in manibus ejus fixuram clavorum, et mittam digitum meum in locum clavorum, et mittam manum meam in latus ejus, non credam. Et post dies octo, iterum erant discipuli ejus intus: et Thomas cum eis. Venit Jesus januis clausis, et stetit in medio, et dixit: Pax vobis. Deinde dicit Thomæ: Infer digitum tuum huc, et vide manus meas, et affer manum tuam, et mitte in latus meum: et noli esse incredulus, sed fidelis. Respondit Thomas, et dixit ei: Dominus meus, et Deus meus. Dixit ei Jesus: Quia vidisti me, Thoma, credidisti: beati qui non viderunt et crediderunt. Multa quidem et alia signa fecit Jesus in conspectu discipulorum suorum, quæ non sunt scripta in libro hoc. Hæc autem scripta sunt, ut credatis, quia Jesus est Christus Filius Dei: et ut credentes, vitam habeatis in nomine ejus. Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said to him: We have seen the Lord. But he said to them: Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe. And after eight days, again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them. Jesus cometh, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said: Peace be to you. Then he said to Thomas: Put in thy fingers hither, and see my hands, and bring hither thy hand, and put it into my side; and be not faithless, but believing. Thomas answered, and said to him: My Lord, and my God! Jesus saith to him: Because thou hast seen me, Thomas, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and have believed. Many other signs also did Jesus in the sight of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written, that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God: and that believing you may have life in his name. We have said enough about St. Thomas' incredulity; let us now admire his faith. His fault has taught us to examine and condemn our own want of faith; let us learn from his repentance how to become true believers. Our Lord, who had chosen him as one of the pillars of His Church, has been obliged to treat him with an exceptional familiarity: Thomas avails himself of Jesus' permission, puts his finger into the sacred wound, and immediately he sees the sinfulness of his past incredulity. He would make atonement, by a solemn act of faith, for the sin he has committed in priding himself on being wise and discreet: he cries out, and with all the fervour of faith: My Lord and my God! Observe, he not only says that Jesus is his Lord, his Master, the same who chose him as one of His disciples: this would not have been faith, for there is no faith where we can see and touch. Had Thomas believed what his brotherApostles had told him, he would have had faith in the Resurrection; but now he sees, he has experimental knowledge of the great fact; and yet, as our Lord says of him, he has faith. In what? In this, that his Master is God. He sees but the Humanity of Jesus, and he at once confesses Him to be God. From what is visible, his soul, now generous and repentant, rises to the invisible: Thou art my God!' Now, O Thomas! thou art full of faith! The Church proposes thee to us, on thy Feast, as an example of faith. The confession thou didst make on this day is worthy to be compared with that which Peter made, when he said: "Thou art Christ, the Son of the living God!' By this profession, which neither flesh nor blood had revealed to him, Peter merited to be made the Rock whereon Christ built His Church: thine did more than compensate thy former disbelief; it gave thee, for the time, a superiority over the rest of the Apostles, who, so far at least, were more taken up with the visible glory, than with the invisible Divinity, of their risen Lord. The Offertory gives us another text of the Gospel, relative to the Resurrection. 1St. Matth. xvi, 16, OFFERTORY Angelus Domini descendit de cœlo, et dixit mulieribus: Quem quæritis, surrexit sicut dixit. Alleluia. An Angel of the Lord came down from heaven, and said to the women: He whom ye seek is risen, as he said, alleluia. In the Secret, the Church expresses the holy enthusiasm wherewith the Paschal mystery fills her; she prays, that this joy may lead her to the neverending one of the eternal Easter. SECRET Suscipe munera, Domine, quæsumus, exsultantis Ecclesiæ: et cui causam tanti gaudii præstitisti, perpetuæ fructum concede lætitiæ. Per Dominum. Receive, we beseech thee, O Lord, the offerings of thy joyful Church: and as thou hast given occasion to this great joy, grant she may receive the fruits of that joy, which will never