and ate with them. He imparted to His apostles various gifts and instructions for the good of His Church; gave them the power to forgive and retain sins; and opened their minds to understand the types and prophecies relating to the Messias.
The apostles as witnesses to the Resurrection. It was not without reason that our Lord sought to convince the apostles by the evidence of their senses that He had risen from the grave with the same Body which had died on the Cross. He did this because they were to testify before Jews and Gentiles to the fact of His Resurrection. Thus, Peter was able to say on the day of Pentecost, when speaking to ten thousand men: “This Jesus hath God raised again, whereof all we are witnesses!” and not one man could contradict him. St. John was able to write with equal truth: “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life (Jesus Christ, the Eternal Word, made Man) we declare unto you” (1 John 1, 1).
The mission of the apostles and their successors. Our Lord’s words: “As the Father hath sent Me, so send I you”, are full of very deep meaning. Even as God the Father had sent the Son into the world, so did God the Son send the apostles. Their mission therefore is divine, and the end for which they were sent forth is the same end as that for which Jesus Christ was sent. Now, what was the end for which our Lord was sent into the world? He Himself answers the question thus, in His discourse with Nicodemus: “God sent His Son into the world, that the world might be saved by Him.” This was the mission which He transferred to the apostles. The work of Redemption was accomplished, and the office of the apostles was to apply the fruits of Redemption to men, in order that they might be saved. This was the office of the apostles, and this is the office of the Church. To her has our Lord bequeathed the treasures of His doctrine and of His merits, to administer them for Him, and it is only through her that we can receive a share in these treasures. For this reason our Lord said: “He that heareth you heareth Me, and he that despiseth you despiseth Mel” (Luke 10, 16.)
The holy Sacrament of Penance. Jesus Christ, by His Passion and Death, obtained for the world the forgiveness of sin. But this forgiveness has to be applied to each individual. Now, in order that individual men might actually receive this pardon, and with it the peace of God, our Lord gave to His apostles the power of remitting sins in His stead, and equally of retaining them should the sinner be unworthy of forgiveness. By doing this our Lord instituted the holy Sacrament of Penance, whereby all sins, without exception, can be remitted, provided the sinner be contrite. Our Lord left it to the apostles to decide whether the sinner was or was not worthy of absolution: but since they were not omniscient as He was, they could not decide unless the sinner
