OCR Text |
Show k...k.AAAAl ........ Right Rev. Bishop X. C. Matz spoke on "The Christ the Most Wonderful oi the Children of Men." at Logan avenue ; chapel, Denver. Sunday morning, tak- ! ing for his text: ' "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, I will draw all things after Me. Now this He said, signifying- -what 1 leat la lie should die." St. John xii., . , "Unquestionably," began the Bishon, i "the grandest manifestation in the 1 world since the days of the creation wag the passage of the incomparable mortal, Christ, who called Himlf the Son of Man. but whom humanity, in ; Its boundless admiration, ha called ' since the Son of God. In paradise, on the day of our doom, mention was i made of Him as the seed of the woman whose triumphal liel should finally ; crush the head of the serpent. Two thousand years later Cod called into existence a people, the Jews, whose exclusive ex-clusive mission it was to prepare the way for the Messiah to keep His mem-ory mem-ory alive before mankind and to usher Him into the world when the fullness cf time should come, and to be a living witness till time should be no more that the promised Messiah really did ' come as the prophets had foretold. i "For this reason we find this people, es a nation, first in the land of Egypt, which was the soat of ancient lore. Repeatedly, Re-peatedly, in punishment for its iniquities, iniqui-ties, it was carried off into captivity :? to Assyria, Babylon and Egypt where, with its worship, which was all sym- .! bolic of the Messiah, it propagated the Messianic idea with its glorious expectations. ex-pectations. Lastly, with its commercial commer-cial instincts, it reached the furthermost further-most parts of the civilized world and rrie-d along everywhere its religious ; convictions. Thus it happened that j Fautus and Suetonius, Roman histori- sis. were able to write that according ' to the ancTent traditions the Orient was at that time to regain the supremacy, and that men come out of India would become the ruler? of the world. Who dares not see in this the conquest of the world by Christianity? WONDERFUL, ENTRANCE TO THE 1 "WORLD. "Wonderful indeed was the Savior's entrance into the world. For. while at ; that time all eyes instinctively turned toward India and demanded ' that it bring forih Kim that was the Exp-cta--tir.r of the Nations (Gen. xlix., 10), when he -was actually born two per-' per-' . rons only in all the world knew and recognized Him Mary, His mother, ? and Joseph. His foster-father while I-thlehem. His native town, which by i His birth Hn did immortalize, refused , Him even a decent shelter, and He was j , forced to take refuge in a stable. But i while He thus conceals the crown of His eternal sovereignty under the veil t of humanity in its lowliest form, the , heavens proclaim His glory by an an- ! gelic concert which awakened the echoes of Bethlehem's hill? and eon- : vened the shepherds to the mvstcrious ' crib. I "But the ripples created upon the air ! r" the heavenly munic presently died j si way. and only for the appearance of , the wise men at the court of Herod. 1 , asking for the new-born King of the ! Jews. Jrrusalem even would never have ? been made aware' that tihe time had j ; . come for the Messiah to be born. The j ) Fingular apathy of the Jews and the I i murder of the Innocents emphasized thi fact that Daniel's prophesy had , l.er- fulfilled and the 430 years which ,j were to elapse between the rebuilding 1 ; Pf the temple and the coming of j i ' Christ had met their fulfillment, j ! "The wle men at the court of Herod I 8 had indeed created a sensation, which j : culminated in tho plauehter of the In-nocents In-nocents and the Lord of Hosts, who, at fl. moment's notice, could summon le sions of angels to his assistance, is ff.ur.d tleeing like a fugitive through j ; the drac-rt.. What a singular contrast. Hut bil as ITe enters the land of Egypt ; all the idols fall from their altars as I I . if prostrate in odnrtion before Him. ( ' The piunificance of this mystery did j i not then dawn uixin the land of the i IJharaohs; a few centuries later, when , even the deserts of Egypt swarmed f with holy hermits whose days were i if spent in gte.it austerities, mingled 1 li with prayers and manual labor, they I I understood that for the hospitality i ! which they then