THE APOSTLES PREACHING THE RESURRECTION
On that same night a part of the Apostles, at Jesus’
bidding, betook themselves to Bethania, while the rest set
out for Jerusalem. The older disciples remained in Beth-
ania to teach the younger and weaker in the Faith, which
they did partly at the house of Lazarus and partly in the
synagogue. Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea were
staying at Lazarus’s. The holy women were in a neigh-
boring building surrounded by the same moat and court-
yard that enclosed Lazarus’s house. It had an entrance on
the street, and was formerly occupied by Magdalen and
Martha.
The Apostles went with a troop of disciples, among
them Luke, in the direction of Sichar. Peter said joyfully
as they were setting out: “We shall go to the sea and
catch fish,” by which words he meant souls. They sepa-
rated and went different ways, teaching at the inns and in
the public places of the Passion and Resurrection of
Jesus. This was a preparation for the conversions of Pen-
tecost.
They met together again at the inn outside Thanath-
Silo. Thomas also, with two disciples, joined them as
they were gathered at a meal prepared for them by
Sil van’s father, who had care of the inn. The Apostles
told Thomas of the apparition of the risen Saviour in
their midst. But he raised his hands to silence them, and
said that he would not believe it until he had touched His
wounds. He did the same before the disciples when they
declared to him that they had seen the Lord. Thomas had
kept a little aloof from the followers of Jesus, and was
thereby somewhat weakened in faith.
Peter taught till late at night in the school of Thanath-
Silo. He spoke out quite freely of how the Jews had dealt
with Jesus. He related many things of His last predictions
and teachings, of His unspeakable love, of His prayer on
Mount Olivet, and of Judas’s treachery and wretched
end. The people were very much amazed and troubled at
all they heard, for they loved Judas, who in Jesus 1 ab-
sence, had assisted many by his readiness to serve them,
and had even wrought miracles, Peter did not spare him-
self. He recounted his flight and denial with bitter tears.
His hearers wept with him. Then with still more vehe-
ment expressions of sorrow, he told of how cruelly the
Jews had treated Jesus, of His rising again on the third
day, of His appearing first to the women, then to some of
the others, and lastly to all in general, and he called upon
all present that had seen Him to witness to His words.
Upwards of a hundred hands were raised in answer to his
call. Thomas, however, remained silent and responded by
no sign. He could not bring himself to believe. Peter then
called upon the people to leave all things, to join the new
Community, and to follow Jesus. He invited the less
courageous to go to Jerusalem, where the Faithful would
share all they had with them. There was, he said, no
reason to fear the Jews, for they were now themselves
afraid. All were very much impressed by Peter’s words,
and many were converted. They wanted the Apostles to
remain longer with them, but Peter said that they must go
back to Jerusalem.
The Apostles cured many sick persons in Thanath-Silo,
among whom were some lunatics and some possessed.
They went about these cures just as Jesus had done, that
is, they breathed upon the sick, they imposed hands while
leaning over them. Some of these invalids Jesus had
passed without curing on the occasion of His last visit to
the place. The inhabitants of Thanath-Silo were very
friendly toward the Apostles. The disciples performed no
cures, but they served the others, carrying, lifting, and
leading the sick. Luke, who was a physician, now
became quite a nurse.
I saw the Mother of God in Bethania. She was quiet
and grave, more deeply absorbed in feelings of holy awe
than in natural sorrow. Mary Cleophas was remarkably
amiable and, of all the women, most like Mary. I often
saw her leaning over her gently and consoling her in the
most touching manner.
Magdalen, in her sorrow and love, was above all fear.
She was perfectly heroic and without a thought of
danger. She took no rest, but often left the house, hurried
through the streets with streaming hair, and wherever she
found listeners, whether in their homes or in public
places, she accused them as the murderers of the Lord,
vehemently recounting all they had done to the Saviour,
and announcing to them His Resurrection. If she found
no one to listen to her, she wandered through the gardens
and told it to the flowers, the trees, and the fountains.
Oftentimes a crowd gathered around her, some compas-
sionating her, others insulting her on account of her past
life. She was little esteemed by the crowd, for she had
once given great scandal. I saw that her present violent
conduct scandalized some of the Jews, and about five of
them wanted to seize her, but she passed straight through
them and went on as before. She had lost sight of the
whole world, she sighed only after Jesus.
During the dispersion of the disciples and the Passion
of the Lord, Martha had a heavy duty to fulfill and she
still discharged it. Though torn with grief, she had to see
to everything, to lend a helping hand everywhere. She
had to feed the dispersed and wandering, attend to their
wants, provide nourishment for all. Her assistant in all
this, as well as in the cooking, was Johanna Chusa, a
widow whose husband had been a servant of Herod.
Simon of Cyrene was now in Bethania with the disci-
ples, among whom he found his two sons. He was a pious
man from Cyrene who was accustomed to sojourn in
Jerusalem during the Paschal time, working for different
families that knew him, doing up gardens and cutting
hedges. He took his meals sometimes in this house, some-
times in that. He was perfectly silent and upright. His
sons were already some time among strangers and with
the disciples without his knowing it, as occasionally hap-
pens to the children of the poor.
