+ Today is the third Sunday bearing the name of Easter! We
continue to bask in the glory of the risen Lord! In the gospel passage today
Jesus, with the new powers of his risen body, just appears in the midst of some
of his disciples, and he says to them: Peace
be with you! They are a bit startled and think they are seeing a ghost: but
he says to them: why are you troubled,
why do you have such questions in your hearts? Look at my hands and my feet,
it’s me – touch me and see, a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you can
see I have.
They are now incredulous for
sheer joy – not knowing what to do next: and so Jesus playfully says to them: hey, you got anything to eat? They say: Fish! And they all sat down to a nice
fish breakfast – no doubt the disciples eyeing Jesus very incredulously and
admiringly at every bite!
While they were eating, Jesus
took the opportunity to relate to them
everything in the scriptures: the Law of Moses and the writings of the Prophets
that referred to himself. And then
he opened their mind to the understanding of the scriptures: and they understood that he, Jesus – the long
awaited Messiah - would indeed suffer,
and that he would rise from the dead on the third day and that repentance, for
the forgiveness of sins, would be preached in his name, to all the nations,
beginning from Jerusalem! And their
hearts were burning within them: for two reasons: they knew he was telling
them the truth; and they knew that they just could not wait to go out and tell
as many people as they could about him!
This
indeed is the gospel proclamation that we read in the Acts of
the Apostles of the first reading today: where Peter: who knew this truth about
Jesus, stands up and proclaims very boldly to his own Jewish brothers and
sisters: that: “He is the One” Jesus is the one they have been waiting
for all these centuries – and when he finally comes: what do we do? we kill
him? but his Father raises him up and now he
is alive and he is in us, by the coming of the Spirit - and he can be in
you too – to make all the difference in your lives! REPENT AND BELIEVE and BE
BAPTIZED EVERY ONE OF YOU! And three
thousand were baptized that very day!
We, who share in the exact
same baptism, ought to be able to listen to all these words from the readings
and homily and shout out – if we have
been given the gift of understanding the scriptures – YES, THIS IS THE TRUTH! Jesus
is Lord! Jesus is King! Jesus is Savior of the world!
and not only that but he is MY Lord,
and MY King and Savior of ME!; and then, we ought to feel
compelled to go forth from this and every Mass and profess what we have
celebrated, by living a true and
authentic Christian life; and by telling
the Jesus-story anew each and every day to all we meet!
If, however, there are some
who cannot make this bold affirmation
because God has not yet graced them with
deep understanding of the Scriptures: we can pray that he does, and not
blame or argue with them because he hasn’t done it yet! We can simply be
patient and pray for God to turn the light on for them!
Lord
Jesus, never stop opening the Scriptures to your people and making our hearts
burn while you speak to us – all of us!
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