afforded the divine fu- pitive they now received in return the iiift of faith, for Egypt was among the M first conquers to Christianity. I j "For more than ten years the Savior now drof" into oblivion. We hear noth- Jng more of Him until we see Him in If that mystei jitjs youth of 12, who, by the ; wisdom of His qaeftioa? and the ma- j' tuiity (f Hi-s answers, astounds the h, doctors of ti e law in the temple of I ; i Jerusalem. This, however, was a mere I ( fai-ih of lightning amid the darkness f-iliowing upon the disappearance of the myduriuu? star that led the Magi 'i to the ity of Jerusalem, inquiring rfter the now -born king of the Jews. i Jts purpose would eeem to have been 1 ; only to ftitain the hopes of th'se who j i were dying in their expectation and tj passionate longing for the coming of I the Mc-stiah. Again the Savior disap- 1 j pears from the horizon and buries Him- j; n-If in the seclusion of Hit? home at f Nazareth, consecrating His days for if fighKen long years t.j prayer.earning U Uie bread in the sweat oLA?3ty-ow. I "All India was now in ;jfn.,Tf ex- IcitMivnt f)ver the appearj.''un the brinks of the Jordan of a man whoce mly garment was a sheepVkin covering hip loirs the diploma of penance whose only food wa locusts and wild j hor.ey: whose austf ri: io.s. coupled w ith a fiery -eloquence, atirroHed throngs of if peopie tint came to leg at His hands J for the baptism of penince. Among the tj crowd that was surging in the direc-'j direc-'j tion of the Jordan, there was a man of ij so, who came with the rest, apparently j with the name mission, namely, to beg for the baptism of penanr. Bat the liaptist had no sooner rested his eyes upon Him, when, under an inspiration from on high, pointing Him out to the muititude, lie exclaimed: 'Behold the Lamb of God.' Joeus had come, in fact, to be baptized. He, the Holy of Holies, had of His own choice been ranked with sinners. In vain did the Hart-'t, who knew His worth and had publicly proclaimed that he was come to take away the sine of the w-or!d,' contend: "I ought to be baptized by Thee, and comest Thou to me?' The Savior commanded: 'Suffer it to be j !i now. For f-o it becometh us to fulfill j. ell Justice' (Math., ii., 15), and John I baptized Him a though He differend in j : "Jlnd I if 7 Be Lifted from tbe Garth, 1 Will Draw Mi things JIftcr We. flow this Jyz : Said, Signifying What Death Jje Should Die St. John: KKii, 32--3S. : : : j nothing from the balance of sinners. j Rut, lo! no sooner was Jesus baptized j when the he-wens opened and the Holy Ghost descended upon Him in the "pe cf a dove, and a voice from the heavers was heard, saying: 'Thou art my beloved Son; in Thee I am well pleased.' You see, with every humiliation humilia-tion of the Godman, we find a corre- I spending manifestation of His divin- ; ity. j TIME FOR POPULAR SIGHT. I "But now the time had come for the J Savior to show Himself unto the world, j j and, whereas this manifestation had to i be in power to give sanction to His word, we now find the miracle, as the herald of His divine majesty, walking constantly at Hie ide and ever proclaiming pro-claiming His divinity in a manner so triumphant, so irresistible, that even His bitterest enemies were at last forced to exclaim, even at the foot of that cross to which' they had fastened Him as a malefactor: 'Indeed, this man was the Son of God.' We propose now to study some of the most striking contrasts con-trasts the Savior's public life has furnished fur-nished us. in order that we might learn to know batter still tMs Jesus, the most wonderful of the children of men. "What strange power and fascination this one which centers in Hid personality! personal-ity! Everyone whom He addresses comes under its magic spell. One day. as He war walking along the shores of the lake. He saw two fishermen, casting cast-ing their nets. Jesus addressed them: 'Come, follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men. At once, droppins everything, they followed Him. On another an-other occasion, as the Savior wras wending wend-ing His way toward the same chores, he saw Levi, the publican, sitting at his toll office, collecting duties. 