Database query order

Hello,

I have the following code:

Code:

<?php echo $this->template->shortcode('pages', array('template' => 'default', 'id' => '45', 'limit' => '3')) ?>

Which showing 3 of publications from my pages table. But I need to show the newest 3 publications so can I order them by date and how can I do this in the code above?

And one more this, what exactly means $this->template->shortcode

Cheers!