Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ
C cycle
Reading 1. Deuteronomy 8: 2-3, 14b-16a
Reading II. 1 Corinthians 10: 16-17
Gospel. John 6: 51-59 (the living bread).
After
After the completion of the Easter season, we are presented with three great feast days, all designed to follow up and reinforce the great message of Easter. Two weeks ago we celebrated the great feast of Pentecost commemorating the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles and on us. Last week we celebrated the feast of the Holy Trinity which brought to mind the ways in which God works in our world. Today we celebrate the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, formally the feast of Corpus Christi, which celebrates our intimate relationship with Jesus, Himself.
Today’s first reading takes us back to the wanderings of the Israelites in the desert after their escape from the bondage of slavery in Egypt. Moses reminds them of how the Lord has sustained them on their long journey. They had been fed with manna, a new and miraculous food unknown to them and their fathers. This had been done in order to show them that,
Not by bread alone does one live,
But by every word that comes forth
From the mouth of the Lord.
In the beginning of the John’s gospel Jesus, himself, is called the Word of God. Today’s gospel from the 6th chapter of that gospel contains the hardest, perhaps the most difficult, words that Jesus ever uttered. They were so difficult that not only did they strike consternation among His Jewish hearers, but they also caused some of His disciples to leave Him. He said.
I am the living bread that came down from heaven;
Whoever eats this bread will live forever;
And the bread that I will give
Is my flesh for the life of the world.
To make his point clear He repeats it over and over.
Amen, amen, I say to you,
Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood,
You do not have life within you.
This was especially shocking and disgusting to the Jews because of their traditional abhorrence to eating even the blood of animals. These words remain a stumbling block today to many who cannot accept them as literally true. What are we to make of them? How do we eat His flesh and drink His blood?
Of course Catholics have always believed that it is in the Holy Eucharist. At the Last Supper, Jesus took bread into His hands, broke it, and gave it to them to eat saying that it was His Body. He also took the cup of wine and told them to drink it for it was His Blood. No Pope or theologian made this up. We get it from Jesus Himself. We live by the Word of God; Jesus is the Word of God: and “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my Blood remains in Me and I in him.”
What could the Apostles have been thinking when they saw Jesus take the bread, offer thanks, break it, and then say, "This is my body that is for you?" How could the bread be His Body? Or what about, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood." How could the wine be His Blood? We know that they believed it because He said it and because He would raise His Body from the dead only three days later. We also know that the first Christian communities also believed it and from the beginning repeated the Lord's words whenever they gathered together "in remembrance of Him."
Since the beginnings of Christianity theologians have tried to come to a better understanding of what our Lord meant. In the Middle Ages they came up with an explanation that is as good as any that has been offered since. Guided by the rediscovery of the works of ancient Greek scientists and philosophers, theologians like St. Thomas Aquinas developed the concept of "transubstantiation."
Like most scientific words "transubstantiation" is a long word made up of different parts in order to give greater clarity and precision. But if we break the word down into its parts, we will get a better idea of what it means. First, let's deal with the prefix, "tran." It means going from one thing to another, like in transport or transmit. The suffix, "ation", at the end of the word means a process or action, like in transportation. So if we get rid of the prefix and suffix, we're left with the root or core of the word, "substance." Now "sub" means under and "stance" comes from the Latin verb, "stare" which means, "to stand."
When we deal with substance we're dealing with that which stands under a thing, it's real core, what it is. So "transubstantiation" means that the bread and wine although they still look, and feel, and taste like bread and wine, have become something else. It's something like when we advance through the different stages of life, from infancy to old age. Although our bodies change, aren't we always the same person?
However, transubstantiation is an attempt to explain a mystery. It is not the mystery itself. Like the early Christians we believe that the Body and Blood of Christ are truly present in the Sacrament of the Eucharist because our Lord said so at the first Eucharist. What we do today at each Mass is what the first Christians did from the very beginning. As St. Paul said in today’s second reading,
The cup of blessing that we bless,
Is it not a participation in the blood of Christ?
The bread that we break,
Is it not a participation in the body of Christ?