'Follow 'Fol-low me, and let the deadPTlzfiflfffH low Me,' said the Savior. The publican arose, left all and followed Jesus. Lastly, Last-ly, one. of His disciples asked leave to go and burv his father. He answered: 'Follow me, and let the dead bury the dead.' Strange, indeed to eee theee men leave all that they possessed their business, their homes, their money counters; yea, even their dead to obey Him. "But what is this when compared with the power He manifested when He drew the multitudes after Him into the dasort by the thousands, and held them spell-bountd y His divine eloquence for days together? Need we wonder, after af-ter that, to hear these rveonle exclaim ing in their enthusiasm, 'No man ever spoke like this man does?' Need we wonder to see them conspiring to lay hands upon Him and forcibly to pro- , claim Him their king? Need we wonder to see all Jerusalem turning out to do Him honor in the solemn reception " they gave Him when they led Him in triumph to the temple, as we comment- -mora ted on Palm Sunday? "True, it was not merely the force of His eloquence which moved the multitudes multi-tudes so powerfully and worked them i up to such enthusiastic outbursts. They " had not only heard His words; they had seen the miracles which He h wrought in confirmation of His doc- trine: they had seen Him feed four and five thousand men without counting either women or children some ten and twelve thousand people feeding them in the desert with a few loaves h and some few fishes, that multiplied miraculously under His divine hands . until all had eaten and all were Sat iated: they had seen the lame walking, the deaf hearing, the blind seeing and the very dead come back to life; they had seen how a mere word or a touch of His divine hands was enough to cure j the most inveterate diseases: yea, a surreptitious touch of the hem of His garment, prompted by faith, was sufficient suf-ficient to provoke an emanation of His healing powers and cure a hemorrhage that had defied all the powers of medical medi-cal science. Distance w-as no obstacle j to His divine power, for when the Ce.T-tnrian Ce.T-tnrian told Him: 'Lord, I am not worthy wor-thy that Thou shouldst enter under my roof: say only the word and my servant ser-vant shall be healed He did say the word, and at that same hour the servant ser-vant was healed, as the Centurian had j believed. They had soen the grave itself it-self at his command to yield its prey, ! and Lazarus, after four days' burial, walked out of the tomb, triumphant over death. FORCED TO CONFESS POWER. "But this is not all; the very demons of hell were forced to confers His j jKjwer, for in dismay they left the bod-i bod-i ies of those possessed, exclaiming as J they went: 'What have we to do with I Thee., Jofus of Nazareth? Art Thou I come to destroy us? I know who Thou art, the Holy One of God.' And on another an-other occasion they begered to be allowed al-lowed to enter into a herd of swine after being driven out of the two men from the country of the Gerasens. Their request being granted they plunged tbe whole herd over a precipice into the se?-" "But why wonder at this when we ' see inanimate nature and the brute creation cre-ation obey His commands. Here -I would ask you to remember how in the verv l?ginning of his ministry at the wed'ding of Cana He changed water into wine. No doubt his kind host had not counted on so large a company as that which came in the Master's following fol-lowing and in the midst of the festivities festivi-ties the wine gave out. Mary. His mother, with that exquisite instinct which characterized her sweet heart,-discovered heart,-discovered the embarrassment of their kind friends. 'They have no wine,' she said to Jesus. Unmindful of an apparent appar-ent rebuke and counting upon u divine div-ine hoart whose love for man she knew as no one else did know it. she said to the waiters: 'Whatsoever He shall say to you, do ye.' You know the rest. In the language of Milton, 'The water saw-its saw-its Maker and blushed.' The wine was so equisite that the chief steward of the feast, who knew nothing of the miracle could not but compliment the bridegroom because, as he said: 'Thou has kept the good wine until now.' "You will likewise recall to mind that twice repeated miraculous draught of fishes wherewith Jesus would reward the faith and obedience of his disci- C TlimiUlllll IM. IIII .11 111 Mill UUll III I MM Bill. I I Ill III! Ill "Oh, Jesus, Most Wonderful of the Children of Men! We