Thursday of the Fourth Week after Easter

joice, alleluia. alleluia.

The Apostles have received their mission. The Sovereign Master has bade them divide among themselves the nations of the earth, and preach everywhere the Gospel, that is, the Good Tidings, — the Tidings of man's Redemption wrought by the Son of God, who was made Flesh, was crucified, and arose again from the dead. But what is to be the grand support of these humble Jews, who have been suddenly transformed into Conquerors, and have to go winning the whole world to Christ? Their support is the solemn promise made to them by Jesus, when, after saying : Go, teach all nations ! he adds : Lo ! I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world! Hereby he promises never to leave them, and ever to direct and guide them. They shall see him no more in this life ; and yet he assures them that he will be ever in their midst.

But these men, with whom Christ thus promises that he will abide for ever, and preserve them from every fall and from every error in the teaching of his doctrine, — these Apostles are not immortal. We shall find them, one after the other, laying down their pasch: time ii. R

PASCHAL TIME. lives for the faith, and so leaving this world. Are we, then, condemned to uncertainty and darkness, like men who have been abandoned by the light ? Is it possible, that the appearance of our Emmanuel upon the earth has been but like that of a meteor, which we sometimes behold in the night, emitting a lurid light, and then suddenly disappearing, leaving us in greater darkness than before ?

No: the words of our Risen Jesus forbid us to fear such a calamity. He did not say to his Apostles : " Lo ! I am with you even to the end of your lives but, Lo ! I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world. So that those, to whom he addressed himself, were to live to the end of the world ! What means this, but that the Apostles were to have successors, in whom their rights were to be perpetuated ? successors, whom Jesus would ever assist by his presence, and uphold by his power. The work founded by a God, out of his love for man, and at the price of his own precious blood, — oh ! surely, it must be imperishable I Jesus, by his presence amidst his Apostles, preserved their teaching from all error ; by his presence, he will also, and for ever, guide the teaching of their successors.

O precious and necessary gift of Infallibility in the Church ! Gift, without which the mission of the Son of God would have been a failure ! Gift, whereby Faith, — that essential element of man's salvation, — is preserved upon the earth ! Yes, we have the promise ; and the eflfects of this promise are evident even to them that are not of the Church. Where is there an unprejudiced man, who would not recognise the hand of God in the perpetuity of the Catholic Symbol of Faith, whereas everything else on earth is for ever changing ? Can we attribute to natural causes, such a result as this, — that a society, whose link is unity of belief, should live through so many ages, and yet lose nothing of the truth it possessed at its commencement, nor imbibe anything of the falseness of the world around it ? that it should have been attacked by thousands of sects, and yet have triumphed over them all, survived them all, and be as pure in the faith now, at this present day, as it was on the day when first formed by its divine founder? Is it not an unheard-of prodigy, that hundreds of millions of men, differing from each other in country, character, and customs, yea, and frequently enemies to each other, — should be united in one like submission to one same authority, which, with a single word, governs their reason in matters of faith?

How great is thy fidelity to thy promises, O Jesus ! Who could help feeling that thou arfc in the midst of thy Church, mastering, by thy presence, the warring elements, and, by irresistible yet sweet power, subjecting our pride and fickleness to thy dear yoke ? And they are men, men like ourselves who rule and guide our Faith ! It is the Pope, the Successor of St. Peter, whose Faith cannot fail, and whose sovereign word is carried through the whole world, producing unity of mind and heart, dispelling doubt, and putting an end to disputation. It is the venerable body of the Bishops united with their Head, and deriving from this union an invincible strength in the proclamation of the one same truth in the several countries of the universe. 0 yes ; men are made infallible because Jesus is with and in them ! In everything else, they are men like ourselves ; but the Chair, on which they are throned, is supported by the arm of God ; it is the Ghair of Truth upon the earth.

How grand is our Faith 1 Miracles gave it birth ; and this continued Miracle, (of which we have been speaking, and which disconcerts all the calculations of human wisdom,) directs it, enlightens it, and up-

1 St. Luke, xxii. 32.

PASCHAL TIME. holds it. How stupendous are the wondrous works done by our Risen Jesus during these forty days ! So far, he had been preparing his work ; now, he carries it into effect. May the Divine Shepherd be ever praised for the care he takes of his Sheep ! If he exacts their Faith, as the first pledge of their service, we must own that he has made the sacrifice, not only meritorious by our reason's submitting to it, but most attractive to our heart's acceptance.

Let us honour his glorious Resurrection by a new Canticle, — one from the ancient Missals of Germany.

SEQUENCE.

Laudes Christo redempti, Let us, the redeemed, sing, Voce modulemur supplici. with suppliant voice, our praise to Christ. Omnis in hac die On this day, let all nature,

Rerum natura jubilans, in a transport of joy,

Personet immensas Sound forth one universal

Filio Dei gratias. hymn of thanks to the Son of

God.

Jam nostri concives. And you, our fellow-citi-

Coelestis sanctuarii milites, zens, the nine-choired hosts

Ordines noveni, of heaven, permit us to share

In vestra nos adunate gau- in your joys, dia.

Hymnite nunc superi, Sing a hymn, ye that are

Pariter resonate inferi, highest ! Intone a loud can- ticle, ye that are lowest ! Et omnia in Domino Yea, let every spirit be glad

Spiritus gratuletur aanesi ; in the Lord, and praise him ! Qui hominis causa, Deus For he, God, became Man homo nascitur ; for man's salvation.

Et fragili carne, Hidiug his Divinity with

Se deitas occulens, the veil of our frail flesh, he

Probra sustinuit patiens : patiently endured every insult ;

Virtutibus, signis ut Deus But his power and miracles emicuit; revealed him as our God.

He subjected himself to all Et corporis nostri neces- our human wants, and was sitate fruens, verily a wayfarer on our earth. Verus terrigena claruit

He was tempted by the Ab hoste tentatus, enemy ; but he made not Non est agnitus neque di- known his Divinity. vinitas patuit :

Craft by craft was foiled, Ars artem delusit, till the hour came for him to Donee yeteris nodum pia- cut the knot of Adam's sin. culi secuit.

For our sake, he offered In ara crucis hostiam himself to his Father a victim Se pro nobis Christus obtu- upon the altar of the Cross : lit Deo Patri, and, by his Death, he put our Morte sua nostra mortifi- sins to death. cans crimina.

And now, hell being rav- Jam victor Christus, aged and the prince of death Barathro populato, enchained, Christ returns Mortis principe vinculato, from Limbo, in all the pageant Ab inferis pompa regredi- of his victory. tur nobili.

This is the Day which has Haec est dies shone upon the world, after Quse illuxit, the stormy times of the Ethio- rost turbida pian sway. Kegni JSthiopum tempora ;

It is the Day whereon, with Christus in qua resur- the flesh he assumed from the rexit

Virgin Mary, Christ rose Ultra victurus, again, to live for evermore. Cum carne quam sumpsit de Maria virgue.

With joy, he carried on his Qui ovem, shoulders, to his Father, the Cum gaudio Patri quam sheep that had been lost. perdiderat,

Amen. Humero revexit suo.

Amen.