under the orders of others, with soldiers under me; and if I say to one of them 'Go,' he goes, and to another 'Come,' he comes, and to my slave 'Do this,' he does it."

And blessed is the man who finds no hindrance in me."

This is the very man of whom Scripture says--'Behold, I am sending my Messenger before thy face, And he shall prepare thy way before thee.'

And then, turning to the woman, he said to Simon: "Do you see this woman? I came into your house--you gave me no water for my feet, but she has made my feet wet with her tears and dried them with her hair.

You did not give me one kiss, but she, from the moment I came in, has not ceased to kiss my feet.

You did not anoint even my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with perfume.

"To you," he said, "the knowledge of the hidden truths of the Kingdom of God has been imparted, but to others in parables only, that 'though they have eyes they may not see, and though they have ears, they may not understand.'

No man sets light to a lamp and then covers it with a bowl or puts it underneath a couch, but he puts it on a lamp-stand, so that anyone who comes in may see the light.

His reply, spoken to them all, was: "My mother and my brothers are those who listen to God's teaching and do what it bids."

Catching sight of Jesus, he shrieked out and threw himself down before him, and in a loud voice exclaimed: "What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beseech you not to torment me."

"Who was it that touched me?" Jesus asked; and, while everyone was denying having done so, Peter exclaimed: "Why, Sir, the people are crowding round you and pressing upon you!"

"Somebody touched me," said Jesus; "for I felt that power had gone out from me."

The day was drawing to a close, when the twelve came up to him, and said: "Send the crowd away, so that they may make their way to the villages and farms round about, and find themselves lodgings and provisions, for we are in a lonely spot here."

And to all present he said: "If any man wishes to walk in my steps, let him renounce self, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.

For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, and whoever, for my sake, loses his life--that man shall save it.

Whoever is ashamed of me and of my teaching, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him, when he comes in his Glory and the Glory of the father and of the holy angels.

Indeed, I tell you, some who are standing before me will not know death, till they have seen the Kingdom of God."

And from the cloud came a voice which said--"This is my Son, the Chosen One; him you must hear."

And just then a man in the crowd shouted out: "Teacher, I entreat you to look at my son, for he is my only child;

"Listen carefully to my words. For the Son of Man is destined to be betrayed into the hands of his fellow men."

And then said to them: "Any one who, for the sake of my Name, welcomes even this little child is welcoming me; and any one who welcomes me is welcoming him who sent me as his Messenger. For whoever is lowliest among you all--that man is great."

To another man Jesus said: "Follow me." "Let me first go and bury my father," said the man.

"Master," said another, "I will follow you; but first let me say good-bye to my family."

Now, go. Remember, I am sending you out as my Messengers like lambs among wolves.

He who listens to you is listening to me, and he who rejects you is rejecting me; while he who rejects me is rejecting him who sent me as his Messenger."

Everything has been committed to me by my Father; nor does any one know who the Son is, except the Father, or who the Father is, except the Son and those to whom the Son may choose to reveal him."

But the man, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus: "And who is my neighbor?"

The next day he took out four shillings and gave them to the inn-keeper. 'Take care of him,' he said, 'and whatever more you may spend I will myself repay you on my way back.'

But Martha was distracted by the many preparations that she was making. So she went up to Jesus and said: "Master, do you approve of my sister's leaving me to make preparations alone? Tell her to help me."

"When you pray," Jesus answered, "say--'Father, May thy named be held holy, thy Kingdom come.

Jesus also said to them: "Suppose that one of you who has a friend were to go to him in the middle of the night and say 'Friend, lend me three loaves,

For a friend of mine has arrived at my house after a journey, and I have nothing to offer him;'

And suppose that the other should answer from inside 'Do not trouble me; the door is already fastened, and my children and I are in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything';

He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not help me to gather is scattering.

No one sets light to a lamp, and then puts it in the cellar of under the corn-measure, but he puts it on the lamp-stand, so that any one who comes in may see the light.

Some of whom they will persecute and kill, in order that the 'blood' of all the prophets 'that has been spilt' since the creation of the world may be exacted from this generation--

To you who are my friends I say, Do not be afraid of those who kill the body, but after that can do no more.

Every one, I tell you, who shall acknowledge me before his fellow men, the Son of Man, also, will acknowledge before God's angels;

But he, who disowns me before his fellow men, will be altogether disowned before God's angels.

"Teacher," a man in the crowd said to Jesus, "tell my brother to share the property with me."

But Jesus said to him: "Man, who made me a judge or an arbiter between you?"

And he began to ask himself 'What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?

This is what I will do,' he said; 'I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and store all my grain and my goods in them;

So do not be afraid, my little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the Kingdom.

And be like men who are waiting for their Master's return from his wedding, so that, when he comes and knocks, they may open the door for him at once.

But should that servant say to himself 'My master is a long time coming,' and begin to beat the menservants and the maidservants, and to eat and drink and get drunk,

There is a baptism that I must undergo, and how great is my distress until it is over!

'I do not know where you come from. Leave my presence, all you who are living in wickedness.'

But to-day and to-morrow and the day after I must go on my way, because it cannot be that a Prophet should meet his end outside Jerusalem.

Jerusalem! Jerusalem! she who slays the Prophets and stones the messengers sent to her--Oh, how often have I wished to gather your children round me, as a hen takes her brood under her wings, and you would not come!

Verily your House is left to you desolate! and never, I tell you, shall you see me, until you say--'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.'"

No, when you are invited, go and take the lowest place, so that, when he who has invited you comes, he may say to you 'Friend, come higher up'; and then you will be honored in the eyes of all your fellow-guests.

They all with one accord began to ask to be excused. The first man said to the servant 'I have bought a field and am obliged to go and look at it. I must ask you to consider me excused.'

The next said 'I have bought five pairs of bullocks, and I am on my way to try them. I must ask you to consider me excused';

'Go out,' the master said, 'into the roads and hedgerows, and make people come in, so that my house may be filled;

For I tell you all that not one of those men who were invited will taste my dinner.'"

"If any man comes to me and does not hate his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brothers, and sisters, yes and his very life, he can be no disciple of mine.

Whoever does not carry his own cross, and walk in my steps, can be no disciple of mine.

And, on reaching home, he calls his friends and his neighbors together, and says 'Come and rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost.'

And, when she has found it, she calls her friends and neighbors together, and says 'Come and rejoice with me, for I have found the coin which I lost.'

And the younger of them said to his father 'Father, give me my share of the inheritance.' So the father divided the property between them.

But, when he came to himself, he said 'How many of my father's hired servants have more bread than they can eat, while here am I starving to death!

I will get up and go to my father, and say to him "Father, I sinned against Heaven and against you;

I am no longer fit to be called your son; make me one of your hired servants."'

'Father,' the son said, 'I sinned against Heaven and against you; I am no longer fit to be called your son; make me one of your hired servants.'

For here is my son who was dead, and is alive again, was lost, and is found.' So they began making merry.

'No,' he said to his father, 'look at all the years I have been serving you, without ever once disobeying you, and yet you have never given me even a kid, so that I might have a merry-making with my friends.

'Child,' the father answered, 'you are always with me, and everything that I have is yours.