Desire to Sing: to Thy j t Name a Hymn of Glory. If We Have Succeeded Bless Thy Child, For t Thine Is the Glory, Rot Ours." Bishop N. C. Matz. pies who, notwithstanding their weari-nes weari-nes and discouragement because of a : whole night's labor lost, yet at his command, did cast their nets and en- , close such a multitude of fishes as to fill their barques to the brim without j either breaking their nets or sinking their ships. You will likewise remem- : ber how, awakened during the dreadful ; storm by the cries of his apostles, ; who, when they saw themselves sinking sink-ing with the violence of the waves, ; aroused him from his tranquil slumber in the hull of the vessel, he arose, and after gently rebuking them, saying, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith,' he commanded the wind and ; the sea, and there came a great calm. ; Perhaps tie most beautiful of these ) tne w-inu ceasea. oucn was me asc-m-ishment of all in the boat that they came and adored him, saying: 'Indeed, thou art the Son of God." "But the most astonishing of all the manifestations was when all creation combined to mourn tbe death of this most wonderful of children of men. For we read in the gospels that at the moment mo-ment of his death there was an earthquake; earth-quake; the earth rocked as if in fear and trembling; the rock of Calvary was rent in twrain; the graves yawned and waked their sleepers, and many dead appeared in the streets of Jerusalem, threatening vengeance upon that reprobate rep-robate generation: the sun and moon refused to shed their light upon this deicide world whilst all creation in a veil of darkness, which spread like a pall over the universe. It was then the prophecy contained in the words of my text met its fulfillment. For we read: "Now, the centurion seeing what was done glorified God, saying: 'Indeed, i this was a just man. And all the multitude mul-titude of them that were come together to-gether to that sight and saw the things that were done returned striking their breasts.' PURSUED TO THE CROSS. "Iniquity had triumphed. To the very foot of that cross to which they had nailed their victim they pursued him with their villainies. Hear them as to and fro they walk before the agonizing agoniz-ing Godman, shaking their heads In de-rit-lon and saying: 'Van, thou who destroyed de-stroyed the temple of God and in throe days doet rebuild it; save thy own-pelf. own-pelf. If thou be the Bon of God come down from the cross.' In like maimer also the chief priests with the acrlbes and ancients, mocking, said : 'He saved others, himself he canont save. If he be the King of Israel, let him come down from the cross and we will believe be-lieve in him.' What a mercy for us , that the Savior did not accept the chal- ! lenge? Yet we must confess that only a God of Infinite patience and love could submit to such like outrages. But his victory over his enemies shall be only by so much the greater as his humil- j iations have been more galling. For if i he will not come down from the cross j as they challenged him to do, he will ; 'come out of his grave, as, they never i expected ho would, triumphant alike j over sin and hell. And he will thus i brand their foreheads with the mark of ' Cain which 2,000 years have net been able to efface. To this day they are called Delcldes. "We have just contemplated creation crea-tion in the throes of agony over the cruel death of its Creator. Let us now credits for palming off upon the world the so-called miracle of the resurrection. resurrec-tion. Mary of Magdala, gays he, was an enthusiastic lover of Jesus. She was so fnll of Him and firmly convinced con-vinced of His resurrection that she began be-gan to see visions of her rivyn- Master. These worked upon her mind until she actually fancied that she had seen the Savior and conversed with Him. She became hallucinated. Now hallucination hallucina-tion is a disease and i3 very catching, enpecially with women, says he, and thtta it came to pass that she communicated commu-nicated her illusion to the other holy women. Thesa in turn became each one affected! In the same way, and began to spread the contagion' amongst the apostles and disciples until all be- . I . . i : ( fSSf fill :j X ' missI t x VwSwiKi. - v mw : - BISHOP XL C. JIATZ. -f .t. ft "ti 4-4- manifestations was when in the