It was on March 27, in the year 33, that Jesus rose from the dead. This was the first Easter Sunday. Our Lord died at three o’clock in the afternoon, on March 25, in the year 33, and was three days in the tomb. Our Lord arose from the dead on March 27, at seven o’clock in the morning. Our Lord was forty hours dead. Our Lord then spent forty days on earth before He ascended into Heaven. During these days, Jesus appeared to many. The best known apparitions of Our Lord after His Resurrection, and before His Ascension, are twelve. They are these:
To Our Lady, the first of His apparitions to anyone. So great was Mary’s grief from having seen Jesus die on the Cross that Our Lord was obliged to stay a long time with Our Lady in order to comfort her.
To Saint Mary Magdalen, the greatest of all penitents, on Easter Sunday.
To Saint Mary of Cleophas and Saint Mary Salome, the former of whom was the mother of the Apostles Saint Simon, Saint James and Saint Jude, and the latter, her daughter, the mother of the Apostles Saint John and Saint James. This apparition was on Easter Sunday.
To Saint Peter, on Easter Sunday.
To the disciples on the road to Emmaus, on Easter Sunday. One of these disciples was Saint Cleophas, the husband of Saint Mary of Cleophas and the brother of Saint Joseph.
To all the Apostles, except Saint Thomas, in the Supper Room, on Easter Sunday.
Besides these well-known apparitions on Easter Sunday, Our Lord appeared before His Ascension, (a) to all the Apostles, including Saint Thomas, assembled in the Supper Room one week after Easter Sunday; (b) to seven Apostles by the Lake of Genesareth; (c) to a multitude on a mountain in Galilee; (d) to Saint James the Less, the first Bishop of Jerusalem; (e) to Saint Joseph of Arimathea, the kindly man who gave Jesus a grave in which to be buried for three days; (f) to all the Apostles and many others on the Mount of Olives on the day of His Ascension into Heaven, on May 5, forty days after His Resurrection, at which great event Our Lady assisted as the Mother of Jesus and our Queen.
Juan de Flandes (1460–1519), Christ Appearing to His Mother
