Third Sunday of Easter

Posted on by Patrick Leyden

God Bless the children receiving First Communion today and their families!

Cleopas and his companion were disciples of Jesus who put their hopes in Jesus.  But those hopes were dashed on Calvary.  They were returning home to get on with their lives.

Although Jesus walked with them, they did not recognize His presence.  Jesus’ explanation of Scripture to them hit home but they were still blind to who was making Scripture come alive for them.  Only after they invited Jesus to stay with them were their eyes opened, for they recognized Him in the breaking of the bread.  Luke clearly wants His readers to interpret this scene in terms of the Eucharist.  Just as Jesus revealed His presence to these two disciples in Emmaus,  so He reveals Himself and gives Himself in the Eucharist wherever it is celebrated.

Grasping the reality of the risen Jesus is more than a matter of seeing an empty tomb and hearing that He lives; it is even more than understanding how this fits into God’s plan as revealed in Scripture.  It is ultimately a matter of a personal encounter with Him who is raised and now lives, an encounter that takes place in a privileged way in the Eucharist.

 

God Bless
Msgr. Powell

 

Divine Mercy Sunday

Posted on by Patrick Leyden

The peace that Jesus gives is not a mere feeling of well-being but the wholeness that flows from His gift of salvation. Through His death and resurrection we have been given eternal life.

In His love for us, Jesus calls us to His mission of love.  Whereas the Father, has sent Him, now he sends us on this mission to love.  Only the gift of the Spirit can enable us to participate in the mission of the Son of God.

The mandate that Jesus gives His disciples is a summary of His life and ours: “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”  As Jesus revealed the Father for all to see— through His teachings, His healing signs, and finally through His total self-gift on the cross, now Jesus sends us, His disciples, on that same mission.  We are to embody the Father’s love, to teach and heal, to comfort and bring peace, to love as Jesus Loved.

Thomas acts out our reluctance to believe.  Could an executed man still walk about?  Thomas says “you’ll have to show me.”  Jesus does.  Thomas then responds with one of the supreme statements of faith in John’s gospel: “My Lord and My God.”  This statement is the climax of the gospel. Jesus’ response is its conclusion.  You and I believe in Jesus even though we have not seen Him.  Blessed indeed are we.

God Bless

Msgr. Powell