,
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Monday, May 19, 2008
Most Holy Trinity
Holy Trinity
A cycle
Reading 1. Exodus 34: 4b-6, 8-9
Reading II. 2 Corinthians 13: 11-13
Gospel. John 3: 16-18 (God so loved the world).
On Trinity Sunday one is reminded of the great saint and philosopher, St. Augustine. There is a well known story that one day Augustine was thinking about the Trinity while walking upon the seashore. He came upon a little boy who was busy emptying pails of water into a hole he had dug upon the beach. Augustine asked him what he was doing, and the boy replied that he was trying to empty the sea into the hole. When Augustine told the boy that he was attempting the impossible, the boy replied that Augustine in trying to understand the mystery of the Trinity was also attempting the impossible.
Nevertheless, the boy's advice did not stop Augustine from writing a treatise on the Trinity. Nor has it stopped theologians and homilists from writing millions of words about the Trinity ever since. None of these words would ever have been written if our Lord had not repeatedly referred to the Trinity during His time on earth. The Church did not invent the idea of the Holy Trinity, our Lord did.
Today's gospel passage begins with the famous gospel verse, John 3:16, which we often see on tee shirts and on placards at sporting events. "God so loved the world that he gave His only son..." John is quoting the words of Jesus here, words which speak of the special relationship between God and His Son. In our second reading from St. Paul's second letter to the Corinthians, Paul refers to the Holy Trinity using words that we now use at the beginning of every Mass.
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ
and the love of God
and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you.
Neither Paul, nor Augustine, or anyone else would have come to the idea of three persons in one God by the use of reason alone. Reason had led even the pagan philosophers to conclude that the many gods of antiquity were fraudulent, even comical. Reason had led them to conclude even before the time of Christ that there could only be one God. Of course, the Jews had come to this realization even before the philosophers.
Still, only the words of Christ opened up the idea that this one God contained three Divine Persons. Let's pause for a minute and consider the meaning of the word "person." The Latin word "persona" means the mask or masks that ancient actors wore to express different characters or emotions. We've all seen pictures of these masks, some with smiles and others with frowns, which the actors held over their faces while playing their roles. It's similar to the way our TV newsmen will look glum while reporting a tragic story but then smile when the next story deals with the rescue of a cat from a tree.
We often today think of our "personality" or "persona" as something different from ourselves. No matter what we are like inside, our personality is the way we appear to the world outside of us. Looking at it this way, couldn't we say that there are many persons in any one of us. A man could be a husband to his wife, a father to his children, a son to his own parents, a friend to his friend, etc. A woman would not be the same person to her husband as she is to her children, or her parents, or her friends.
Certainly Jesus meant much more when He talked about the relationship of the Persons of the Trinity. And I don't mean to suggest that God wears masks. I am merely saying that He has chosen to appear to us in different ways. I know that this is not a scientific explanation but if we consider the Trinity, we will see that our Lord is telling us that it is possible to have a warmer, more intimate relationship with God than our reason could ever imagine. Just imagine that the same God who created not only this world but all the worlds keeps them in existence by love alone. He actually came into our world as one of us. Then after He suffered, died, and rose from the dead, He sent His own Spirit to dwell in us and guide us.
Some poor heretics throughout history have been unable to accept this divine intimacy. For some Jesus was God but never truly a man. How could God lower Himself in such a way? For others, Jesus was a good man but certainly not God. How could a man be God?
We say, however, that what kind of a God would it be who couldn't do it, or who wouldn't do it?
Who would want a different God? God is not a white haired old man sitting on some mountain top waiting to zap us with lightning bolts when we do wrong. He is not some force of nature that guides our evolutionary progress. Neither is He some kind of unconcerned creator who made the world and then ignored it. St. John tells us that God is Love. The Book of Proverbs says that God "found delight with the human race." Our creed tells us that God sent His Son to be one of us, and to suffer and die for us. St. Paul says that the grace of God is our hope,
and hope does not disappoint,
because the love of God has been poured into our hearts
through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.
We have a mystical relationship with the Trinity. Because of the Trinity we can with Jesus call God, "Abba" or "Father." We can call Jesus, "our brother." Finally, we can say that the Spirit of God lives not in the faraway heavens, but in our very selves.
