3rd Sunday of Easter - Their eyes were opened!

"Jesus himself drew near and walked with them"

Luke 24: 13-35

The Word: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/041926.cfm

May your people exult for ever, O God, 

in renewed youthfulness of spirit,

so that, rejoicing now in the restored glory of our adoption,

we may look forward in confident hope

to the rejoicing of the day of resurrection.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

who lives and reigns with you

in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

God, for ever and ever. 

(Collect of Mass)

This Sunday we hear a compelling Easter story that moves us from despair and dejection to great joy and wonder.  The beautiful Gospel story of the road to Emmaus is a walk through darkness to light, from ignorance of Christ to an understanding of his presence in our midst, and a convincing reminder of the value of our celebration of the Mass with our community of faith gathered

We can enter this experience of those two disciples on the road to Emmaus.  It’s helpful for us to put ourselves in their shoes (sandals) and try to feel what they felt. In their journey away from Jerusalem it seems they are walking away from the answer they seek.  Practically speaking, were they too in fear of their lives after Jesus’ crucifixion as the Apostles were and now simply escaping from Jerusalem? One could speculate but it is certain that the events of the past few days shook them to the core.

They did not expect the risen Lord to walk with them in such an ordinary setting. They were downcast, in active conversation, debating and more attentive to their own arguments than who walked with them. They were me of hope that Jesus would be the Messiah as they understand that figure to be for them but the risen Christ hid his identity from them.

Luke tells us this took place on that same Sunday evening when the women had come in that morning to describe the open tomb of Jesus. Where was Emmaus?  There are presently six spots beyond Jerusalem which have claimed to be such.  It really doesn’t matter a specific spot but good to know that the story is too like other resurrection stories to say it is only a symbolic event but rather a real encounter these other disciples had of the risen Christ. The essence of the story is more important than the geographical details.

So, in the midst of their disillusionment a stranger approaches and joins them in their walk.  Who was he?  They never asked his name but shared their surprise that he was ignorant of “the things that have taken place there (in Jerusalem) these past few days,” or so they assumed wrongly. They thought him to be a visitor for many came and went from that sacred City and evidently the crucifixion of Jesus was a hot topic of conversation in the city.

There is a certain irony in this.  Of all that would know those events it would be Jesus himself! Yet, he gently opens their minds to the scriptures, despite calling them “foolish.” Maybe a way of saying, “are you so dense you don’t get it?” It’s not an insult but rather a true pay attention moment.

Jesus begins with the scriptures they knew, the Old Testament, and opened their minds through an understanding how all pointed to him. That his death and suffering was prophesied, the suffering Messiah was something they should have known and connected the dots to the astounding events they had witnessed.   He takes them on a long explanation from Moses through the prophets.  That’s some scripture study indeed!  As the Church teaches, the Old Testament is contained in the New and the New Testament is contained in the Old. To understand the person of Jesus we must search all the Scriptures which will not only inform but through grace, open our minds. This is what Jesus was hoping with these men. 

And to add the resurrection to that would make the story both complete and inspirational.  Yet, for now it remains a gradual understanding but something they found burned in their hearts.  They ask him to stay with them as they approach the village, and so he does.

As they broke bread, their eyes were now open; their hearts filled with faith and their sadness was turned to overwhelming wonder and joy.  They recognized the risen Lord in their midst in the breaking of the bread.  We can only imagine what a profound moment this was because, though already at night, they rush back to Jerusalem despite the dangers of night travel, to relate to the eleven this moment of encounter with the risen Lord.  They must have burst into the hiding place and shouted, “We have seen him!”  Jesus brought them to understand his presence through the word and in breaking bread as he did at the Last Supper just four days before, he reveled himself to them. 

If this story now sounds somewhat familiar, we come to see this as a template for the Mass.  Our two parts of the Liturgy of the Word and that of the Eucharist are clearly present as Jesus explained the Scriptures and as he was made present in the breaking of the bread.  So he is for us now.  Present but hidden from our eyes under the signs of bread and wine.  It is the grace and gift of faith that can lead us beyond logic, science and even reason to come to believe. For once we believe, we come to see who Jesus is for the world.

To the early Christian Church this story must have been told again and again.  Now, more than 2,000 years after that amazing day, we still hear it with fresh power.  During the Easter season we reflect on the power of our Baptism and this Sunday on the gift of the Eucharist expressed through our celebration of the Mass.

The famous quote of St. Jerome: “Ignorance of scripture is ignorance of Christ” I think is meaningful here.  The disciples on the road were trying to understand something they should have known.  To connect the lines of prophecy through their sacred texts would have shown them, as Jesus himself related to them, that what happened was part of the story.  The empty tomb should have made them stop and wonder and not be blindsided. But it was all so overwhelming and filled with emotion that it must have taken some time to sort everything out.

