after having risen with Christ, like Him, " to die no more" (Rom. vi. 9), and not to relapse again into your former sins and failings.
III. " Whose sins you shall forgive they are forgiven, and whose sins you shall retain they are retained." (John xx. 23.) Ponder the power and dignity expressed in these words. God never gave the same power to the priests of the old law, nor to the angels themselves. He did not confine this power to any determinate number of priests, nor to the quality of the priests, or of the sins, but gave it for the benefit of all, in the sacrament of Penance. Admire the riches and bounty of God's mercy, and thank Him for such an easy remedy for your sins. The sacrament of Penance is truly "a fountain open to the house of David, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for. the washing of the sinner." (Zach. xiii. 1.)
FRIDAY.
Christ Appears in the Presence of Thomas.
I. As yet one of the Apostles refused to believe in the resurrection of his Master. St. Thomas had fallen into this incredulity, because he was separated from the rest when Christ had first appeared to the disciples, because he stubbornly refused his assent to the fact of his Saviour's resurrection on the sufficient testimony of others, and because he presumptuously prescribed to God the condition on which alone he would consent to believe. "Unless I shall see in His hands," he said, "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." (John xx. 25.) During the space of eight days he persisted obstinately in his incredulity, in spite of all the persuasions and reasons of the other Apostles. Learn