In those days, the emissaries of the High Priests went
throughout Jerusalem, visiting all the houses whose
owners kept up communication with Jesus and the disci-
ples, discharging them from whatever public employ-
ments they might happen to hold, and arresting any of
Jesus’ followers found there. Nicodemus and Joseph of
Arimathea had, since Christ’s burial, nothing more to do
with the Jews, Joseph of Arimathea was something like
an Elder of a congregation. He always stood among the
Jews like a man who, by his unobtrusive merit and
multiplied good works modestly performed, had won the
esteem of even the wicked. What very much rejoiced me
was to see how Veronica’s husband condescended to her
when she told him that she would rather separate from
him than from the crucified Jesus. I saw that he too was
discharged from his public office. But I was informed
that he bore it more for love of his wife than for love of
Jesus. The Jews, moreover, caused the ways and paths to
the Holy Sepulcher on Mount Calvary to be obstructed
by ditches and hedges, because they had become a resort
for many, and diverse moving incidents and miracles took
place in them.
Pilate’s interior disquietude drove him from Jerusalem.
Herod, a couple of days previously, had gone to
Machaerus, but finding no rest there, he proceeded to Ma-
dian. Here, where they had once refused to receive the
Lord, they now opened the gates to the murderer.
I saw Jesus appearing in many places during these
days, and lastly in Galilee, in a valley across the Jordan
in which was a large school. Many people were standing
together, speaking about Him and expressing their doubts
upon the report of His Resurrection. He appeared among
them, and vanished again after some words. I saw Him
appearing in this way in different localities.
The Apostles very quickly returned from the region of
Sichar. They sent a messenger on ahead to Bethania, to
announce their return and to direct several of the disci-
ples to go to Jerusalem for the Sabbath. Others were
commanded to celebrate it in Bethania, for they already
had a certain law and order. The Apostles only passed
through the different places on the road without stopping.
Thaddeus, James the Less, and Eliud went in their trav-
elling dress, and ahead of the rest, to see the Blessed
Virgin and Mary Cleophas at John Mark’s. As they had
not seen the newcomers for a considerable time, the holy
women were very much rejoiced. I saw that James was
carrying on his arm a priestly vestment, a mantle, which
the holy women in Bethania had made for Peter, and
which he was taking to the house of the Last Supper.
It was so late when the Apostles assembled in the
house of the Last Supper that they could not partake of
the meal prepared for them. They had to begin the Sab-
bath solemnities. They at once put on their robes of
ceremony, preceded of course by the customary foot
washing. The lamps were lighted, and I already remarked
some departure from the Jewish Sabbatical ceremonies.
First, the curtains were opened in front of the Holy of
Holies, and the seat upon which Jesus had reclined at ta-
ble at the institution of the Holy Eucharist was placed
before it. They spread a cover over it, and laid upon it
their prayer rolls. Peter knelt before it, John and James a
little in the rear, the rest of the Apostles behind them,
and then came the disciples. When they knelt they bowed
their heads to the ground, burying their faces in their
hands. The cover was removed from the chalice, but the
white linen cloth was still left hanging over it. Only those
disciples were present who were already initiated into the
mystery of the Blessed Sacrament, just as those chiefly
had been taken on the journey to Sichar who had seen
the Lord after His Resurrection that they might be able
to attest the fact.
Peter, with John and James at his side, delivered a
meditation, or prayer, in which the holy Institution of the
Lord and also His Passion were considered, and an interior
sacrifice of prayer was offered. After that, standing under
the lamp, they began the usual ceremonies of the Sabbath.
When all was over, they took a repast in the outer hall. In
the Supper Hall itself, I saw no more eating going on after
the institution of the Holy Eucharist, excepting perhaps the
taking of bread and wine.
On the occasion of His apparition through the closed
doors, Jesus had taught the Apostles that addition to the
service of the Sabbath which relates to the Blessed Sacra-
ment.
The Blessed Virgin was taken to Jerusalem by Mary
Marcus; and Veronica, who now went round with her
openly, accompanied them, along with Johanna Chusa
from Bethania.
The Blessed Virgin liked to be in Jerusalem, for she
could there go alone in the twilight and darkness over the
Way of Jesus’ Passion, pray and meditate on the places
upon which He had suffered or had fallen. And as she
could not reach them all, on account of the Jews’ having
hedged some of them in and filled others up, she made
the Holy Way at home, also, or in the open air, for she
had all the distances and the numbers connected with it
deeply engraven in her soul, and thus she constantly
revived, in her compassionate contemplations, the whole
of that sorrowful journey of her Son.
It is a certainty that after the death of her Son, the
Blessed Virgin was the first to begin the devotion of the
Way of the Cross and the practice of meditating upon the
bitter Passion, a practice that she ever after continued.
— Fr. Stephen, o.f.m.
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