Christ's Resurrection and Ascension

I

THE RESURRECTION.[l]

Christ's Resurrection is the foundation of the Christian religion.[2] This is admitted by unbelievers and believers alike; hence the varied at­tacks of the one and the countless defenses of the other.

No one was present at the event, nor do the Evangelists or St. Paul claim that there was; they preserve a silence regard­ing it that "does honor to their veracity."[3] But the circwn­stances of His Resurrection were of such a nature, and so many people saw Him alive after His death, that no doubt whatsoever exists regarding the reality of the crowning and fundamental miracle of His life. We have seen how theft of the body was rendered impossible by the sealing of the tomb and the presence of the guards. Other features connected with the tomb which prove the reality of the Resurrection will be dealt with later.

One fact must be kept in mind: that neither the Apostles nor the holy women who first saw the Risen Christ expected the Resurrection. St. John, standing in the empty tomb on the very morning on which Christ arose, confesses to his own and the other Apostles' misunderstanding of the Scriptures, and of Christ's own repeated prophecies, regarding the necessity of the Resurrection. He says: "For as yet they knew not the Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead."[4]

In the minds of the Apostles first, and later of the Jews in general, Christ's Resurrection was not the fruit gathered from a long cultivation of the divine promises in the Scriptures, but rather the key that actually explained those prophecies. The Jews expected a Messias. The greater number of them thought He would deliver them from political bondage. But none of them believed He would rise from the dead. (Mary His Mother is excepted, of course.)

In other words, the Resurrection had to happen before the Jews could detect its long and varied prediction in their Books. To be grasped it had to be read in the bright light of its own reality.

The four Evangelists record the Resurrection and its prin­cipal points; each then presents its details in his own individual style. St. Matthew reports the impression that the sight of the angels, the earthquake and the empty tomb produced on the guards and on those who came first to the sepulchre on the morning following the Sabbath. He relates Jesus' appearance to the holy women in Jerusalem and to His Apostles in Galilee. St. Mark, the lover of action, sketches the situations that arose around the empty tomb: Mary Magdalen and Mary, the mother of James the Less, standing in the first rays of sunlight discuss­ing the problem of rolling the stone from its door; their aston­ishment on discovering the Sacred Body gone, and an angel within the tomb, and their precipitate flight to tell the news to the Apostles.[5]

St. Luke, through a series of vivid crises, describes the appearance to the holy women of two angels "in shining ap­parel"; the angels' command to the women to go to the Apos­tles and report the Resurrection of the Master; the Apostles' incredulity of the story, that reminded them of "idle tales"; how two of Christ's own disciples mistook Him for a stranger in the city who had not even heard of the Crucifixion; the "Stranger's" marvelous summary to them of the Messianic prophecies; and the sudden denouement wherein the two dis­ciples recognized Jesus by the manner in which He broke the bread for them at supper.[6]

St. John's account is a succession of vignettes wherein we see Peter and John in the tomb examining with awe the care­fully folded bandages and shroud; Mary Magdalen sinking to the ground at Jesus' feet on His utterance of her name; Jesus standing among His disciples in the Cenacle; His second ap­pearance there and discussion with Thomas; His presence among them on the morning shore of the Sea of Galilee, and His commission to Peter to feed His sheep.[7] St. Paul also enu­merates Jesus' appearances.

A brief account of Christ's various apparitions follows in their "likely arrangement." [9]

CHRIST APPEARS AT THE SEPULCHRE. The first appearance of Christ took place on the morning after the Sabbath, in the garden near the tomb. The four Evangelists stress the fact that it was just at sunrise that the holy women went to the sepulchre to finish the anointing of Christ's body - a labor of love that the Sabbath had interrupted.[10]

Mary Magdalen and Mary, the aunt of Jesus, had remained watching by the tomb so long on Friday evening that they had no opportunity to buy their part of the embalming spices till after sunset on Saturday. But when the Sabbath rest was ended they procured what they needed and got everything ready for an early morning start to the sepulchre. It was still dark when they set out, but by the time they reached the garden the sun had risen.

Some time in the shadowed dawn an earthquake shook the neighborhood, and an angel with countenance of lightning and raiment of snow descended into the garden, striking terror into the hearts of the soldiers on watch at the tomb. They fell prostrate and remained for a time on the ground as men dead. The heavenly visitor rolled back the stone from the door of the sepulchre and mounted guard on it. [11]

Salome, Joanna and other holy women were also on their way to the tomb at daybreak, but the two Marys who had been the last to leave were the first to arrive. St. Mark presents them discussing how the sepulchre should be opened. Great was their surprise, therefore, when they saw the stone rolled back and one whom they took to be "a young man" watching over the empty tomb. Mary Magdalen impulsively concluded that His enemies had stolen Christ's body. She at once turned and hurried back to Peter and John, and at her anguished words, "They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre, and we know not where they have laid Him,"[12] the Apostles set out in haste for the tomb.

Meanwhile the second group of women also discovered the angelic sentinel at the empty sepulchre. Cautiously entering, they beheld another angel sitting on the right side, garbed like the first in gleaming white.[13] "Be not affrighted," he said. "You seek Jesus of Nazareth Who was crucified. He is risen, He is not here. Behold the place where they laid Him. But go, tell His disciples and Peter that He goeth before you into Galilee; there you shall see Him, as He told you."[14]

By this time Peter and John, running in their excitement, were well on their way to the tomb. The younger John, out­distancing Peter, arrived first; he did not enter, however, but looked in and noted "the linen clothes lying."[15] When Peter arrived, he entered without hesitation and also saw "the linen clothes lying. And the napkin that had been about His head, not lying with the linen clothes, but apart, wrapped up into one place."[16] Following Peter into the sepulchre, John examined the linens, "saw and believed." Up till that moment he had not grasped the necessity of the Resurrection.[17]

The order displayed by the folded linen showed that the tomb had not been robbed. Peter and John returned to the city, probably to John's house to consult the Blessed Virgin on what had happened. No one yet had seen Jesus - save perhaps His Mother, as tradition holds.

The group of holy women who had entered the tomb and heard the angel's words lingered in the garden for a while in "fear and great joy."[18] When they finally departed to acquaint the Apostles with their discovery, the garden was left empty for a few moments, save for the angels, both of whom were now in the tomb, "one at the head, and one at the feet." Soon Mary Magdalen returned, having followed Peter and John, though necessarily at a slower pace. Her heart heavy at the supposed loss, she stood weeping for a few moments at the open door before stooping down to look inside. At last, how­ever, she beheld the two angels mounting guard over Christ's funeral slab, as for centuries the two golden cherubim had kept watch over the cover of the Ark, facing one another at each end of the Kapporeth, God's "resting place" among His peo­ple.[19] The angels asked Mary: "Woman, why weepest thou?" "Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid Him," [20] she replied.

And turning away from the tomb without waiting for an answer, she wandered disconsolately forth into the garden. A Man approached Whom, without particularly noting Him, she supposed to be the gardener. He too asked her: "Woman, why weepest thou?" and added: "Whom seekest thou?"

"Sir," she replied, absorbed in her grief, "if thou hast taken Him hence, tell me where thou hast laid Him, and I will take Him away."[21]

Then He Whom she had mistaken for the gardener spoke again - just one word: "Mary." A wave of ecstasy swept through her being. "Rabboni," she whispered, and sank to kiss His feet.

"Do not touch Me," He said, "for I am not yet ascended to My Father. But go to My brethren, and say to them: I ascend to My Father and to your Father, to My God and your God."[22]

Mary obeyed, and went and told the Apostles,23 but they were too desolate to believe her. [24]

That was Jesus' first recorded appearance after His Resur­rection, though many Fathers and Doctors of the Church have always taught that He first showed Himself to His Mother. His second appearance followed closely on His first; it was to the holy women on their way to fulfil the angel's command: "Go, tell His disciples and Peter that He goeth before you into Galilee." They immediately prostrated themselves, and He al­lowed them to kiss His feet, although He had just denied Mary the same privilege; for their affection was not of that detaining, possessive type that Mary's heart held for Him. Jesus calmed the fears of these devoted women and repeated to them the command which the angel had given them: "Go, tell My brethren that they go into Galilee; there they shall see Me." [25]

The Resurrection of Jesus had a very natural effect on the soldiers who had been set to watch the tomb. They had failed in their duty: by daylight the tomb stood open and empty. Court-martial faced them. Recovering from the shock which they had suffered from the earthquake, the angel's appearance and the sight of the empty tomb, they decided to report the whole supernatural occurrence to the chief priests. Utter dis­may filled the latters' souls. Jesus was not only gone from the tomb, but gone evidently of His own strength. They imme­diately convoked the Sanhedrin to deliberate on how to meet this new situation. Jesus had thwarted them to the end. They had killed Him and buried Him, but He had supernaturally broken these bonds; He was at large again. If this report reached the people, universal belief in His Divine Messiaship would instantaneously follow.

