Cycle A - Year II:  

26 April 2020: Third Sunday of Easter

(Liturgical Color: White)

Readings:

First Reading:        Acts 2:14, 22-23

Second Reading:   1 Peter 1:17-21

Gospel Reading:   Please read Luke 24:13-35  

"To walk with the risen Lord!"

In spite of the coronavirus pandemic, our journey on earth continues, at least for us who survive.  The Good News for whose who believe is that God travels with us in our journey of life.  Do we always recognize Him?

The Gospel on third Sunday of Easter is from St. Luke who writes about the two disciples of Jesus, one of them is called Cleopas, 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.  And now they were leaving Jerusalem for Emmaus with broken hearts.

On their way the risen Lord appears and walks with the two disciples, engaging them in a conversation.  They talk about the recent event that had occurred in Jerusalem about Jesus of Nazareth.  But because the two disciples were in grief and brokenhearted they failed to recognize that in their midst is the risen Christ Himself.

Why was it difficult for these 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 much later when the Lord appeared to them and gave them understanding of these events.

Going back to the two disciples going 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.

Now, at times in our own lives we have been the disciples on the road to Emmaus... feeling lost, alone, sad, confused, or perhaps angered by our own personal "Calvary" experience.  We 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.

During this time of pandemic, we look for our risen Christ to save us from our fears.  And often, our fears overwhelm us that we also fail to see, or don't recognize the risen Christ in our very midst.... in the active presence of the Church trying to do her share to help out the poorest of the poor and the most affected during the quarantine, in the persons of all those medical professionals ministering to the afflicted, in other frontliners in this big fight against the killer virus, including priests and ordinary people doing their share to help the community at this time.

If we hold onto our faith in God, Jesus eventually will appear to us again, most likely in unexpected ways, places and people.    

So then, faith in our Lord's Resurrection will lead us out of our own road to "Emmaus".  And then we realize, that during these most trying times, "when we see only one set of footprints in the sand", it was in fact our Lord Jesus Himself carrying the burden for all of us.  And like the two disciples in today's Gospel narrative, let us also invite our risen Lord Jesus, "Stay with us, Lord!"

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

Ad Jesum per Mariam!