THE disciples were slow to believe in the
resurrection of the Lord: it was not due to their weakness but rather, so that
future generations might be strong. It is through their doubting, that so many
proofs of the resurrection are given to us, and as we read of them, through
this doubt our belief is confirmed. The witness of Mary Magdalene, who believed
immediately, means less to me than that of Thomas, who doubted for so long. For
through his doubting, he touched the prints of the wounds, and removed the wounds
of doubt from our hearts.
BUT Mark records that the Lord, before he ascended
into heaven, upbraided his disciples with their unbelief and hardness of heart.
And what are we to gather from this, but that the Lord chose this particular
time of bodily withdrawal from them, as the time to upbraid them, so that his
words, spoken on departure, might be more firmly planted in their hearts?
LET us hear, then, the commandment that he gave
them after he had rebuked their hardness: Go ye into all the world, and preach
the Gospel to every creature. Surely, my brethren, the Evangelist did not mean
that the Gospel was to be preached to insensible objects and to brute-beasts,
when it was said, Preach to every creature? But man is suggested by every
creature, since man has something in common with every creature: he has his
creation in common with the stones, his life and growth with the trees, his
senses with the animals, his understanding with the Angels. If, then, he has
something in common with every creature, man is connected with every creature,
and therefore every creature has the Gospel preached to it, when it is preached
to man alone.
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