Let’s not miss the point here, however, about ourselves.  In the celebration of our Mass we gather to hear the word of God broke open.  How carefully do I listen to the words proclaimed? Do the words just pass over my head as I patiently wait for Communion? As Catholics we must treasure the sacred texts with the same reverence as the Eucharist.  The living word of God is reveled to us and although his presence in the scriptures is different from the Eucharist, it is true and real as someone who talks with you in conversation is present to you. 

Once our hearts are open by God’s word, we then prepare to meet the Lord under the signs of bread and wine.  Jesus vanished from their sight but he remained with them nonetheless.  No longer restrained by space and time his real spiritual presence in the sacraments and the hearts of believers is even truer than before.

In this Easter season let’s pray more intensely for eyes of faith.  We are all on a journey with the Lord.  Even though we may not see him we know as those disciples experienced that he remains with us and knows our needs.  In the breaking of bread, in the proclamation of his sacred word, in the suffering of others and ourselves, in the faith of our brothers and sisters.  We pray for eyes that are open and hearts that respond.

 

 

 

Sunday of the Lord's Resurrection - Alleluila!

 

He is risen! He is risen indeed!

John 20: 1-9

The Word:https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/040526.cfm

O God, who on this day,

through your Only Begotten Son,

have conquered death 

and unlocked for us the path to eternity,

grant, we pray, that we who keep

the solemnity of the Lord's Resurrection

may, through the renewal brought by your Spirit,

rise up in the light of life.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Sopn,

who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, 

God, for ever and ever.

(Collect of Easter morning)

It seems to me that any discussion of the resurrection of Jesus must lead inevitably to reflection on the sacraments.  The resurrection, as strange as this concept may seem, is indeed a matter of faith. What we believe and proclaim this night and by our very existence as Christians is outside the limits of science, technology, and verifiable proof.

The fact that the historical Jesus existed in space and time more than 2,000 years ago is established by historians and scripture scholars.  But any modern discussion of Jesus seems to end at the time of his crucifixion and burial.

Going beyond this historical fact and talk of this same man coming back from the dead in a visible form is beyond science and may seem to many like nothing more than a myth made up by desperate Christians who wanted to carry on the impact Jesus of Nazareth had upon so many. However, if that were true anyone with common sense would agree that it would have disappeared centuries ago.

Belief in the fact of the resurrection of Jesus from the dead is absolutely the foundation of Christianity.  St. Paul reminds the Christians of Corinth that: “If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.”

In his book, Jesus of Nazareth, Pope Benedict XVI writes:

The Christian faith stands or falls with the truth of the testimony that Christ is risen from the dead. If this were taken away, it would still be possible to piece together from Christian tradition a series of interesting ideas about God and men . . . a kind of religious world view. Jesus would be a failed religious leader, who despite his failure remains great and can cause us to reflect. But he would then remain purely human, and his authority would extend only so far as his message is of interest to us . . . In other words, we would be alone.  Our own judgment would be the highest value.

Only if Jesus is risen has anything really new occurred that changes the world and the situation of mankind. Then he becomes the criterion on which we can rely.  For then God has truly revealed himself.”

We are here to proclaim this night before a world that is saturated with, the idol of technology, a distorted view of humanity, aggressive independence, lust for power and dominance, that we believe first that God does exist, that his existence is confirmed by the testimony of thousands of generations before us who believed as we now believe, that God who took on a human nature in the person of Jesus Christ, who came to this earth to face the darkness of sin and death, through the sacrifice of his own life on the cross, descended to the lowest level of human sin, and in his resurrection transformed despair into the hope of eternity.

We are able to say with Christ, that in the face of sin and death, we have won the battle.  Because of the resurrection of Jesus, not even death will hold us. That God has had the last word and it is life. This Easter we gather and claim to be his followers.  A part of me is envious of the Apostles experience.  Gradually, through convincing appearances of the risen Lord, the collective and shared moments in his presence, they came to believe and ultimately to die for who became for them Lord and Savior.  Jesus Christ not only was but also is. And if Christ IS present and alive today, how do we come to know him, to touch him, to believe in him?

It is a constant point of the resurrection appearances before the Apostles and woman followers, that not only was Jesus alive and transformed in a strange existence between the worlds of the spirit outside space and time but also could be so present to those early followers, that they were convinced to see him was not imaginary or dreamlike but so real that they “ate and drank with him” as St John testifies. They could see him, touch him, hear him and share food with him. Can we still encounter this living God?

Our celebration of the sacraments of the Church, all seven of them, have come down to us through the lived experience of the Church. It is the risen Christ we encounter not in some symbolic form but in a real and touchable way.