,
A cycle
Reading 1. Exodus 34: 4b-6, 8-9
Reading II. 2 Corinthians 13: 11-13
Gospel. John 3: 16-18 (God so loved the world).
On Trinity Sunday one is reminded of the great saint and philosopher, St. Augustine. There is a well known story that one day Augustine was thinking about the Trinity while walking upon the seashore. He came upon a little boy who was busy emptying pails of water into a hole he had dug upon the beach. Augustine asked him what he was doing, and the boy replied that he was trying to empty the sea into the hole. When Augustine told the boy that he was attempting the impossible, the boy replied that Augustine in trying to understand the mystery of the Trinity was also attempting the impossible.
Nevertheless, the boy's advice did not stop Augustine from writing a treatise on the Trinity. Nor has it stopped theologians and homilists from writing millions of words about the Trinity ever since. None of these words would ever have been written if our Lord had not repeatedly referred to the Trinity during His time on earth. The Church did not invent the idea of the Holy Trinity, our Lord did.
Today's gospel passage begins with the famous gospel verse, John 3:16, which we often see on tee shirts and on placards at sporting events. "God so loved the world that he gave His only son..." John is quoting the words of Jesus here, words which speak of the special relationship between God and His Son. In our second reading from St. Paul's second letter to the Corinthians, Paul refers to the Holy Trinity using words that we now use at the beginning of every Mass.
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ
and the love of God
and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you.
Neither Paul, nor Augustine, or anyone else would have come to the idea of three persons in one God by the use of reason alone. Reason had led even the pagan philosophers to conclude that the many gods of antiquity were fraudulent, even comical. Reason had led them to conclude even before the time of Christ that there could only be one God. Of course, the Jews had come to this realization even before the philosophers.
Still, only the words of Christ opened up the idea that this one God contained three Divine Persons. Let's pause for a minute and consider the meaning of the word "person." The Latin word "persona" means the mask or masks that ancient actors wore to express different characters or emotions. We've all seen pictures of these masks, some with smiles and others with frowns, which the actors held over their faces while playing their roles. It's similar to the way our TV newsmen will look glum while reporting a tragic story but then smile when the next story deals with the rescue of a cat from a tree.
We often today think of our "personality" or "persona" as something different from ourselves. No matter what we are like inside, our personality is the way we appear to the world outside of us. Looking at it this way, couldn't we say that there are many persons in any one of us. A man could be a husband to his wife, a father to his children, a son to his own parents, a friend to his friend, etc. A woman would not be the same person to her husband as she is to her children, or her parents, or her friends.
Certainly Jesus meant much more when He talked about the relationship of the Persons of the Trinity. And I don't mean to suggest that God wears masks. I am merely saying that He has chosen to appear to us in different ways. I know that this is not a scientific explanation but if we consider the Trinity, we will see that our Lord is telling us that it is possible to have a warmer, more intimate relationship with God than our reason could ever imagine. Just imagine that the same God who created not only this world but all the worlds keeps them in existence by love alone. He actually came into our world as one of us. Then after He suffered, died, and rose from the dead, He sent His own Spirit to dwell in us and guide us.
Some poor heretics throughout history have been unable to accept this divine intimacy. For some Jesus was God but never truly a man. How could God lower Himself in such a way? For others, Jesus was a good man but certainly not God. How could a man be God?
We say, however, that what kind of a God would it be who couldn't do it, or who wouldn't do it?
Who would want a different God? God is not a white haired old man sitting on some mountain top waiting to zap us with lightning bolts when we do wrong. He is not some force of nature that guides our evolutionary progress. Neither is He some kind of unconcerned creator who made the world and then ignored it. St. John tells us that God is Love. The Book of Proverbs says that God "found delight with the human race." Our creed tells us that God sent His Son to be one of us, and to suffer and die for us. St. Paul says that the grace of God is our hope,
and hope does not disappoint,
because the love of God has been poured into our hearts
through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.
We have a mystical relationship with the Trinity. Because of the Trinity we can with Jesus call God, "Abba" or "Father." We can call Jesus, "our brother." Finally, we can say that the Spirit of God lives not in the faraway heavens, but in our very selves.
