Daily Reflection – Apr 15, 2018
Sunday 15 April 2018
First Reading: ACTS 3:13-15, 17-19
Responsorial Psalm:
Lord, let your face shine on us.
PS 4:2, 4, 7-8, 9
Second Reading: 1 JN 2:1-5A
Gospel Reading: LK 24:35-48
Today’s Note: Third Sunday of Easter
Gospel Reading:
The two disciples recounted what had taken place on the way,
and how Jesus was made known to them
in the breaking of bread.
While they were still speaking about this,
he stood in their midst and said to them,
“Peace be with you.”
But they were startled and terrified
and thought that they were seeing a ghost.
Then he said to them, “Why are you troubled?
And why do questions arise in your hearts?
Look at my hands and my feet, that it is I myself.
Touch me and see, because a ghost does not have flesh and bones
as you can see I have.”
And as he said this,
he showed them his hands and his feet.
While they were still incredulous for joy and were amazed,
he asked them, “Have you anything here to eat?”
They gave him a piece of baked fish;
he took it and ate it in front of them.
He said to them,
“These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you,
that everything written about me in the law of Moses
and in the prophets and psalms must be fulfilled.”
Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.
And he said to them,
“Thus it is written that the Christ would suffer
and 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.
You are witnesses of these things.”
Reflection:
Word and Sacrament
In today’s Gospel we read of the appearance of Jesus on the road and the way in which the two disciples recognised him. We have here a paradigm for discipleship as such: Jesus walks with us – even when we do not recognise him – and he is most especially revealed in and through the breaking of the bread. A central teaching of our faith is that the Eucharist is “source and summit” of our lives (see Catechism of the Catholic Church, #1324). This teaching must be held in tension with another teaching of the Church concerning the Word of God. That teaching is articulated concisely in the Second Vatican Council’s Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation (Dei Verbum), Chapter VI, “Sacred Scripture in the life of the Church”: “In the sacred books, the Father who is in heaven meets His children with great love and speaks with them; and the force and power in the word of God is so great that it stands as the support and energy of the Church, the strength of faith for her sons and daughters, the food of the soul, the pure and everlasting source of spiritual life” (#21). There is a life-giving interplay of Word and Sacrament.
We find that interplay in the passage from Luke. Jesus proclaims the Word to both the two on the road and the gathering of disciples – who are listening to the two proclaim that same Word. In the earlier proclamation to the two, Jesus is revealed in the breaking of the bread. The Liturgy – especially the Eucharist – is a place of encounter with the Risen Lord. The Word – especially when proclaimed in the community – is likewise a place of encounter with the Risen Lord.
A little ritual in the midst of the Eucharistic Liturgy reminds us of this. The one proclaiming the Gospel greets the people: “The Lord be with you!” The people respond: “And with your spirit!” Then the proclaimer turns to the Gospel and makes the sign of the Cross on the Gospel text, saying: “A reading from the Gospel according to … .” The people, at this point, do not respond to the proclaimer but to the Risen Lord present in the community through the Word: “Glory to you Lord!”
They sign themselves with the cross, on the forehead (‘Lord open my mind as You opened the minds of the two in Emmaus’), on the lips (‘Lord enable me to proclaim your Word as the two did when they returned to Jerusalem’), on the breast (‘Lord may my heart be always open to be transformed by your Word’).
After the Gospel is proclaimed, the proclaimer announces: “The Gospel of the Lord!” The people respond: “Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ!” Then the proclaimer concludes this ritual with a simple prayer: “May the words of the Gospel wipe away our sins!” All of these statements and actions are precious and efficacious. He is with us!
