3rd Sunday of Easter (Fr. Vinner)
THE RISEN JESUS IS ALWAYS WITH US
My Sisters and Brothers in the Lord,
Our Scripture lessons for today have one common, encouraging theme: No matter what happens in our lives, the risen Jesus is always with us. God is always near to those who seek Him and who want to live in His presence, doing His will.
In the first reading we see Peter’s first public proclamation about Jesus and how God raised Jesus from death, thus fulfilling the Messianic prophecies about the promised descendant of David. And in the second reading, Peter exhorts the early Christians to place their Faith and Hope in God Who has saved them through the precious Blood of His Son and who has raised Jesus from the dead.
This experience of Peter and of others eventually was expressed in these words: “God raised this Jesus; of this we are all witnesses.” Even to this day, many doubt and yet many are moved by this witness and believe. Once we believe, our lives are changed because this world no longer is the end of life but only the beginning. For sure, many of believers are not very people at many levels, just as many of the early believers were also weak and uneducated and sometimes social outcasts. But when we believe, this life becomes so different and so full of possibilities of following Jesus. Our faith and our hope are now in God and life is not a prison nor a place of competition, but simply a time to do the best we can in serving a God who loves us and invites us to strive to live out His love in this world, even if we fail over and over. We always remember the words of Jesus: I came for sinners, not for the righteous.
The Emmaus incident described in today’s Gospel is the story of a God who will not leave us alone when we are hurt and disappointed. The message of today’s Scripture readings is that the followers of Jesus are to maintain contact with their Risen Lord through the Eucharist and the Bible. The readings also remind us that our belief in Jesus’ presence in the consecrated Bread and Wine should help us to understand better his presence in the Bible and in the believing and worshipping community. Putting the two appearances (to the Emmaus disciples and to Peter), together, it is clear that the risen Jesus wanted Peter to act as spokesman for him and that the faithful who seek to follow Jesus should seek his company in the Eucharist and in the Bible under the direction of Peter and his successors.
The risen Lord meets us on the road to our Emmaus in the ordinary experiences of our lives and in the places to which we retreat when life is too much for us. We, too, have hopes and dreams about better health, healing, financial security and better family relationships. These often get shattered. The story promises us, however, that Jesus will come to us in unfamiliar guises to support and strengthen us when we least expect the risen Lord. Emmaus moments come to us when we meet the risen Christ on our life’s journey through rough times.
The Church instructs us to hear Jesus on a daily basis through the faithful reading of, and meditation on, the Bible and to experience Jesus through our participation in the Eucharistic celebration where the risen Lord gives himself to us, through our personal and family prayers and through our family meals. When we meet Jesus through the Word of God, we commune with him. We renew our relationship with Jesus through prayer. These two meetings will enable us to meet the risen Jesus living in all the people we meet and to offer them humble, loving and selfless service.
We are invited today to meet the Lord again, almost for the first time, when we see Him present in the breaking of the bread. We are invited to look once more at the Holy Scriptures and discover how God has spoken through all the ages, inviting us to believe, little by little. We are invited to listen to the testimony of those who already believe, and particularly to the testimony of the many saints and martyrs of our own time. As we listen, then perhaps like these followers on the road to Emmaus, we might come to feel the warmth in our heart, perhaps even our hearts burning within us!
Christ is risen! Truly He is risen! Alleluia!
May God Bless You,
Fr. S.Vinner HGN.