The Sanhedrin determined on a plan worthy of their char­acter and practice. "They being assembled together with the ancients, taking counsel, gave a great sum of money to the soldiers, saying: Say you, His disciples came by night, and
stole Him away when we were asleep. And if the governor shall hear of this, we will persuade him, and secure you. So they, taking the money, did as they were taught: and their word was spread abroad among the Jews even unto this day."[26]

And that was the best argument that men steeped in guile could concoct against the reality of Christ's Resurrection on the morning that it took place. It has been repeated in countless forms since; but St. Augustine spiked it for all time with his well-known argument: "If the soldiers were asleep, what could they have seen? If they saw nothing, what is the value of their testimony?"[27]

II

Christ appeared three times to His followers in or near Jerusalem: first to two of the disciples on the way to Emmaus, and twice in the Cenacle.

ON THE WAY TO EMMAUS.[28] The site of Emmaus cannot today be determined with certainty, but Meistermann[29] and Fillion[30] locate it in the present Qoubeibeh, a village about seven miles northwest of Jerusalem. The road leading to it from the Holy City runs at one place through the narrow valley of Sorec, and fords a stream; beyond this, on the southern slope of the mountain, near the village of Beit Hanina, is the spot where, tradition says, Jesus joined His two disciples on their way to Emmaus. One of these was named Cleophas,[31] the other's name is unknown. It was afternoon on the day of His Resurrection.

Christ overtook the two and fell in step with them. They did not recognize Him, and accepting Him as an ordinary way­farer, they resumed their discourse concerning His suffering and death. Their sorrow was manifest, and Jesus presently asked them: "What are these discourses that you hold one with another as you walk, and are sad?"[32]

They could scarcely believe that anyone in or near Jeru­salem had not heard of the Crucifixion. Cleophas, therefore, asked in surprise: "Art Thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things that have been done there in these days?"

"What things?" Jesus inquired. And both disciples an­swered: "Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, Who was a Prophet, mighty in work and word before God and ail the people; and how our chief priests and princes delivered Him to be con­demned to death, and crucified Him. But we hoped that it was He that should have redeemed Israel: and now besides all this, today is the third day since these things were done.

"Yea," they continued in puzzled accents, "and certain women also of our company affrighted us, who before it was light were at the sepulchre, and not finding His body, came, saying that they had also seen a vision of angels, who say that He is alive. And some of our people went to the sepulchre, and found it so as the women had said, but Him they found not."[33]

Without revealing His identity, their Companion then began to trace for the disciples in their own story the features of the Messias as Moses and the prophets had sketched them. Line by line He pointed out that the Christ, and only the Christ, the true Messias, could have suffered and died exactly as they had told Him that Jesus of Nazareth had done. If they had really understood the Scriptures, instead of being surprised and disappointed at His Crucifixion they would have expected it. To support that interpretation He asked them: "Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and so to enter into His glory?"[34]

The hearts of the disciples were aglow as He thus ex­pounded the Scriptures to them, but as yet the light of recog­nition had not flashed on their minds. By this time the three had reached Emmaus. It was "toward evening" and the day was "far spent." Jesus made as if to part with them and con­tinue His journey, but they "constrained" Him to remain with them, at least to dine with them. "And it came to pass, whilst He was at table with them, He took bread, and blessed, and broke, and gave to them. And their eyes were opened, and they knew Him: and He vanished out of their sight."[35]

So happy were the two disciples to know that Jesus was risen from the dead that, despite the fact that the day was over, they arose and traversed again the seven miles to the Holy City, to tell the glad news to the Apostles.

CHRIST APPEARS IN THE CENACLE.[36] As we should expect, Christ's first appearance to His Apostles was attended with such circumstances as absolutely abolished all doubt of His Resur­rection in their minds; for this was His official appearance to His Church.

When the two disciples from Emmaus joined the Apostles in the barricaded Cenacle with the report that they had seen the Risen Christ, the Apostles themselves had fresh news about Jesus. They greeted the travelers with the words: "The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon."

