IX
OF THE SUCCESSORS OF THE APOSTLES
♦Acts ii. 47.♦ Wherefore the Lord increased daily such as should be saved. Indeed for long the Truth of their Words remained among many, more especially while the Blood of the Crucified Poor One, Jesus Christ, was warm in their memory, and the Noble Chalice of His Passion inebriated their Hearts. For if any of them sought to leave me at any time because of my too great Rigours, they would remember the Wounds of the Lord by which He made manifest His loving Compassion, and bitterly repent of the Temptation, clinging to me more closely, and embracing me more eagerly than ever. And I abode in them all, ever striving to impress upon their Memory the Dolours of the Passion of the Eternal King. So strengthened by my Words, they cheerfully encountered the cruel Sword which shed their holy Blood. And this Triumph continued and endured a long while, so that daily a thousand thousand were sealed with the Seal of the Most High King.