When the preordained time
for the return of the eternal Wisdom to his Father had arrived, He resolved to
appear and manifest Himself once more to that whole gathering of Apostles and
disciples, numbering one hundred and twenty persons. This apparition took place
in the upper room on the very day of the Ascension. He spoke to them in earnest
yet sweetly tempered majesty.
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| He appeared to them in the upper room |
“Know ye, my disciples,
that my eternal Father has given Me all power in heaven and on earth, and I
wish to communicate it to you in order that you may establish my new Church
throughout the whole world. You have been slow and tardy in believing my
Resurrection; but it is now
time that as true and faithful disciples, you be
the teachers of the faith to all men. Preaching my Gospel as you have heard it
from my lips, you shall baptize all that believe, giving them Baptism in the
name of the Father, and of the Son (who am I) and of the Holy Ghost. Those that
shall believe and be baptized, shall be saved, and those that shall not
believe, shall be damned. Teach the believers to observe all that concerns my
holy Law. In confirmation thereof the faithful shall perform signs and wonders;
they shall cast out the demons from their habitations; they shall speak new
tongues; they shall cure the bites of serpents; if they drink aught poisonous,
it shall not hurt them; and they shall cure the sick by the laying on of
hands.” Such miracles Christ our Saviour
promised for the foundation of the Church in the preaching of the Gospel; and
all of them were verified in the first ages of the Church. For the propagation
of the faith in the rest of the world and for the preservation of the Church
where it exists, He continues the same signs, when and how his Providence deems
it necessary; for He never will forsake the holy Church, his most beloved
spouse.
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| And Jesus said to them "Go ye, make disciples of all nation..." |
On that same day, by divine
dispensation, while the Lord was at table with the eleven Apostles, other
disciples and pious women gathered at the Cenacle to the number of one hundred
and twenty; for the divine Master wished them to be present at his Ascension.
Moreover, just as He had instructed the Apostles, so He now wanted to instruct
these faithful respectively in what each was to know before his leaving them
and ascending into heaven. All of them being thus gathered and united in peace
and charity within those walls in the hall of the last Supper, the Author of
life manifested Himself to them as a kind and loving Father and said to them:
“My sweetest children, I am about to ascend to
my Father, from whose bosom I descended in order to rescue and save men. I
leave with you in my stead my own Mother as your Protectress, Consoler and
Advocate, and as your Mother, whom you are to hear and obey in all things. Just
as I have told you, that he who sees Me sees my Father, and he who knows Me,
knows also Him; so I now tell you, that He who knows my Mother, knows Me;
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| "...All of you shall have Her as your Mother..." |
he
who hears Her, hears Me; and who honors Her, honors Me. All of you shall have
Her as your Mother, as your Superior and Head, and so shall also your
successors. She shall answer your doubts, solve your difficulties; in Her,
those who seek Me shall always find Me; for I shall remain in Her until the end
of the world, and I am in Her now, although you do not understand how.” This the Lord said, because He was sacramentally present in the bosom
of his Mother; for the sacred species, which She had received at the last
Supper, were preserved in Her until consecration of the first Mass.
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| The holy communion which She received at the last super, |
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| were still preserved in Her till the next communion |
The Lord
thus fulfilled that which He promised in saint Matthew: “I am with you to the consummation of the world” (Matth. 28, 20).
