18. Venit Maria Magdalene annuntians discipulis: Quia vidi Dominum, et haec dixit mihi.18. Mary Magdalen cometh and telleth the disciples: I have seen the Lord, and these things he said to me.

18. Magdalen went and announced to the disciples that [pg 366] she had seen the Lord; but, as St. Mark, xvi. 11, tells us, they did not believe her.

19. Cum ergo sero esset die illo, uno sabbatorum, et fores essen clausae, ubi erant discipuli congregati propter metum Iudaeorum: venit Iesus, et stetit in medio, et dixit eis: Pax vobis.19. Now when it was late that same day, the first of the week, and the doors were shut, where the disciples were gathered together for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them: Peace be to you.

19. Now when it was late that same day. Jesus now appears to the ten Apostles on Easter Sunday evening. Before this, and after the appearance to Magdalen, He had appeared to the women returning from the tomb (Matthew xxviii. 9); then to Peter (Luke xxiv. 34); then, towards evening, to the two disciples on the way to Emmaus (Luke xxiv. 13, 31); so that the apparition to the apostles on Easter Sunday evening was the fifth apparition of Jesus on that day, mentioned in the Gospels. He passed through the closed doors in virtue of the property of subtility which His glorified body possessed, and saluted the Apostles “and those who were with them” (Luke xxiv. 33-36) with the usual Jewish salutation.

From a comparison of St. Luke (xxiv. 33-36), we know that the disciples who had returned from Emmaus were present when our Lord appeared on the occasion here mentioned by St. John. Now, Emmaus was sixty stadia (about seven English miles) from Jerusalem (Luke xxiv. 13), and the two disciples did not reach Emmaus till it was “towards evening,” and the day was “far spent” (Luke xxiv. 29). Hence though they tarried only a short time in Emmaus (Luke xxiv. 33), they can hardly have returned much before dark. Indeed it may have been after dark, and in that case the words “when it was late that same day” would prove that our Evangelist speaks here, not according to the Jewish method of counting the day from evening to evening, but according to the Greek method of counting, as we do, from midnight to midnight.

20. Et cum hoc dixisset, ostendit eis manus et latus. Gavisi sunt ergo discipuli, viso Domino.20. And when he had said this, he shewed them his hands, and his side. The disciples therefore were glad, when they saw the Lord.

20. Then to convince them that it was not a spirit they saw (see Luke xxiv. 37), He showed them (the wounds in) His hands, and feet (Luke [pg 367] xxiv. 39), and side, and said to them, as St. Luke tells us: “Handle and see, for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as you see me to have” (Luke xxiv. 39). From these words it is plain that Christ's glorified body, though it had passed through the closed doors, was yet capable of being touched and handled.[135] When He had partaken of food in presence of the disciples (Luke xxiv. 42, 43), and dispelled all their doubts as to the reality of His body, then, as St. John tells us here, they were glad.

21. Dixit ergo eis iterum: Pax vobis. Sicut misit me Pater, et ego mitto vos.21. He said therefore to them again: Peace be to you. As the Father hath sent me, I also send you.

21. When fear had been dispelled and doubt overcome, He saluted them again with the usual salutation, and proceeded to confer upon them the power of forgiving sins. As the Father hath sent me, with Divine authority for the salvation of mankind, so with the same authority and for the same purpose, I, who have equal authority with the Father, send you.

22. Haec cum dixisset, insufflavit: et dixit eis: Accipite Spiritum sanctum:22. When he had said this, he breathed on them; and he said to them: Receive ye the Holy Ghost: