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great Seer of the Apocalypse, sees in one of his visions
the divine Lamb on the altar of heaven, and he declares
that in order to take part in the eternal banquet, the
elect must have washed their robes in the blood of the
Lamb. Lastly, before holy Communion the priest repeats
"
the words of the holy Precursor : Behold the Lamb of
"
God. JESUS CHRIST RISEN FROM THE DEAD is for us the
TRUE PASCHAL LAMB, for the shedding of His Precious
Blood has delivered mankind from the slavery of the
devil and the bondage of sin ; through His Resurrection
we have passed from the death of sin to the life of
grace, and it is for us the certain resurrection.
pledge of our future
During this week the Church reads frequently the
ACCOUNT OF THE APPARITIONS OF OUR RISEN LORD, for
this mystery of the Resurrection is the basis on which
rests our faith. In the beginning of the Acts of the
Apostles, Saint Luke declares that during forty days
our Lord appeared at different times in the presence oi
various witnesses ; some only of these are recorded in
the Gospel, or other books of the New Testament. We
must distinguish between those which are so recorded,
and those which have come down to us by tradition.
Amongst the latter we must place our Lord s apparition
to His blessed Mother. Those which have come down
to us in the Scriptures are ten in number.
ON THE DAY of the Resurrection, our Lord APPEARED
on FIVE DIFFERENT OCCASIONS. FIRST to Saint Mary
Madgalen ; SECONDLY to the holy women ; THIRD to the
Apostle Saint Peter ;
Emmaus ;
the FOURTH time to the disciples at
the fifth to the apostles in the cenacle, Saint
Thomas being absent on this occasion. The SIXTH APPA
RITION took place eight days later, again in the cenacle,
all the apostles, Saint Thomas included, being there