[Officium]
Die III infra octavam Paschae

[Oratio]
O God, Who art ever multiplying the Children of thy Church, grant unto the same thy servants that they may lead the rest of their lives according to this beginning wherein Thou hast given them faith to receive the Sacrament of the New Birth.
$Per Dominum

[Ant Matutinum]
@Tempora/Pasc0-0::s/^V\..*//sm
R. The Lord is risen, indeed. alleluia.
V. And hath appeared to Simon, alleluia.

[Lectio1]
Continuation of the Holy Gospel according to Luke
!Luke 24:36-47
At that time: Now whilst they were speaking these things, Jesus stood in the midst of them, and saith to them: Peace be to you; it is I, fear not. And so forth.
_
Homily by St. Ambrose, Bishop (of Milan.)
!Bk. x Comm. on Luke xxiv
We see here the marvelous nature of the Lord's glorified Body. It could enter unseen, and then become seen. It could easily be touched, but Its nature is hard to understand. The disciples were affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit. And therefore the Lord, that He might show us the evidence of His Resurrection, said: Handle Me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see Me have. Therefore it was not by being in a disembodied state, but by the peculiar qualities of the risen and glorified Body that He had passed through closed doors. (John xx. 19.) For that which is touched or handled is a body.

[Responsory1]
R. With great power gave the Apostles
* Witness of the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, alleluia, alleluia.
V. They were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spoke the Word of God with boldness.
R. Witness of the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, alleluia, alleluia.

[Lectio2]
We shall all rise again with our bodies. But it is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. (1. Cor. xv. 44.) The spiritual body is the finer, and the natural body is the grosser, besodden as yet by the corruption of earth. Was not That a real Body, wherein remained those marks of His Wounds, those holes of the nail-prints, which the Lord bade His disciples to handle? Hereby, also, He hath not only strengthened our faith, but also quickened our love, since we know that it has been His will to carry to heaven those Wounds which He bore for our sake, and wherewith He would not make away; but plainly showeth to His Eternal Father the price of our freedom. It is as marked with these Wounds and embracing the trophy of our salvation that the Father hath said to Him, Sit Thou at My right Hand: and it is, like Him, marked with their wounds, that He hath shown us that the Martyrs, whose Crown He is, are, and will be with Him there.

[Responsory2]
R. From the mouth of the wise doth proceed honey, alleluia: the sweetness of honey is under his tongue, alleluia.
* His lips drop as the honey-comb, alleluia, alleluia.
V. Wisdom doth abide in his heart, and out of his mouth cometh understanding.
R. His lips drop as the honey-comb, alleluia, alleluia.
&Gloria
R. His lips drop as the honey-comb, alleluia, alleluia.

[Lectio3]
And now, since our Lesson from Luke here faileth, let us have recourse to John, and consider how that, according to him, (xx. 20,) then were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord, and received the grace of faith. According to Luke, He upbraided them with their unbelief, but according to John He said also, Receive ye the Holy Ghost. Luke, not John, hath, Tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high. Indeed, to me it seemeth as though the one Evangelist had busied himself with the greater and higher matters, and the other with the narrative, and such things as are more human: the one with the course, the other with the essence, of history. For as it is impossible to doubt the word of him who testifieth of these things, (John xxi. 24,) and who saw these things, and concerning whom we know that his testimony is true, (xxi. 24,) so is it sinful to think of negligence or falsehood as attaching to the other, even Luke, who earned to himself to be an Evangelist, albeit he was not an Apostle, and therefore we hold that both are truthful, neither are they at variance one with the other, either in the difference of the words they use, or in the sacredness of their characters as Evangelists. For though Luke saith that at the first the Apostles believed not, yet he showeth that afterward they believed: and although, if we regard only the first fact, the Evangelists seem divergent one from the other, yet, when we consider what cometh afterward, we see that they are at one.
&teDeum

[Ant 2]
Jesus stood in the midst of His disciples * and said unto them: Peace be unto you, alleluia, alleluia.

[Ant 3]
Behold My Hands * and my Feet, that it is I myself, alleluia, alleluia.