That God offers his physical embrace through the waters of baptism, the anointing with oil and the gifts of the Holy Spirit, that he unites a couple in marriage who bring new life and a higher level of selfless love into the world, he ordains a man to serve in his name in priesthood, he heals the sick, forgives sin in Reconciliation, brings hope to the dying, and in a deeply personal way he feeds us with himself in the Eucharist.

All the sacraments are God's physical and tangible embrace.  All of our sacraments have a physical element to them, and we are reminded that the risen Christ is not in some distant heaven but is present to us where we gather in his name, as we do so tonight, he is present to us and through his grace we can be transformed more in his image and likeness. We are a resurrection people.

The good news of Easter brings a time of hope to us. The invitation to every one of us is to have hope and to share in the life of His Church. 

So, what are we to do with this "good news" of the resurrection? We are to be Mary Magdalene and carry the news to those in fear and hiding.  To be Peter  and John and eagerly run to the tomb to confirm their speculation. To be like all who have gone before us and died for this faith or lived this out in heroic Christian virtue.  We're all called to be holy and to be saints in our own right.

With God, nothing is impossible and the resurrection has proved this to be true. 

Christ is risen indeed, Alleluia, Alleluia!

Good Friday of the Lord's Passion

 

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/040326.cfm

O God, who by the Passion of Christ your Son, our Lord,

abolished the death inherited from ancient sin

by every succeding generation,

grant that just as, being conformed to him,

we have borne by the law of nature

the image of the man of earth, 

so by the sanctification of grace

we may bear the image of the Man of heaven

Through Christ our Lord

HOLY THURSDAY - IN COMMUNION

 

Do this in remembrance of Me

John 13: 1-15

The Word: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/040226-Supper.cfm

O God, who have called us to participate

in this most sacred Supper,

in which your Only Begotten Son,

whn avbout to hand himself over to death,

entrusted to the Church a sacrifice new for all eternity,

the banquet of his love, 

grant that we may draw from so great a mystery,

the fullness of charity and of life.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

God for ever and ever.

(Collect of Mass)

Tonight we step into a sacred memory – but not just a memory. Holy Thursday is not simply about what Jesus did long ago.  It is about what He is still doing now: drawing us into communion.

Communion with himself.  Communion with one another. And communion with the entire living history of the Church.

At the Last Supper, Jesus does something astonishing.  He does not leave his disciples with a book, or a set of ideas, or even just a memory.  He gives them himself: “This is my Body . . . This is my Blood.”

This is not symbolic language meant to inspire.  This is a gift meant to unite. In the Eucharist, Jesus doesn’t merely visit us.  He joins himself to us.  His life becomes our life.  His strength becomes our strength.  His love begins to beat within us. That is communion at its deepest level: not just closeness, but participation.  We are drawn into Christ’s own life.

And from that communion with Christ flows a second communion with one another. Therefore, we might say that “communion” is not just a word or something we receive but an experience of the living God in our midst made possible by the Holy Eucharist.

Notice what Jesus does in the same evening: he kneels before his chosen brethren and washes feet in the shocking position of the lowest slave.  In Jesus, the Lord of heaven and earth, the creator of the universe performed this shocking action to make an indelible point for his disciples and for us.  What will bind them together and what will make them become a sign of hope to the world will not be their words as much as their actions. 

The One, who is Lord, becomes the servant. The One who gives His Body also humbles His body.

This is not a separate lesson.  It is the shape of the Eucharist lived out.  If we receive the Body of Christ, we must become the Body of Christ.  If we are fed by his love, we must become that love for others.

We are not a “Jesus and me” Church. Communion is never private.  To be in communion with Christ means we are bound whether we like it or not to one another. In all our difficult moments, our loneliness, and our diverse opinions we are joined to one another in Christ.  Holy Thursday gently but firmly reminds us: you cannot receive Christ and refuse his Body.

Our third dimension we may often overlook is communion with Christian history. We are not alone in this Church tonight.  We are surrounded by every generation that has ever gathered at this table. 

The apostles in the upper room. The early Christians risking their lives in their homes, hiding from hostile authorities.  The martyrs of the Church and countless saints beyond them received this bread, this Christ, as we will and we stand this evening in communion with all of them.

When the priest speaks the words of Jesus tonight, we know that we face the eternal.  We do not carry our worries and burdens alone, but we do so with a vast communion of believers before and with us today. 

So, maybe three questions to ask this evening:  Am I open to true communion with Christ? Am I willing to surrender myself for him

Am I willing to live in communion with others even when difficult?

Do I recognize that I belong to something far greater than myself?

Jesus asks us: “Live in me, remain in me, be one with me, with each other, and with all those who have believed.”