Cycle A - Year 1:  

30 April 2017: Third Sunday of Easter 

(Liturgical Color: White)

Gospel:Please Read Lukeb24:13-35

To walk with the risen Lord!

Our life on earth is a journey. The Good News for those who believe is that God travels with us in our journey of life. Do we always recognize Him?

St. Luke describes the Gospel event of two disciples of Jesus journeying on the road to Emmaus. After the brutal death of Jesus, they decided to leave Jerusalem because they were at a loss as to what to do next with their lives. They thought that their Master was the Christ but then a crucified redeemer, just like what happened to Jesus, ruined their expectations. So they were leaving with broken hearts.

Then the risen Lord appears and walks with the two disciples, engaging them in a

conversation. They talk about the recent events that had occurred in Jerusalem about Jesus of Nazareth. The two disciples were so discouraged that they failed to recognize the risen Christ in their midst.

Why was it so difficult for the disciples to recognize the risen Lord? Well, they had hoped that Jesus was the Messiah who will redeem Israel. And so his brutal death on the cross naturally scattered his disciples and shattered their hopes and dreams. They saw the cross as defeat and could not comprehend the empty tomb, until the Lord appeared to them and gave them understanding of these events.

But going back to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, Jesus chided them for their slowness of heart to believe what the Scriptures had said concerning the Messiah. And they did not recognize the risen Christ, until He broke bread with them.

In our time, we also have our own walk towards our own "Emmaus". We also have our own disappointment and our own failures and failed expectations about our faith. So often we are tempted to wander our own way because of lack of faith or lack of understanding of what God is doing, or not doing, in our life. What then should we do?

Faith in our Lord's Resurrection will lead us out of our own road to "Emmaus". Like the two disciples in this Gospel event, let us also invite Jesus, "Stay with us, Lord!"

In other words, we need to frequently receive the Lord in the Holy Eucharist at Mass so that we can recognize Him as He travels with us in this journey of life. As we frequent Holy Mass and the Eucharist, may the Lord set our hearts on fire and make us witnesses that indeed our Lord Jesus Christ is truly risen and is alive in our midst.

A blessed Sunday to us all. And thank you for a moment with God.

Ad Jesum per Mariam!