,
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Pentecost
Pentecost
A cycle
Reading 1. Acts 2: 1-11
Reading II. 1 Corinthians 12: 3b-7, 12-13
Gospel. John 20: 19-23. (Recive the Holy Spirit).
In today's first reading from the Acts of the Apostles St. Luke gives us the well known account of the extraordinary appearance of the Holy Spirit to the Apostles in the upper room. The Apostles had gathered together for the Jewish feast of Pentecost, a feast which commemorated the giving of the law to Moses on Mount Sinai.
Next week we will celebrate the feast of the Holy Trinity but today's feast is about the Third Person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit. Let's start out by clearing up a few misconceptions that some of us may have about the Holy Spirit. First of all, the Spirit is not a bird. I know that the traditional image of a dove given us by Christian artists is probably ingrained in all of us. It is hard to portray a purely spiritual being in art for a spirit has no body to paint or sculpt. In one gospel passage the movement of the Holy Spirit is likened to the fluttering flight of a dove and so I guess the early artists used the dove as a kind of artistic shorthand.
Speaking about images I have to confess that as a child I thought that the "tongues as of fire" that rested on the Apostles at Pentecost were actually human tongues on fire. It took me years before I realized that the "tongues" were actually similar to the darting flames that we would see in our own fireplaces. Also back then it was more common to refer to the Holy Spirit as the Holy Ghost, which only conjured up images from Abbott and Costello movies.
But in today's readings we see that although we cannot see or feel or hear the Spirit of God, It dwells in us and works through us. St. Luke says of the Apostles that "they were all filled with the Holy Spirit."
So who or what is the Holy Spirit? First, let's think about the word spirit. In my bedroom there is a picture of me as an infant. Next to it is a picture of me as a young man taken a short while after my wedding day. Next to that I can look into the mirror and behold a senior citizen. Which of these three pictures is me? I guess that even though I look different they all are me. In other words my "spirit" is in all of them. My spirit is the real me. Another word for spirit is "soul," a word that is somewhat out of fashion today.
So when Jesus, on the evening of that Easter Sunday when he rose from the dead, breathed on the Apostles, and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit," He was giving them His own self or spirit. He also makes it clear that He is sending them to continue the work that His Father had sent Him to do. "As the Father has sent Me, so I send you." His Spirit will give them the strength and courage to continue the work.
Fifty days later He comes to them again in the roaring wind and in tongues of fire.
If we can't see or feel or hear the Spirit, how do we know that He dwells in us? As Christians we have to learn to read the signs. Just as the shipwrecked Robinson Crusoe knew that there were other men on his lonely island when he beheld their footprints, we will know the Spirit by His signs. St. Paul says in the letter to the Corinthians,
There are different kinds of spiritual gifts but the same Lord;
there are different workings but the same God
who produces all of them in everyone.
Then, talking to us as well as to the Corinthians, Paul says that to "each individual the manifestation of the Spirit is given for some benefit." In other words we all have a role to play in bringing the Spirit of God to each other.
What are the signs that the Spirit dwells in us? In years past we used to speak of the fruits of the Holy Spirit. If you pick a fruit from a tree and it tastes and smells and feels like an apple, then you can conclude that it's an apple tree. The same goes for a peach or pear tree. In his letter to the Galatians, St. Paul lists the fruits or signs of the Spirit as charity, joy, peace, patience, benignity, goodness, longanimity, mildness, faith, modesty, continency, chastity." Some of these words might sound strange to us today but we surely get the general idea. Who would not want to receive the Holy Spirit? Would we want to be uncharitable, miserable, quarrelsome, impatient, malicious, bad, mean-spirited, offensive, unfaithful, immodest, wasteful, or promiscuous?
We don't need miraculous, mystical, or ghostly experiences to encounter the Spirit today. After all, we have all received the Spirit at Confirmation. Right after Pentecost the Apostles saw that it was necessary not only to preach the Word but also to lay their hands on all the baptized in order that the Spirit might dwell in them. Generation after generation have continued this practice. Every confirmation is a kind of Pentecost.
Even though the Apostles had walked with the Lord and had seen His Risen Body, they still needed to receive His Spirit before they could leave the upper room and go out and face the world. St. Paul says the same for us.
