Daily Reflection – Mar 31, 2016

Thursday 31 March 2016

First Reading: Acts 3:11-26
Responsorial Psalm:
O Lord, our God, how wonderful your name in all the earth!
Psalm 8:2, 5-9
Gospel Reading: Luke 24:35-48

Today’s Note: Thursday in the Octave of Easter

Gospel Reading:

The disciples of Jesus recounted what had taken place along the way,
and how they had come to recognize him 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:

Why are you troubled, why do doubts rise in your minds?

It is said that the Devil has two greatest weapons: fear and doubt. He makes us afraid of God and deceives us into doubting God and his love for us. Jesus’ questions to his disciples are also addressed to us today: ‘why are we afraid of God, why do we doubt him?’ But to help them answer the questions Jesus takes them on a quest by showing them his hands and his feet bearing the marks of his ultimate love for them and for the whole world. In the confusion of our lives, let us gaze upon the wounds of Jesus. Let us pray for the grace to deepen our faith. His love transforms us into ‘witnesses of these things’, his Death and Resurrection.