A MEDITATION FOR SUNDAY.
This day thou shalt consider and meditate of the descent of Christ to Lymbus Patrum: his resurrection; divers apparitions to the Blessed Virgin Mary; St. Mary Magdalen, and his other disciples; and last of all, his glorious ascension into heaven.
Take notice, therefore, of the incredible joy, the Fathers, which were detained in Lymhus, felt at their coming of the Redeemer, who came to free them from the dark prison, wherein they were shut for many thousand years. What prayers, what giving of thanks, did they render to him, who had brought them to the long desired haven of their salvation? they, who return from the East Indies, are wont to say, that they think all their forepassed labors well bestowed, only for that joy they find, the first day of their arrival into their country. If the banishment of a year or two, and the tediousness of a little troublesome journey, can breed such joy in men, what will the absence of three or four thousand years do from that pleasant and celestial country! What joy, therefore, do we think those holy Fathers had, when they took possession of it?
Then, consider, the excessive joy of the Blessed Virgin, when she saw her Son risen from death, when it is most certain, and undoubted, that she felt the greatest sorrow, and