For those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.
For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear,
but you received a Spirit of adoption,
through whom we cry, "Abba, Father!
,
A cycle
Reading 1. Acts 2: 1-11
Reading II. 1 Corinthians 12: 3b-7, 12-13
Gospel. John 20: 19-23. (Recive the Holy Spirit).
In today's first reading from the Acts of the Apostles St. Luke gives us the well known account of the extraordinary appearance of the Holy Spirit to the Apostles in the upper room. The Apostles had gathered together for the Jewish feast of Pentecost, a feast which commemorated the giving of the law to Moses on Mount Sinai.
Next week we will celebrate the feast of the Holy Trinity but today's feast is about the Third Person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit. Let's start out by clearing up a few misconceptions that some of us may have about the Holy Spirit. First of all, the Spirit is not a bird. I know that the traditional image of a dove given us by Christian artists is probably ingrained in all of us. It is hard to portray a purely spiritual being in art for a spirit has no body to paint or sculpt. In one gospel passage the movement of the Holy Spirit is likened to the fluttering flight of a dove and so I guess the early artists used the dove as a kind of artistic shorthand.
Speaking about images I have to confess that as a child I thought that the "tongues as of fire" that rested on the Apostles at Pentecost were actually human tongues on fire. It took me years before I realized that the "tongues" were actually similar to the darting flames that we would see in our own fireplaces. Also back then it was more common to refer to the Holy Spirit as the Holy Ghost, which only conjured up images from Abbott and Costello movies.
But in today's readings we see that although we cannot see or feel or hear the Spirit of God, It dwells in us and works through us. St. Luke says of the Apostles that "they were all filled with the Holy Spirit."
So who or what is the Holy Spirit? First, let's think about the word spirit. In my bedroom there is a picture of me as an infant. Next to it is a picture of me as a young man taken a short while after my wedding day. Next to that I can look into the mirror and behold a senior citizen. Which of these three pictures is me? I guess that even though I look different they all are me. In other words my "spirit" is in all of them. My spirit is the real me. Another word for spirit is "soul," a word that is somewhat out of fashion today.
So when Jesus, on the evening of that Easter Sunday when he rose from the dead, breathed on the Apostles, and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit," He was giving them His own self or spirit. He also makes it clear that He is sending them to continue the work that His Father had sent Him to do. "As the Father has sent Me, so I send you." His Spirit will give them the strength and courage to continue the work.
Fifty days later He comes to them again in the roaring wind and in tongues of fire.
If we can't see or feel or hear the Spirit, how do we know that He dwells in us? As Christians we have to learn to read the signs. Just as the shipwrecked Robinson Crusoe knew that there were other men on his lonely island when he beheld their footprints, we will know the Spirit by His signs. St. Paul says in the letter to the Corinthians,
There are different kinds of spiritual gifts but the same Lord;
there are different workings but the same God
who produces all of them in everyone.
Then, talking to us as well as to the Corinthians, Paul says that to "each individual the manifestation of the Spirit is given for some benefit." In other words we all have a role to play in bringing the Spirit of God to each other.
What are the signs that the Spirit dwells in us? In years past we used to speak of the fruits of the Holy Spirit. If you pick a fruit from a tree and it tastes and smells and feels like an apple, then you can conclude that it's an apple tree. The same goes for a peach or pear tree. In his letter to the Galatians, St. Paul lists the fruits or signs of the Spirit as charity, joy, peace, patience, benignity, goodness, longanimity, mildness, faith, modesty, continency, chastity." Some of these words might sound strange to us today but we surely get the general idea. Who would not want to receive the Holy Spirit? Would we want to be uncharitable, miserable, quarrelsome, impatient, malicious, bad, mean-spirited, offensive, unfaithful, immodest, wasteful, or promiscuous?
We don't need miraculous, mystical, or ghostly experiences to encounter the Spirit today. After all, we have all received the Spirit at Confirmation. Right after Pentecost the Apostles saw that it was necessary not only to preach the Word but also to lay their hands on all the baptized in order that the Spirit might dwell in them. Generation after generation have continued this practice. Every confirmation is a kind of Pentecost.
