Wednesday of the Second Week after Easter

joice, alleluia. alleluia.

We are not to suppose, that because the sacred Humanity of our Risen Jesus is resplendent with glory and majesty, it is therefore less accessible to mortals. His kindness and condescension are the same as before ; nay, he seems to have become more affectionate than ever, and more desirous to be with the children of men. Surely we have not forgotten what happened during the joyous Octave of the Pasch 1 His affectionate greeting the holy Women, when on their way to the Sepulchre ; his appearing to Magdalene under the form of a Gardener ; his conversation with the two Disciples of Emmaus, and the means he took to make them recognise him ; his showing himself, on the Sunday evening, to the Ten, greeting them with his Peace be to you, allowing them to touch him, and even condescending to eat with them ; his amiably bidding Thomas, on the eighth day, to convince himself of the reality of the Resurrection by feeling the Wounds ; his meeting his Disciples at the Lake of Genesareth, blessing their fishing, and providing them with a repast on the bank ; — all this is proof of the tender love and intimacy wherewith our Saviour treated his creatures during the forty days after his Resurrection.

PASCHAL TIME.

As to his visits to his Blessed Mother, we shall have another occasion for speaking of them ; to-day, we will consider him in the midst of his Disciples. So frequently is he with them, that St. Luke calls it an appearing to them for forty days} The Apos« tolic College is reduced to eleven ; for the place of the traitor Judas is not to be filled up till after our Lord's Ascension, immediately before the descent of the Holy Ghost. How beautiful in their simplicity are these future messengers of the Good Tidings to mankind ! A short while ago, they were weak and hesitating in their faith ; they forgot all they had seen and heard ; they fled from their Master in the hour of trial. As he had foretold it to them, they were scandalised at his humiliations and death. The news of his Eesurrection made little impression upon them ; they even disbelieved it. And yet, they found him so affectionate, so gentle in his reproaches, that they soon resumed the confidence and intimacy they had had with him during his mortal life. Peter, who had been the most unfaithful, as well as the most presumptuous, of all, has now regained his position of the most honoured of the Apostles, and, in a few days hence, is to receive a special proof of Jesus' having forgotten his past disloyalty. He and his fellow -Apostles can think of nothing now but of Jesus. When he is with them, they feast on the beauty and glory of his appearance. His words are dearer to them than ever, for they understand them better, now that they have been enlightened by the mysteries of the Passion and Resurrection. They eagerly listen to all that he says, and he says more than formerly, because he is so soon to leave them. They know that the day will soon come when they will no longer be able to hear his voice ; they, therefore, treasure up his words as though they were his

'Acts, i. 3. 'Is. Hi. 7.

Jast will, and how could they better fit themselves for the mission he has intrusted to them ? It is true, they do not, as yet, fully enter into all the Mysteries they are to preach to the world, — they could not even remember so many sublime things, — but Jesus tells them that he will soon send upon them the Holy Ghost, who will not only give them courage, but will also bless them with spiritual understanding, and will enable them to remember all that he, Jesus, nas taught them.

Nor must we forget the holy Women, those faithful companions of Jesus, who followed him up to Calvary, and were the first to be rewarded with the joys of the Resurrection. Their Divine Master could not overlook them now : he praises their devotedness, he encourages them, he takes every opportunity of repaying them. Heretofore, as the Gospel tells us, they provided him with food ; now that he needs no earthly nourishment, he feasts them with his dear presence: they see him, they hear his words; the very thought that he is soon to be taken from them, makes these happy days doubly precious to them. They are the venerable mothers of the Christian people; they are our illustrious ancestors in thr Faith ; and on the day of the Descent of the Holy Ghost, we shall find them with the Apostles in the Cenacle, receiving the Tongues of Fire. Woman is to be represented on that glorious occasion, when the Church is to be made manifest before the world ; the women of Calvary and the Sepulchre are chosen for this office, and right well do they deserve to share in the bright joys of Pentecost.

Let us recite the following sequence in honour of our dear Jesus, who passes these forty days with bis

• St. John, xiv. 26. » St. Matth. xxvii. 56.

PASCHAL TIME.

Apostles and the holy women. Adam of Saint Victor

It was composed by

SEQUENCE.

Ecce dies Celebris ! Lux succedit tenebris, Morti resurrectio ; Laetis cedant tristia, Cum sit major gloria

8uam prima conf usio ; mbram fugat Veritas, Vetustatem no vitas, Luctum consolatio.

Pascha novum colite ; Quod praeit in capite, Membra sperent singula. Pascha novum Christus est, Qui pro nobis passus est, Agnus, sine macula.

Hosti qui nos circuit Prsedam Christus eruit. Quod Samson prsecinuit, Dum leonem lacerat. David, fortis viribus, A leonis unguibus Et ab ursi faucibus Gregem patris liberat.

Quod in morte plures stravit

Samson, Christum figuravit,

Cujus mors victoria. Samson dictus Sol eorum : Christus lux est electorum Quos illustrat gratia.

Jam de crucis sacro vecte, Botrus fiuit in dilectse

Penetral Ecclesiae. Jam, calcato torculari, Musto gaudent debriari

Gentium primitise.

Saccus scissus et pertusus.

Lo, the great Day is come f Light follows darkness, and resurrection death. Sorrow gives place to joy, for our glory is greater than was our former shame. Truth dispels the shadow ; the new, what was old ; and consolation, mourning.

Celebrate the new Pasch ! Let the members hope to have what now their Head enjoys. Our new Pasch is Christ,— the spotless Lamb that was slain for us.

Christ has taken the prey from the enemy that surrounded us. It is the victory prefigured by Samson, when he tore the lion to pieces ; and by the powerful David, when he rescued his father's flock from the lion's grasp and the bear's jaw.

When Samson killed his enemies by his own death, he was a type of Christ, whose Death was a victory. Samson signifies his Sun ; so is Christ the Light of his elect, for he makes his grace shine upon them.

Under the holy weight of the Cross, the vine-stream flows into the store-house of the beloved Church. The wine-press is trodden, and the first-fruits of the Gentiles drink their fill and are glad.

The garment that was rent and torn is made a robe for In regales transit usus : kings : that garment is the Saccus fit soccus gratiae,

Flesh that triumphed over Caro victriz miserise. suffering, and became an orna-

The Jews forfeited God's Quia regem peremerunt, kingdom, because they put Dei regnum perdiderunt ; the King to death ; they are Sed non deletur penitus not utterly destroyed, for, like Cain, in signum positus. Cain, they are set as a sign.

The Stone that they rejected Reprobatus et abjectus, and despised, is now the Lapis iste nunc electus, chosen one, set up as a trophy, In trophaeum stat erectus and made the chief corner- Et in caput anguli. stone. Taking away sin, but Culpam delens, non natu- not our nature, he creates us ram, into new creatures ; he unites Novam creat creaturam, in himself the two people Tenens in se ligaturam

(Jew and Gentile). Utri usque populi.

Be glory to our head ! and Capiti gloria, to the members peace I Amen. Membrisque concordia \

Amen.