"God so loved the World that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him, should not perish, but have everlasting life." XIII. After His Resurrection For forty days after the Lord Jesus Christ had risen from the dead, He appeared to His disciples numbers of times. St. Paul, in the fifteenth chapter of the First of Corinthians, gives us a list of the times that Jesus appeared. And the list is very wonderful. He says: "For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures: and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the scriptures: and that He was seen of Cephas (Peter), then of the twelve: after that, He was seen of about five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep. After that, He was seen of James; then of all the apostles. And last of all He was seen of me also." St. Paul referred to the time when he had seen Jesus, and He had spoken to him on the way to Damascus. The Lord did not live on this earth in those forty days as He had done before, but He was "the same Jesus" Who had been with them throughout His ministry. The same, and yet different. Now in His blessed hands and feet were the marks of the cruel nails of the cross. In His side was the wound which the soldier's wanton spear had made! And the Lord now came in and out among them with a Presence which was quite different from what they had known before, for He came to them when doors were shut and fastened, and He left them without passing through those doors; He simply vanished out of their sight. The first evening of that Resurrection Day, when the disciples were assembled with closed doors for fear of the Jews, suddenly the Lord stood in their midst and said "Peace be unto you." And when He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side. How very glad the disciples must have been when they saw that their Lord was alive! But Thomas was not with them when Jesus came that time; and when, afterwards, the others told him that they had seen the Lord, he said to them: "Except I shall see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into His side, I will not believe!" Jesus was not present when Thomas said all that, but He knew all about it, as you will see. Eight days after, the disciples were again together in that upper room where they assembled, and Thomas was with them. Then, though the doors were fast shut, Jesus came again and stood in the midst of them, and again He said "Peace be unto you." Then He turned at once to Thomas, and said to him: "Reach hither thy finger, and behold My hands; and reach hither thy hand and thrust it into My side: and be not faithless, but believing. "And Thomas answered and said unto Him, My Lord and my God!