The two disciples then began to tell their own experience; but even as they were reciting the events of the afternoon and evening, Jesus suddenly stood in the midst of the gathering and said: "Peace be to you. It is I, fear not." Yet they did fear. For despite all the reports of His Resurrection that they had heard that day, when He actually stood before them bewilder­ment and doubt seized their hearts. He read their concern and hesitation. "Why are you troubled," He asked, "and why do thoughts arise in your hearts? See My hands and feet, that it is I Myself; handle, and see: for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as you see Me to have."[37]

Joy began to fill their hearts; but even as their gladness increased so did their incredulity. It was too good to be true. Jesus, then, to set all doubt finally at rest, asked them, "Have you anything to eat?" They gave Him a piece of broiled fish and a honeycomb - all that they had left from their evening meal. He ate some of this and returned the rest to them.

Thus only gradually did He overcome the Apostles' stub­born unbelief in the reality of His Resurrection. But their doubt called forth the clearest proof of the fact. Instead of being gullible they were skeptical; instead of being credulous they were cynical. The message given to the holy women by the angel in the tomb they regarded as an "idle tale." The very assertion of Jesus Himself they did not believe without proof.

When the Apostles at last accepted His Resurrection, the foundation of their faith and ours, our Lord bestowed on them the power to forgive sins, in direct continuation of that power which He Himself had exercised according to the Will of the Father. Repeating the phrase, "Peace be to you," He added: "As the Father hath sent Me, I also send you"; and breathing on them: "Receive ye the Holy Ghost. Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them; and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained."[38]

It happened that Thomas was not present at this first ap­pearance of Christ to His Apostles; and when he rejoined them he absolutely refused to believe them. For eight days he had only one answer to all their repeated protestations that they had seen the Risen Christ. It was this: "Except I shall see in His hands 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."[39]

No skeptic has ever demanded clearer proof; and Jesus complied with His Apostle's terms. "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 was convinced. He confessed: "My Lord and my God!"

Jesus quickly made Thomas realize how poor and un­pleasing incredulity is in the eyes of God. "Because thou hast seen Me, Thomas, thou hast believed," He said. "Blessed are they that have not seen, and have believed."[40]

CHRIST APPEARS IN GALILEE.[41] As soon as it was con­venient for them to leave Jerusalem after the Paschal octave, the Apostles obeyed their Master's command[42] and set out for Galilee, their native province. Jesus had promised to meet them there.[43] St. John relates the circumstances of the appearance.

As Fouard remarks,[44] Judas' desertion had left the Apos­tles without funds, and till such time as Christ would appear to them they sought a livelihood at their old trades. Peter, therefore, one evening in the vicinity of Lake Genesareth, said to his companions: "I go afishing." Six of them, Thomas, Nathanael, James the Greater, John and two unnamed Apostles, probably Andrew and Philip, joined him. They trawled the whole night through in Peter's boat, but, as on a former occa­sion,[45] they caught nothing.

At early dawn they were about three hundred feet from the shore when an apparent stranger, whom they had not noticed, called to them in tones of familiarity from the beach. "Children," He asked, "have you any meat?" - that is, have you caught anything? Stopping the boat, they looked steadfastly at Him in an attempt to discover Who it could be that addressed them so affably, and answered "No." The Stranger then called again: "Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and you shall find." They did so, and took such a haul of fish that they could not lift the net into the boat.

There was something familiar about that command and its results. John was the first to understand. "It is the Lord," he said to Peter, who, in turn, pulling on once more the outer tunic which he had taken off, the better to work the nets, jumped overboard and swam ashore. The others beached the boat and got out. To their surprise they saw a fire burning brightly in the dawn, with a fish and some bread on it. Jesus, Whom they all now recognized, said to them: "Bring hither of the fishes which you have now caught." Peter, again the first to act, went and drew the net onto the beach. One hundred and fifty-three fish were in it. Without putting on the fire any of the newly­caught fish, Jesus said to them: "Come and dine." They did so; but so awed were they by His presence that, "none of them durst ask Him: Who art Thou? knowing that it was the Lord." He then distributed to them the bread and fish.

Following the first miraculous draught of fishes, more than a year before, Jesus had promised to make Simon a fisher of men: "From henceforth thou shalt catch men."[46] He now ful­fils that promise: He confirms him in the Primacy of the Church, and makes him His Vicar on earth.

"Simon, son of John," He asks, "lovest thou Me more than these?"

Jesus, as we see, momentarily takes from Simon the name Peter that He had given him; for his constancy to the Master at His trial had been anything but rocklike.

Besides, Jesus makes a comparison, by the words "more than these," between Peter and the other Apostles, the very comparison that Peter himself had implied when he boasted in the shadows of Geth­semani: "Although all shall be scandalized in Thee, I will never be scandalized."[47] In remembrance of that presumption Peter hung his head in front of all, and humbly answered Jesus' question: "Yea, Lord, Thou knowest that I love Thee." Jesus then said to him: "Feed My lambs."