end. Through, etc. While giving the Bread of heaven to her neophytes and other children, the Church sings in her Communion-Antiphon, the words spoken by Jesus to Thomas. This Apostle was permitted to touch our Lord's sacred wounds; we, by the holy Eucharist, are brought into still closer intimacy with this same Jesus: but, that we may derive the profit intended by such condescension, we must have a faith lively and generous, like that which He exacted from His Apostle. COMMUNION Mitte manum tuam et cognosce loca clavorum, alleluia: et noli esse incredulus, sed fidelis. Alleluia, alleluia. Put forth thy hand, and mark the place of the nails, alleluia: and be not incredulous, but believe. Alleluia, alleluia. The Church concludes the prayers of her Sacrifice, by asking, that the divine mystery, instituted to be a support to our weakness, may give us untiring perseverance. POSTCOMMUNION Quæsumus, Domine Deus noster: ut sacrosancta mysteria, quæ pro reparationis nostræ munimine contulisti, et præsens nobis remedium esse facias et futurum. Per Dominum. Grant, we beseech thee, O Lord our God, that the sacred mysteries thou hast given us to preserve the grace of our redemption, may be our present and future remedy. Through, &c. VESPERS When the feast of the Annunciation is deferred till after Easter, it is kept on the Monday following Low Sunday: its First Vespers are now sung, and a commemoration only is made of the Sunday, at the end of the Office. We have given these below, page 350. Other years, the Vespers are those of Paschal Time, which will be found in page 91. ANTIPHON OF THE Magnificat. ANT. Post dies octo, januis clausis, ingressus Dominus, dixit eis: Pax vobis. Alleluia, alleluia. OREMUS Præsta, quæsumus, omnipotens Deus: ut qui paschalia festa peregimus: hæc, te largiente, moribus et vita teneamus. Per Dominum. ANT. After eight days, the doors being shut, the Lord entering, said: Peace be to you. Alleluia, alleluia. LET US PRAY Grant, we beseech thee, O almighty God, that we who have celebrated the Paschal solemnity, may, by the assistance of thy divine grace, ever make the effects thereof manifest in our lives and actions. Through, &c. As an appropriate prayer, wherewith to close the day, we offer to our readers the following beautiful one, wherein the Gothic Church of Spain celebrates the mystery of the eighth day,-the Octave of Easter. Ingeniti Genitoris genite Fili, qui in eo nobis diei hujus octavi renovas cultum, in quo te discipulorum aspectibus hodie præbuisti palpandum. Nam licet hic dies sit prior præ cæteris conditus, octavus post septem efficitur revolutus, quo ipse sicut admirabiliter e sepulchro surrexisti a mortuis, ita ad discipulos inæstimabiliter intrasti januis obseratis. Initium videlicet Paschæ ac finem exornans congruis sacramentis, cum et resurrectio tua custodibus terrorem incuteret, et manifestatio discipulorum corda dubia confortaret. Quæsumus ergo, ut nos his sacramentis imbutos fides qua te credimus post istud sæculum tibi repræsentet illæsos. Nullum nobis de te scrupulum dubitationis errorisque, aut otium pariat, aut quæsitio incauta enutriat. Serva in nomine tuo quos redemisti sanguine pretioso. Contemplandum te nostris sensibus præbe: nostrumque cor dignatus ingredere. Esto semper in medio nostri qui hodie pacem nuntians discipulorum in medio astitisti. Quique in eis insufflasti Spiritum O Son begotten of the unbegotten Father! thou again invitest us to honour this eighth day, on which thou didst permit thy disciples to see and touch thee. The Sunday, though made before the other days, becomes the eighth by following the seven preceding it. It was on this day that thou didst rise from the tomb and death; it was on this same thou enteredst where thy disciples were assembled, and, the doors being shut, didst honour them by thine inestimable visit. Thus didst thou adorn, with a mystery well suited to each, both the beginning and the close of the Pasch; for thy Resurrection struck terror into the soldiers that guarded the tomb, and thy apparition confirmed the doubting hearts of thy disciples. We, therefore, who possess the knowledge of all these mysteries, beseech thee to grant, that the faith whereby we believe, may present us before thee, after this life, free from sin. May neither sloth engender, nor indiscreet prying foster, any misgiving of doubt or error concerning thee. Preserve in thy holy name them thou hast redeemed by thy precious blood. Let our souls contemplate thee, and |