night he came to his apostles over the sea, walking upon the waters that consolidated consoli-dated beneath his feet as if spellbound in admiration, at beholding their Master. Mas-ter. After reassuring them, for they thought they saw a ghost, Peter said to him: 'Lord, if it be thou bid me come to Thee upon the waters.' And he said: 'Come.' And behold .e proud waves, not satisfied with carrying their Master triumphantly upon their very crests, now received likewise the disciple dis-ciple and would have carried him in similar triumph had not his faith failed him, when he began to go under. Peter, frightened when he saw himself sinking, sink-ing, cried out: 'Lord, save me.' And Immediately, Jesus stretching out his hands, took hold of him, saying: 'O thou of little faith, why didst thou doubt?' Then, hand in hand, both walked over the waters to the boat and cast a glance at another glorious contrast con-trast and contemplate that thrill of jubilation which, on the third day following fol-lowing the crucifixion, startled the world in the glorious resurrection of the Savior. For this resurrection Is the very foundation of our faith, 'ff Christ be not risen again your faith is v!n.' says St. Paul. The Savior himself had challenged his enemies :o meet n.'m at his grave. They accepted the challenge; , they met him there and were confounded. confound-ed. But they w:ere d'shonest and therefore there-fore would not conf?3 their dtsco'nf t-; t-; ure. Iniquity is over the pam. Rather j than to acknowledge their defeat they : had recourse to shameful subterfuges, j ; which only se-ved to implicate them the more. They appealed 'to sleeping ' witnesses whom they bribed with the I i gold of the sanctuary to cover their infamy. That they did n-ot credit their j : own invention is evident, for they never I ! prosecuted the apostles for stealing the : j body of the Savior, nor did they ever punish the guards for falling asleep . whilst they were in charge of that ; grave and of the seal of the nation 'whose violation they should thus have! j allowed. "The third day was dawning and the f ! enemies of Christ began to flatter j I themselves that it was all over with . Him. But lo! there was another earthquake; earth-quake; an angel came down from heaven; as he touched that stone it re-J re-J bounded and he sat down upon it. His I countenance was as lightning and his raiment as snow. And for fear of him the guards were struck with terror and j became as dead men. Consternation now seized upon the guards, who ran I into the city and told the priests what , had happened. Immediately a council of the ancients was called and with a large sum of money they sealed the, lips of the aoldiersi as we saw above. I I "'And when the Sabbath was past, j Man Magdalen, and Mary the mother i of James and Salome, brought sweet i spices, that coming they might anoint i Jesus. And very early in the morn- i ing, the first day of the week, they I came to the sepulcher, the sun being j now risen. And they said one to an- , other: Who shall roll us back the ; s.tone from the door of the sepulehsr? : And, looking, they naw the stone rolled back, for it was very great. And en-'j tering into tha sepulcher, they saw a young nmn sitting on the right s'de, j clothed with a white robe; and they; were astonished: who said to them: i Be not affrighted; you seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified; He is ; risen. He is not here: behold the place j where they had laid Him.' RENAN'S EXPLANATION. . I "By way of digression i desire to remark re-mark that this Mary Magdalen is the one whom the" French infidel, Renan, 1 came victims1 of the same hallucina-i hallucina-i tion. 1 "We should not have stooped to notice no-tice this stupid theory of Renan were it j not that our modern infidels) have hailed it as a revelation. Poor fools! They never dreamed that this pet the- ! ory of theirs waa as old as the days of the apostles. Why, the apostles themselves them-selves are really the Inventors; of this theory of hallucination. " Take the twenty-fourth chapter of St. Luke, verses 9, 10 and It, and you will see there that when Mary Magdalen and the other woman returned from the sepulcher and told the apostles what they had seen, the open se-pulcher; the vision of the angels and the message; the evangelist adds: 'And these words