Since Peter's denial had been threefold, Christ demands from him two more professions of love, and adds an increased jurisdiction to His Vicar after each protestation. "Simon, son of John, lovest thou Me?" He asked again; and Peter repeated: "Yea, Lord, Thou knowest that I love Thee." Christ said once more: "Feed My lambs." Then came the selfsame question a third time: "Simon, son of John, lovest thou Me?" And St. John tells us: "Peter was grieved, because He had said to him the third time: Lovest thou Me? And he said to Him: Lord, Thou knowest all things: Thou knowest that I love Thee."

Peter's profession was complete, and following it, Jesus' commission of authority to him was conclusive: "Feed My sheep." Thenceforth he and his successors were the Supreme Pastors of the Church.

Christ in figurative language then foretold to Peter his own crucifixion. "When thou wast younger," He said, "thou didst gird thyself, and didst walk where thou wouldst. But when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and an­other shall gird thee, and lead thee whither thou wouldst not."

John expressly states that this girding and stretching forth of hands and leading away refer to Peter's crucifixion. He says: "And this He said, signifying by what death he should glorify God."[48]

At this point Jesus called Peter aside, and said: "Follow Me." As they departed, John came after them, and Peter ob­serving this, asked Christ: "Lord, what shall this man do?" And the Master said in firm tones: "So I will have him to re­main till I come, what is it to thee? Follow thou Me."

The words "till I come" gave rise to many conjectures con­cerning John among the first Christians. The common one was that John would not die. He did indeed survive martyrdom; but the promise probably refers to Christ's coming in mystical power at the destruction of Jerusalem.[49]

St. Matthew relates the second and final recorded appear­ance of Jesus in Galilee.[50] Others besides the Apostles were there, as may be deduced from the fact that "some doubted." Commentators suggest that this is the same apparition to which St. Paul refers, and at which he places more than five hundred brethren.[51]

Appearing suddenly to His Apostles and disciples on a nameless mountain, Jesus spoke to them and removed all doubt of His Resurrection from those who had not yet seen Him. It was at the conclusion of this final apparition that He sent out His Apostles as His representatives to the whole world. Claim­ing first the power to do so, He says: "All power is given to Me in heaven and in earth. Going, therefore, teach ye all na­tions; baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. And behold I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world."[52]

Armed with that power, that formula and that promise, the Apostles, after His Ascension, went out as He had com­manded. And their power extended not only to men, but to all creatures, as St. Mark says: to inanimate nature, to deadly rep­tiles and poisons, to the devils, to disease, and even to the hu­man faculty of speech: "Go ye into the whole world, and preach the Gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be con­demned. And these signs shall follow them that believe: In My name they shall cast out devils: they shall speak with new tongues. They shall take up serpents; arid if they shall drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them: they shall lay their hands upon the sick, and they shall recover."[53]

CHRIST'S ASCENSION.[54] Christ's Ascension took place on Mt. Olivet forty days after His Resurrection. The Apostles had left Galilee and gone to Jerusalem, perhaps to attend the Feast of Pentecost, or more probably because Christ had directed them to go there. St. Luke, in the final verses of his Gospel, and at the beginning of the Acts of the Apostles, gives us the account of the Ascension.

Our Lord joined His Apostles in Jerusalem, probably in the Cenacle, and gave them His final instructions. He first re­minded them, however, that everything prophesied regarding Him had to happen literally. Time and again He had stressed that truth to them during His life. He now repeats it: "These are the words which I spoke to you, while I was yet with you, that all things must needs be fulfilled; which are written in the Law of Moses, and in the Prophets and in the Psalms, concerning Me." The Evangelist then tells us: "Then He opened their understanding that they might understand the Scriptures."[55]

The Law, the Prophets and the Psalms are the three di­visions of the Bible. By opening the understanding of His Apostles, Christ enabled them to interpret the Holy Scriptures correctly. "The Holy Ghost soon afterward completed this gift, by virtue of which the first preachers of the Gospel were able to discover in the Jewish Bible the details that referred to their Divine Master. And this gift was subsequently trans­mitted to the Church, which became the infallible depository of the true sense of the Sacred Books." [56]

Referring again to the necessity of His Passion, Death and Resurrection in the plan of Redemption, Jesus continued: "Thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise again from the dead the third day. And that penance and the remission of sins should be preached in His name, unto all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And you are wit­nesses of these things. And I send the promise of My Father upon you: but stay you in the city till you be endued with power from on high." [57]

The "promise of the Father" is the Holy Ghost, Who will come to them before they leave the city. Then they are to begin preaching "penance and the remission of sins," first in Jeru­salem to the Jews, and then to the Gentiles throughout the world. They are to preach in His name. Those instructions are most definite, and the Apostles carried them out to the letter.

