he have good parents, like St. Monica, or many pious friends praying for him, there is always great hope. "The child of many tears will not be lost."

D. I will not believe.

But the loving and grateful Heart of Jesus, and the compassionate heart of Holy Mary, are thinking much more of his past fidelity and generous love than of his present resistance to graces. Happy those who by many works of charity and mercy deserve, as Peter did, to find mercy, even when they fall. They will not be cast off with Judas the unmerciful.

SCENE XXXIII.

THE CONACULUM. THE OCTAVE day.

STATION I.

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 saith to Thomas: Put in thy finger 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 (St. John xx.).

A. After eight days, again Jesus cometh, the doors being shut.

Is this apparition in Galilee, or in Jerusalem? The common opinion is that of St. Jerome, that the Apostles are still in Jerusalem, in the Conaculum. Possibly our Lord delayed their journey to Galilee till their prayers had obtained grace for St. Thomas.

B. After eight days.

Therefore this is on the octave day of the Resurrection. Some commentators suggest that already the Apostles

had been taught to keep the Sunday holy. St. Thomas has learned by his experience to keep close to the rest.

C. Jesus stood in the midst, and said, Peace be to you. May we not try to form a habit of saying continually in our heart to all with whom we deal, Peace be to you. They who understand St. Ignatius' method of the Particular Examen, have helped themselves with it to form this habit of continual almsgiving to all persons with whom they have intercourse.

D. Then He saith to Thomas: Put in thy finger hither.

When He now says, Peace be to you, Thomas is included in the fervent wish of His Heart; He has come specially to bring peace to Thomas. Contrast His meekness and compassion with the way in which men sometimes treat a servant that is refractory, and stands out against them. Their wisdom says, "It would be madness to give in to him". But mothers are very patient and indulgent with a perverse child, and our Lord's love goes infinitely beyond the love of a mother, Even if she should forget, yet will not I forget thee (Isaias xlix.).

E. Put in thy finger hither.

Our Saviour doubtless requires St. Thomas to do His bidding now. We may therefore contemplate the Apostle, filled with astonishment and a most humble gratitude, putting his finger into the place of (all) the nails, and looking, as his tears fall fast, upon the sacred wounds, and then putting his hand, too, into the sacred side.

me.

"Soul of Christ, sanctify me. Body of Christ, save Within Thy wounds hide me.”

F. Put in thy finger hither.

Contemplate our Blessed Lady; all the gratitude of her motherly heart for the mercy shown to her wayward son, the son of my pain—for I know that Thou art a gracious and merciful God, patient, and of much compassion, and easy to forgive evil (Jonas iv.). My soul melted when He spoke (Cant. v.).

We may contemplate also the joy of the other Apostles,

and of Magdalen and of the rest, because Thomas is now again entirely one of them.

By this shall men know that you are My disciples, if you have love one for another (St. John xiii.).

G. Be not faithless, but believing.

With these words a grace goes into the heart of the Apostle. The word of his Master, like the two-edged sword, reaches the division of (his) soul. "Speak, O Lord, also to my heart." Be not Thou silent to me, lest if Thou be silent to me, I become like them that go down into the pit (Psalm xxvii.). H. Thomas answered and said to Him: My Lord and my God.

Contemplate the faith, the humility, the contrition, the gratitude, and the love of St. Thomas, when he utters these words. Beyond the Jordan he said, when Jesus was going to Bethany to raise Lazarus from the dead: Let us also go, that we may die with Him. From this hour till his martyrdom his heart will swerve no more from this loving thought.

"Blessed Apostle, pray for us that we may, as so many servants of our Lord have done, grow fond of thy short prayer: My Lord and my God."

I. Jesus saith to him: Thomas, thou hast believed.

Because thou hast seen Me,

Thomas has acted much in the same way as most of the other Apostles. We are not sure that any one of them believed till he had seen. Our Lord would have been more content if they had accepted the Resurrection on the testimony of His Holy Mother and Magdalen, and others. This would have been more humble. Still the charity and wisdom of the Divine Master draws good for us out of the incredulity of His Apostles. St. Gregory the Great writes: "We are more helped to faith by St. Thomas' incredulity than by Magdalen's prompt belief". Had the Apostles made less difficulty in accepting the fact of the Resurrection, sceptics in after ages would have scoffed more at their pious credulity.

J. Blessed are they that have not seen, and have believed. "Attendite." Oh, stay to consider this word, so entirely favourable to us. We are the blessed ones who have not seen, and can believe. Each of us can be the just man that liveth by faith. We often say: "I do not feel contrition, I do not feel fervour when receiving Holy Communion". A holy priest, in the days of persecution, thought it useful to write a book to explain to the faithful the difference between faith and feeling. Faith can be very strong without either seeing or feeling.

After this apparition, we may assume, the Apostles and disciples start on their way for Galilee. The news has gone abroad that the Lord is to appear to them there, so that all who can possibly leave Jerusalem bend their steps towards the loved places near the lake.

We

may doubtless assume that the Blessed Mother goes with them, seated, perhaps, once more on the ass.

Besides the Apostles, therefore, and the devout women, whom we have been contemplating, we may be sure that Lazarus and Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea, now miraculously delivered from prison, and Zacheus and Bartimeus, cured of blindness, are joining this pilgrimage to Galilee. Veronica also, and Martha and Joanna and Susanna, and many more whose names we know not, are on their way.

It was the custom, we are told, for men to travel together in one party, and women in another.

Their journey lies due north, over a succession of hills. The continual ascent and descent adds to the fatigue of the journey. As we travel now-a-days, we can form little idea of the hardship of these long journeys on foot over bad roads, and with no comfortable inns to give shelter. If the rain chance to be falling, travellers are stopped in the valleys by swollen torrents, and have to wait for some

days till they can cross them. At this Easter-time, however, it is probable that the rain is not falling. We may be sure that the presence of our Lady greatly lightens the burden of the journey. She is now the glad Mother of many children, and from time to time on the road she is gladdening and warming the hearts of the disciples by giving them details of the early life of their Master.

We must not fail to notice the poverty of this journey, how simple and scanty their meals are, how poor their beds at night.

On their way to the north, they pass through many places that awaken recollections full of emotion. Here is the town of Ephrem, where Jesus lay hid with some of them after the raising of Lazarus. After journeying another day, they possibly rest at Sichar, where He sat by the well. Journeying on further, they arrive in great gladness at Nazareth. We can imagine with what feelings they visit every corner of the Holy House, and the Grotto of the Annunciation, and the workshop of St. Joseph, at a little distance. It is quite possible that St. Luke is one of this holy company. Some commentators argue from his words, in the beginning of his Gospel, that he never saw our Lord in the flesh, but his words (c. i. 2) only prove that he had not been an eye-witness from the beginning. As he narrates so many things concerning the Annunciation, and the early mysteries of our Lord's Life, we may assume that our Blessed Lady taught him much that he has written, and it is quite probable that she points out to him on this occasion the spot on which St. Gabriel stood, and the spot on which she received his message. According to tradition, the Archangel was in the grotto when he delivered his message, our Lady in the Holy House. We have seen in a former chapter, that this grotto joined on to the house like an inner room.

From Nazareth, their journey lies through Cana of Galilee, and it is quite possible that the bride and bridegroom of the happy wedding are there to point out where