seemed to them as idle tales, and they did not believe them.' In other words, they treated these women as hallucinated hallucin-ated visionaries. Mr. Renan, therefore,, there-fore,, stole h1si theory of hallucination from St. Luke, and we think he ought to have been honest enough to give the apostles credit for the fame. although we do not believe they felt very proud over their invention and would willingly will-ingly leave to Mr. Renan and hi.i admirers ad-mirers the glory they would attach thereunto. "But let us take the facts of the case. St. Mark In his sixteentn cnapier. as I quoted above, shows us Mary Magda-! Magda-! len-, Mary the mother of James and Sa-lome, Sa-lome, buying sweet spices that coming ' they might anoint Jesus. And he tells us that they actually went very early ! in the morn1n to the sepulcher for I that purpose, to anoint the body of ! Jesus. And these are the women who, ! in their passionate love for their cru-j cru-j cified Master, had worked themselves into a hallucination by means of a fanciful conviction that He had arisen from the dead. If so, why in the name of common sense are they buying sweet spices to anoint His body? Why, they never dreamt of the resurrection resur-rection or they should never have started on such an errand to anoint the body of one whom they fancied to be risen. But what is more wonderful sttill Is the fact that after Mary Magdalen Mag-dalen had seen the stone removed from the grave; after she had gone Into the sepulcher and seen that the body had disappeared; after she had heard the angel telling her and her companions that- Jesus had arisen, even then this enthusiastlo hallucinated apostle of the resurrection did not believe in the resurrection. res-urrection. For St. John points her out to us after the departure of the other women, lingering about the tomb, weeping- and lamenting over the loss of the Savior's body. Presently she saw a man whom she took to be the gardener, and she says to him.: 'Sir, If thou hast taken Him hence, tell me a. 4 where thou hast laid Him, and I will take Him away.' REQUIRED A MIRACLE. "Tell me, are these the wordri and actions of a woman who believed the resurrection? Yea, more; it required an astonishing miracle to get her to believe the possibility of the resurrection. resurrec-tion. The man she had not recognized Him. Jesus now for the gardener was in reality Jesus, but she had not recognized rec-ognized Him. "Jesus now addressed her in His familiar voice: 'Mary.' Ah! She recognized that voice and the next insta-iit she was at his feet, exclaiming: ex-claiming: Kabbor.I, sweet Master. 'Touch Me not.' said Jesus, 'for I have not yet ascended to My Father. But go to My brethren and say to them: I ascend to My Father and to your Father, Fa-ther, to My God and to your God.' "Ilenee you see that Kenan's famous theory of hallucination is a soap bubble. bub-ble. We punctured It, and you found that it contained but a little wind. Moreover, the idea of a hallucination j becoming epidemic ana anecting oer 500 persons, every one in the same way. is still more ridiculous. And that all of these people shoulrJ now go forth with no other foundations to stand on but this hallucination of a diseased brain and proclaim unto the w-orld the divinity of Christ, proven by His resurrection, res-urrection, sealing their faith with their blood; all this is utterly inconceivable. Men will never die in support of a known falsehood. "Mary now goes forth and in the exuberance ex-uberance of her joy cries out, 'I have seen the Lord!' Her testimony is corroborated cor-roborated by the other holy women, who were also returning from the sepulchre sep-ulchre and were met by their risen Master. He addressed them, saying: 'All hail! Fear not; it is I. Go and tell My brethren that they go into Galilee; there they shall pee Me.' Thus the cry was beard resounding through the Cenade: "The Lord is risen, indeed, and hath appeared to Simon- Next follow the apparitions in which Christ reveals Himself completely, till finally He is seen by the 500. We shall speak of them at full length, since they con- stitute the most glorious contrast of all that we have contemplated so far concerning this, the most wonderful of the children of men. "Two of the dieciples were going from Jerusalem to Emmaus, on the same day of the resurrection. They