Jesus then left the Cenacle and started out for the Mount of Olives, followed by His Apostles and disciples, some holy women, and probably His Mother.

It was practically impossible for the Jewish mind to grasp the fact that the Messias was not to be a political deliverer; and so now, as countless times before, they asked Him: "Lord, wilt Thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?"[58]

He answered them by pointing out once more the nature of the kingdom which they were to establish throughout Pales­tine and the whole world. He said to them: "It is not for you to know the times or moments, which the Father hath put in His own power. But you shall receive the power of the Holy Ghost coming upon you, and you shall be witnesses unto Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and Samaria, and even to the uttermost part of the earth."[59]

By this time Jesus had reached the Mount of Olives. He stopped at a spot about two-thirds of a mile from the Holy City.[60] After giving His Apostles and friends a parting bless­ing, He began to ascend into heaven, and soon He was lost to view.

Even after Christ was gone from their sight, the Apostles and the rest continued to gaze after Him, lost in the wondrous sight. But the sudden appearance of two angels among them brought all back to earth. "Ye men of Galilee," the heavenly visitors asked, "why stand you looking up to heaven?"[61] There was a touch of Christ's practical outlook in that question.

The Apostles went back to the Cenacle, to pray and await the coming of the Holy Ghost.
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REFERENCES
1. Mt. 28:1-15; Mk. 16:1-11; Lk. 24:1-12; Jn. 20:1-18.
2. 1 Cor. 15:14-17.
3. Fillion, op. cit., III, p. 567. 4. Jn. 20:9.
5. Mk. 16:1-8.
6. Lk. 24: 1-30.
7. Jn. 20, 21:1-17.
8. 1 Cor. 15:3-8.
9. Fillion, op. cit., III, p. 569.
10. Mt. 28:1; Mk. 16:1, 2; Lk. 24:1; Jn. 20:1.
11. Mt. 28:2-4.
12. Jn. 20:2.
13. Mt. 28:5; Mk. 16:5; Lk. 24:4. 14. Mk. 16:6, 7; Mt. 28:5-7; Lk. 24:5-7.
15. Jn. 20:5.
16. Jn. 20:6, 7.
17. Jn. 20:8, 9.
18. Mt. 28:8; Mk. 16:8.
19. Ex. 25: 18-20.
20. Jn. 20:13.
21. Jn. 20:15.
22. Jn. 20:17. 23. Jn. 20:18.
24. Mk. 16:10, 11.
25. Mt. 28:10.
26. Mt. 28:12-15.
27. Exposit., Ps. 63:7.
28. Mk. 16:12, 13; Lk. 24:13-33. 29. Meistermann, Op. cit., p. 298 f. 30. Fillion, Op. cit., III, p. 581. 31. Lk. 24:18.
32. Lk. 24:17.
33. Lk. 24:18-24.
34. Lk. 24:26.
35. Lk. 24:28-32.
36. Mk. 16:14; Lk. 24:36-43; Jn.20: 19-23.
37. Lk. 24:38-40; Jn. 20:19, 20.
38. Jn. 20:22, 23.
39. Jn. 20:25.
40. Jn. 20:26-29.
41. Mt. 28:16-20; Jn. 21:1-24.
42. Mt. 28:7; Mk. 16:7.
43. Mt. 26:32; Mk. 14:28.
44. Fouard, op. cit., II, p. 367. 45. Lk. 5:5.
46. Lk. 5:10.
47. Mt. 26:33.
48. Jn. 21:15-19.
49. Fouard, op. cit., II, p.3 72, n. 1.
50. Mt. 28:16-20.
51. 1 Cor. 15:6.
52. Mt. 28:18-20.
53. Mk. 16:15-18.
54. Mk. 16:19, 20; Lk. 24:50-53; Acts 1:3-12.
55. Lk. 24:44, 45.
56. Fillion, op. cit., III, p. 604.
57. Lk. 24:46-49.
58. Acts 1:6.
59. Acts 1:7, 8.
60. Acts 1:12.
61. Acts 1:10, 11.
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From The Life of Christ
by Isidore O'Brien, OFM (© 1937)