How and where do we meet the Risen Lord? As we continue to journey through Easter, the theme of the readings isn’t just that there are power and authority in the name of Jesus, but that the Risen Lord continues to be present in and through the community, through the Church. After the resurrection, we don’t see Jesus performing any more healing miracles, but we see the Apostles here in the book of Acts doing just that. He now operates through the community, and that same apostolic authority has been transmitted for two thousand years in the Catholic Church.
In the Gospel, Jesus quotes and expounds on the words of Scripture for his disciples on the road to Emmaus. They hear His words, learn about how the Old Testament tells His story, and in the breaking of the bread, they recognize the risen Lord right there in their midst. These are sacred moments, sacramental moments. The twin liturgies of the Word and the Eucharist allow us to relive that moment on the road to Emmaus at every Mass.
Do our hearts cry out with the same words that the disciples used when they recognized him? They said: “Were not our hearts burning within us while he spoke to us on the way and opened the Scriptures to us?” The same Jesus is here with us now, at this moment, in the words of the Sacred Scriptures, leading us to a deeper, more intimate relationship.
In every Catholic church in the world, our Priests, in persona Christi, will stand before the altar and break the bread. That same Jesus that sat with the disciples is standing there at the altar. Do our hearts burn with longing for Him? This week we are approaching Divine Mercy Sunday. I want to encourage you to take on a habit. Maybe some of you do this already. Start reading the Gospel for Sunday every morning during the week. Get familiar with it. We should listen to God speak to us through it. Then when we come to Mass on Sunday, listen for Him. Be familiar enough that we don’t need it in front of us, but instead we listen with our ears and our hearts. When we do that, we encounter Christ. Alive. Present. God right here with us.
The power of the Holy Spirit which flowed through Peter and John to make the lame walk is present still today, and He wants to work through His Church and through us to heal a world very badly in need of His touch. We just need to start taking time to listen to Him and pay enough attention to recognize Him in each moment of our lives.
A homily for Wednesday in the Octave of Easter: 4/7/2021