were sad and pouring out their hearts one to another, when they saw a mysterious mysteri-ous stranger approaching them and apparently ap-parently traveling in the same direction as they were. The stranger was Jesus, but they knew Him not, for their eyes were held. And He addressed them, saying. "What conversation's are these j-ou are holding and why are you so sad?' They answered: 'Are you a stranger in Jerusalem and do you not know what has there transpired these days concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who- was a prophet, mighty in work and word before God and men; whom our chief priests condemned to be j crucified? We had hoped that He ; should redeem Israel, but now this is j the thhrd day since these things have happened.' Then they toM Him how I that morning they had been frightened ( by the holy women, who went to the ; sepulchre at early dftwn and had found i the tomb wide open without the body : of their beloved Master; but insteal had seen a vision of angels, who told them that He was alive and would go before them into Galilee. "Now, the stranger began gently to upbraid them for their slowness of heart in believing. 'Ought not,' said He. 'Christ to have suffered these things and so to enter into His glory?' And beginning with Moses, He expounded ex-pounded to them the Scriptures relating relat-ing to him. Now, as they were approaching ap-proaching the town, the stranger made a though He would go farther, but they constrained Him. saying: 'Stay with us, for the day is now far spent and evening is falling faet.' And He went with them. 'And it came to pa?, whilst He was at table with them. He took bread and blessed end brake, and gave to them. And their eyes were pened and they knew Him, and He vanished out of their sight. It was He. And they said to one another: 'Was not our hearts burning within us whilst He spoke in the way and opened to us the Scriptures?' "Instantly they arose and returned to Jerusalem, where they found the eleven, and others with them, who greeted them, saying: "The Lord is risen indeed and hath appeared to Simon.' In turn the disciples told them what had happened to them on the journey to Emmaus and how they knew Him at the breaking of the j bread. And whilst still speaking and all hearts were aglow with wonder and amazement, behold Jesus stood in their midst, and He said to them: 'Peace be with you.' Fear and terror now seized upon them, for they fancied they saw a spirit. But He said to them: 'Why are you troubled and why do these thoughts arise in your hearts? See My hands and feet, that it i Myself. A spirit Was not flesh and bones as you see Me to have.' He then opened their understanding that they might comprehend the Scriptures, and toi(i them that thus it behooved Christ to suffer and rise from the dead the third day. "But Thomas, one of the twelve, was not with them on that occasion. Upon his arrival he was greeted with these words: 'We have seen the Lord. Thomas, a noble and generous heart, but stubborn disposition, said to them: 'Except I shall see in his hands and feet the print of the nails and place my hands Into his open side I will not believe.' Eight days later, when the apcitles were all gathered together and Thomas with them, Jesus again appeared ap-peared in their midst, the doors being closed, and said to them: 'Peace be with you.' Then turning to Thomas: 'Put in thy finger hither and eee my hands, and bring thither thy hand and put it into my side, and be not faithless, faith-less, but believing.' Overwhelmed, l more by the loving condescension of hij sweet Master than by this proof of th-i resurrection, Thomas exftlaimed: 'My Lord and my God!' "Another most beautiful and most touching apparition was th one whicU took place on the shores of the lake. They had been fishhng, but caught nothing all night- When the morning dawned Jesus s-tood on the shore, but they recognized him not. 'Children.' said he. 