It happened at the end of the twelve months that his fellows went to the hill and came to the very place where they had left their companion at work. They began right there and, piercing through, found the man in good estate, alive, without any injury or wound. Each one was filled with amazement, and there was good reason why the men should be in doubt as to how he had lived all that year. Then he told them how he had lived there alone. "I have lived a gracious life through the courtesy of my wife, who every day has sent me wine and bread, except on one day, when I ate nothing."
They led the man in to the town and told the miracle everywhere through the city and through the country. At last it happened that he mentioned the name of the day when he fasted, and his wife said the same thing,—the day she made no offering was Good Friday. Now you may hear how a devout deed of alms will feed a man, and so you may understand that God is always pleased with good offerings.
In spite of this tale, trust not your wives, nor your children, but make your offerings yourselves. So kind a woman as I have told about does not live now, you may be sure. And no clerk who reads this will ever find one of such good deeds. You men who are now present and hear about the sacrament, know that the sacrament on the altar has power over all things, as I have shown to the ignorant but not to the learned, for the clerks know it well. Let us pray our Creator that our Saviour, the Sacrament, will save us body and soul, and grant that we may love Him and be His forever.
Translated by M. H. S.
A MIRACLE OF THE VIRGIN[41]
Lord, Maker of all things, Almighty God in majesty, that ever, without beginning, wert and art and shall be, grant us both strength and opportunity so to serve Thy pleasure that we may, through Thy grace, dwell with Thee for ever and aye!
We ought to bear well in mind those miracles of our Lady which are written in true story, showing how helpful she ever is to mankind. Once upon a time it happened in a city,—hearken well and ye may hear,—when Jews were wont to be together among Christians, Christians dwelt in one half of the city, and the Jews were forced to live in one street. The Christian children had made for themselves a pleasant place in a field, and there a Jew's child often played with them. The child's father took no heed of this and never cast an eye upon him, therefore the child came and went whenever he chose to play. So often did they play together that the Jew's son learned their games and was just like one of the Christian children, loved and welcomed by them.