Even though the Apostles had walked with the Lord and had seen His Risen Body, they still needed to receive His Spirit before they could leave the upper room and go out and face the world. St. Paul says the same for us.
For those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.
For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear,
but you received a Spirit of adoption,
through whom we cry, "Abba, Father!
,
Sunday, April 6, 2008
3rd Sunday of Easter
3rd Sunday of Easter
A cycle
Reading 1. 2: 14, 22-33
Reading II. 1 Peter 1: 17-21
Gospel. Luke 24: 13-35 (road to Emmaus.)
In the Sundays after Easter the readings usually give us testimony or witness to the Resurrection of the Lord. Last Sunday, for example, we had the touching account of doubting Thomas. Remember our Lord's words to Thomas, "do not be unbelieving, but believe." These words were addressed not only to Thomas but to all of us. Today's readings are also addressed to us.
The scriptures are the Word of God. As such they are addressed to every generation not just to those living 2000 years ago. So when as in today's first reading Peter stands up in front of a congregation much like ours, we should consider that he is speaking to us. When he says, "You who are Jews,"... "You who are Israelites, hear these words," he means us.
In his oration Peter gives witness to the life, death and Resurrection of the Lord.
Peter says about Jesus,
This man...you killed, using lawless men to crucify Him.
At the famous church Council of Trent, held over 400 years ago, the Church fathers refused to blame the Jews for the death of Christ. They said that inasmuch as Christ died for all men's sins, then all of us are responsible for His death. This position was reiterated at the Second Vatican Council.
Nevertheless, He died for all of us and He was raised from the dead for all of us. Peter then quotes the great Jewish King David as foretelling the resurrection of Jesus. Now Peter was no scripture scholar or learned rabbi. Perhaps he got this reference to David from the disciples who met the risen Jesus on the road to Emmaus.
Some of us must remember that old series of movies with Bing Crosby and Bob Hope--with titles like "The Road to Morocco" and "The Road to Zanzibar." In each movie the two traveled usually by accident to some exotic locale where there comic adventures took place. Well, the road to Emmaus is a journey to the most exotic of all locations and it is a journey that all of us must take.
Today's gospel account is so familiar that sometimes it is easy to overlook what is really going on. As two of the disciples were walking along the road from Jerusalem to Emmaus, Jesus falls in with them but St. Luke tells us that "their eyes were prevented from recognizing Him." They take him for a stranger. When He asks them what they had been discussing, they tell Him of the events since the Crucifixion and how some of the women had seen an angel who gave them the incredible news that Jesus was alive. The news astonished them and they found it difficult to believe.
The stranger scolds them,
Oh, how foolish you are!
How slow of heart to believe all that the prophets spoke.
Scholars tell us that what follows is like a Mass or liturgy. Jesus reminds them of the scriptures which has referred to the Messiah beginning with Moses and continuing down through the prophets. As they approach Emmaus, the disciples ask the stranger to stay with them. He accepts and they sit down to share a meal. He then offers a sacrifice of thanksgiving or eucharist in the same way that He does at every Mass.
he took bread, said the blessing,
broke it, and gave it to them.
Finally, in the breaking of the bread they recognized Him. At every Mass we hear the Scriptures read. They tell us not only of the predictions of a Messiah, but of the actual words and deeds of the Messiah. Then after the readings we join Him at the altar table and He comes to us or we come to Him in the breaking of the bread.
In today's second reading St. Peter again speaks and reminds us of our journey. He says,
conduct yourselves with reverence during the time of your sojourning...
Peter uses a strange expression here. He says that we were "ransomed." Today we think of ransom as a payment made to free someone from kidnappers. In the ancient world slavery was much more common than it is today. Prisoners taken in battle or piracy were sold into slavery. Only if family or friends could raise enough money could the captive be bought back out of slavery. Obviously, if someone came up with the ransom to free you, you would be eternally grateful to that person. Moreover, once freed you would never want to return to slavery.