'have you any meat?' They j answered no. "Cast your net cn the j right side of the ship and you shall I find.' They did and now were not able l to draw it out for the multitude of ' fishes they had ea.urht. At this repe-, repe-, tition cf the miraculous draughts John, I the disciple, whom Jesus loved, said: j 'It is Jesus!" He had recognized the I Master, even more by meaxts of his chaste virgin look than by tire miracle ; wrought over for the second time. Pe-' Pe-' ter, w'hen he heard that it was Jesu.s. put on his garments and in his anxiety - to meet the Lord could trot wait till the ship should land, but cast himself into the water the sooner to greet his beloved Master, tjpon reaching shore they saw hot coals, a fish broiling and some bread. Jesus said to them: 'Bring hither of the fishes you have caught; come and dine.' What a wondrously loving condescension this I DEMAND TRIPLE REPARATION. "It was on this ccasion the Savior demanded of Peter a triple reparation j for his thrice repeated denial of his Master. When, therefore, they had ilwd, Jeinjs saldt to Simon Peter: 'Simon, 'Si-mon, sen of John, lovest thou rs?' ,'Yes. Lord, thou knowest that I .Cve i Thee.' 'Feed my lambs,' Jesus satd to i j him again: 'Simon, son of John, Iov- ' ! est thou me?' 'Yes, Lord, thou knowest know-est that I love Thee.' 'Feed my lambs.' repeated the Savior. And now for thi third time Jesus said to Peter: 'Simon, 'Si-mon, son of John, lovest thou me more than, these?' Peter was grieved because be-cause Jesus had said to him for the third time, 'lovest thou me?' He had learned by sad experience to know his s own weakness, and fewing lest the Sav- ior, whose divine intuittion he could no longer question, had discovered some reason to doubt his word, whilst in re- ality Jesus only desired of him a repar- -ft ation for his former presumption. So ! now he rr pealed b" this same intuition ;".ii)ic b t ...a of !.i.-J "proteta ioru. . 'Yea, Lord, thou knowest all things. and by that knowledge I declare that I , love Thee.' You will remark that Pe- ter does not say, I love Thee more than j these. Oh, no; he haid paid too dear j for a similar presumption, when on the j way to the garden of the agony he had said: 'Although all shall be scandalized i in Thee, I will never be scandalized. s Yea, though I should die with Thee. I will not deny Thee.' Matthew xxvl. Oh. there is no lesson like that of experience! experi-ence! He was cured. "The time was now come when Jesus ! must return to his Heavenly Father. But he cannot bring hi loving heart to leave this earth without revisiting his beloved Galilee, where he had labored so hard and wrought so many miracles. Wherefore he now convened thither. i upon a certain mountain. U1 those who had preserved their faith and kept his memory. There they all met on the day : appointed, 500 in number. Christ ap- peared before thm m all the glory and majesty of hi3 resurrection. There was no longer any room for doubt. "The last and of all the most glorious glor-ious apparition now remained the on which was to crown both their faith ajtd his glory. I refer to his last triumph tri-umph he ascemion. A few days later, being the fortieth day 'since he had arisen, by preconcerted arrangement, he met them for the last time in Jeru- f salem. All, himself at their head. ; marched out to the mountain of Olives. It was there, at the foot of that moun- i tain, he had begun his passion; it was meet that it likewise should witness I his last triumph. Having reached the j stammit Jesus gave his last instruction i to them, which was for them not to de- I I part from Jerusa'em ere they should f receive the Holy Ghost, not many days I hence. 'And when he had said these things, while they looked on. he was ' raised up and a cloud received him out of their sight. And whilst they were f beholding him going up to heaven." their hearts entranced over this rapturous rap-turous sight,, 'behold, two men stood by them in white garments, who said to them: 'Ye, me of Galilee, this Jesu. ? who is taken up from you into heaven shall so come, as you have seen l.im going go-ing into heaven." ' Acts, i, 11. "Oh. Jesus, most wonderful of the children of men! We desire to sing in thy name a hymn of glory. If we havo succeeded, bless thy child; for Thine is the glory, not ours. Thine own w-ords comprise whatever in this enconium may be good and beautiful, our3 are i all its faults and imperfections, for ' which, most humbly; we beg thy pardon. par-don. If thou wouldst bless thy children of this cathedral parish I would implore im-plore Thee, grant that now we may be permitted to build upon this hill a cathedral ca-thedral monument worthy of thy name and that of thy most august mother. -Amen." |