xx. 19.) This was the sixth time that Christ appeared on the day of His resurrection, to console and comfort His friends. Ponder the circumstances of this last apparition. 1. It was late in the evening, to teach you that you ought to await with patience the pleasure of your Lord. 2. He entered whilst the doors were shut, to show the powers of His glorified body. You must shut the inlets of your senses if you wish to entertain Christ as He wishes to be entertained. You must be, in the language of the Canticles, " a garden enclosed and a fountain sealed up." (Cant. iv. 12.) 3. He stood in the midst of His disciples, as a master among His scholars, as a shepherd amongst His flock, and like the sun in the centre of the planetary world. Stand thus, O Lord! in the centre of my soul; teach, feed, and enlighten it.
II. He says to His disciples, "Peace be to you." He does not wish them fame, nor power, nor riches, nor honors, but peace with God, with their neighbor and themselves. Learn to appreciate this peace above all earthly goods, and to purchase it at any expense. Pray that " the peace of God, which surpasseth all understanding," may "keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus." (Phil. iv. 7.)
III. To confirm their faith in His resurrection still more, "He asks them if they have any food; "and they offered Him a piece of a broiled fish, and a honey-comb." (Luke xxiv. 42.) To convince His Apostles that He was no phantom, He ate. Observe what pains Christ took to convince His Apostles and all mankind of the fact of His resurrection. He knew that the whole system of His divine doctrine was built upon it, and He always appeals to it as to the test of His mission. The incredulity and obstinacy of the Apostles and disciples on this subject, observes one of the holy Fathers, have increased our