Isn't it obvious from reading the newspapers or watching TV that so many of us are enslaved to one harmful addiction or another. Has Easter made any real difference in our conduct or relationships? Now we are halfway through the Easter season. In the weeks to come we can discover the road to happiness. On journey to Emmaus can begin today. We have heard the Scriptures. Now in a few minutes we will have the opportunity to recognize Him in the breaking of the bread.
,
A cycle
Reading 1. 2: 14, 22-33
Reading II. 1 Peter 1: 17-21
Gospel. Luke 24: 13-35 (road to Emmaus.)
In the Sundays after Easter the readings usually give us testimony or witness to the Resurrection of the Lord. Last Sunday, for example, we had the touching account of doubting Thomas. Remember our Lord's words to Thomas, "do not be unbelieving, but believe." These words were addressed not only to Thomas but to all of us. Today's readings are also addressed to us.
The scriptures are the Word of God. As such they are addressed to every generation not just to those living 2000 years ago. So when as in today's first reading Peter stands up in front of a congregation much like ours, we should consider that he is speaking to us. When he says, "You who are Jews,"... "You who are Israelites, hear these words," he means us.
In his oration Peter gives witness to the life, death and Resurrection of the Lord.
Peter says about Jesus,
This man...you killed, using lawless men to crucify Him.
At the famous church Council of Trent, held over 400 years ago, the Church fathers refused to blame the Jews for the death of Christ. They said that inasmuch as Christ died for all men's sins, then all of us are responsible for His death. This position was reiterated at the Second Vatican Council.
Nevertheless, He died for all of us and He was raised from the dead for all of us. Peter then quotes the great Jewish King David as foretelling the resurrection of Jesus. Now Peter was no scripture scholar or learned rabbi. Perhaps he got this reference to David from the disciples who met the risen Jesus on the road to Emmaus.
Some of us must remember that old series of movies with Bing Crosby and Bob Hope--with titles like "The Road to Morocco" and "The Road to Zanzibar." In each movie the two traveled usually by accident to some exotic locale where there comic adventures took place. Well, the road to Emmaus is a journey to the most exotic of all locations and it is a journey that all of us must take.
Today's gospel account is so familiar that sometimes it is easy to overlook what is really going on. As two of the disciples were walking along the road from Jerusalem to Emmaus, Jesus falls in with them but St. Luke tells us that "their eyes were prevented from recognizing Him." They take him for a stranger. When He asks them what they had been discussing, they tell Him of the events since the Crucifixion and how some of the women had seen an angel who gave them the incredible news that Jesus was alive. The news astonished them and they found it difficult to believe.
The stranger scolds them,
Oh, how foolish you are!
How slow of heart to believe all that the prophets spoke.
Scholars tell us that what follows is like a Mass or liturgy. Jesus reminds them of the scriptures which has referred to the Messiah beginning with Moses and continuing down through the prophets. As they approach Emmaus, the disciples ask the stranger to stay with them. He accepts and they sit down to share a meal. He then offers a sacrifice of thanksgiving or eucharist in the same way that He does at every Mass.
he took bread, said the blessing,
broke it, and gave it to them.
Finally, in the breaking of the bread they recognized Him. At every Mass we hear the Scriptures read. They tell us not only of the predictions of a Messiah, but of the actual words and deeds of the Messiah. Then after the readings we join Him at the altar table and He comes to us or we come to Him in the breaking of the bread.
In today's second reading St. Peter again speaks and reminds us of our journey. He says,
conduct yourselves with reverence during the time of your sojourning...
Peter uses a strange expression here. He says that we were "ransomed." Today we think of ransom as a payment made to free someone from kidnappers. In the ancient world slavery was much more common than it is today. Prisoners taken in battle or piracy were sold into slavery. Only if family or friends could raise enough money could the captive be bought back out of slavery. Obviously, if someone came up with the ransom to free you, you would be eternally grateful to that person. Moreover, once freed you would never want to return to slavery.
Isn't it obvious from reading the newspapers or watching TV that so many of us are enslaved to one harmful addiction or another. Has Easter made any real difference in our conduct or relationships? Now we are halfway through the Easter season. In the weeks to come we can discover the road to happiness. On journey to Emmaus can begin today. We have heard the Scriptures. Now in a few minutes we will have the opportunity to recognize Him in the breaking of the bread.
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