+ This is the day the Lord
has made; let us be glad and rejoice in it.
We
have two beautiful readings today! In the first reading we see
how the Apostle Peter, with John, offers a lifelong crippled man a gift that is
beyond silver or gold: having the man look
at them, Peter said: we do not have
silver or gold but we do have the amazing and dynamic power of the Risen Jesus
to give you: and we give it – and in his name we command you to rise and walk.
And the man arose and walked! In fact, he
jumped around for joy and then walked into the temple with the two Apostles
praising God. All who saw this were amazed because they knew this to be the
man who had been handicapped since he was a baby!
The Church offers us the same amazing
and dynamic power of the Risen Jesus in its sacraments and activity of
self-sacrificial giving and charity – so that we can be healed of what cripples
and handicaps us. All we need do is believe in the One whose power is at work:
Jesus the Risen Lord of Glory, his Father and their Spirit. There is not enough
silver or gold in the whole world that can buy what our simple response of
faith can attain for us!
And
of course the gospel passage is the beloved story of the
walk of Jesus with two dejected disciples on the road to Emmaus on Easter
Sunday afternoon. These two are among the vast majority who are scratching
their heads and hanging them heavy as it seems that their hopes in Jesus had
been dashed to the ground. He said he
would rise on the third day. What happened? We do not see anyone! But then
Jesus himself – in his Risen presence – comes and walks right along with them –
and he engages with them in a dialogue in which he could refresh their memories
about the fulfillment of the Law and Prophets that Jesus was supposed to be
(still not revealing himself to them as the one to whom they referred); and
then when they invited him into their house for supper, and when he took bread and broke it and gave it to
them – thus truly revealing who he was – they did recognize him – at
which point he vanished from their sight!
Then comes one of the most
beautiful lines in all of scripture: Were
not our hearts burning within us while he spoke to us on the way and opened the
Scriptures to us? They knew without a
doubt that the man who walked and ate with them was Jesus, Risen from the dead.
And they left at once and went to
Jerusalem to tell everyone what had happened: and how they recognized him in the breaking of the bread! This of
course, is the very pattern of our Mass: from that Easter Sunday afternoon we
get the framework for what we do here: read and reflect on Jesus (as he is
present in the words of the ministers and priest) who opens the Scriptures and
interprets them for us; and in the breaking of the bread: where the priest – in
the very person of Jesus – once again feeds us with his own risen and real Body
and Blood – so that we can grow more and more daily to resemble him, so that
the Father will see him in us, and will welcome us to heaven to spend eternity
in a forever of joy and glory!
Let us
give thanks to the Lord, and invoke his name today; and make known among the
nations (including our own) his
saving deeds! Alleluia! Alleluia!
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