Category: Uncategorized

***

Acts 3:11-26

As the crippled man who had been cured clung to Peter and John,
all the people hurried in amazement toward them
in the portico called “Solomon’s Portico.”
When Peter saw this, he addressed the people,
“You children of Israel, why are you amazed at this,
and why do you look so intently at us
as if we had made him walk by our own power or piety?
The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob,
the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus
whom you handed over and denied in Pilate’s presence,
when he had decided to release him.
You denied the Holy and Righteous One
and asked that a murderer be released to you.
The author of life you put to death,
but God raised him from the dead; of this we are witnesses.
And by faith in his name,
this man, whom you see and know, his name has made strong,
and the faith that comes through it
has given him this perfect health,
in the presence of all of you.
Now I know, brothers and sisters,
that you acted out of ignorance, just as your leaders did;
but God has thus brought to fulfillment
what he had announced beforehand
through the mouth of all the prophets,
that his Christ would suffer.
Repent, therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be wiped away,
and that the Lord may grant you times of refreshment
and send you the Christ already appointed for you, Jesus,
whom heaven must receive until the times of universal restoration
of which God spoke through the mouth
of his holy prophets from of old.
For Moses said:

    A prophet like me will the Lord, your God, raise up for you
        from among your own kin;
    to him you shall listen in all that he may say to you.
    Everyone who does not listen to that prophet
        will be cut off from the people.    

“Moreover, all the prophets who spoke,
from Samuel and those afterwards, also announced these days.
You are the children of the prophets
and of the covenant that God made with your ancestors
when he said to Abraham,
    In your offspring all the families of the earth shall be blessed.
For you first, God raised up his servant and sent him to bless you
by turning each of you from your evil ways.”

The Word of the Lord.

***

***

Although we’re in the Easter season, our first reading from the Acts of the Apostles takes us back to Good Friday.

Peter is preaching to that bloodthirsty crowd who shouted, “Crucify him! Crucify him!”

Imagine being part of the crowd that day, longing to see the Lord hang upon a cross. Each voice is like another nail, piercing his limbs.

***

***

It’s hard to imagine a greater sin than that. In a sense, each person in the crowd is playing the role of Judas.

And yet, a bold, confident Peter stands in their midst urging them to repent. 

“Now I know, brothers and sisters, that you acted out of ignorance…Repent, therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be wiped away.”

It’s that simple. Although their sins were grave, all they must do is repent of their sins and they will be, “wiped away.”

***

Isn’t that the way the Lord sees all of us? 

Whenever we sin – regardless of what it is – he simply whispers in our hearts, “Repent, that your sins may be wiped away.”

God asks nothing more of us.

Imagine how beautiful our world would be if we could act in the same way, readily forgiving others like Jesus.

It’s possible! Consider Peter. In extending the Lord’s forgiveness, he also offers his own.

***

Am I in need of forgiveness? Is there someone the Lord is urging me to forgive?

***

Faith, hope, and love. These are the highest of all the virtues. But the greatest is love, because love always hopes, always forgives, and always perseveres.

Even as the crowds shouted, “Crucify him! Crucify him!” Christ’s love persevered.

It’s that same love we’re called to share with one another.

***

***

Gospel: Luke 24: 13 -35

That very day, the first day of the week,
two of Jesus’ disciples were going
to a village seven miles from Jerusalem called Emmaus,
and they were conversing about all the things that had occurred.
And it happened that while they were conversing and debating,
Jesus himself drew near and walked with them,
but their eyes were prevented from recognizing him.
He asked them,
“What are you discussing as you walk along?”
They stopped, looking downcast.
One of them, named Cleopas, said to him in reply,
“Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem
who does not know of the things
that have taken place there in these days?”
And he replied to them, “What sort of things?”
They said to him,
“The things that happened to Jesus the Nazarene,
who was a prophet mighty in deed and word
before God and all the people,
how our chief priests and rulers both handed him over
to a sentence of death and crucified him.
But we were hoping that he would be the one to redeem Israel;
and besides all this,
it is now the third day since this took place.
Some women from our group, however, have astounded us:
they were at the tomb early in the morning
and did not find his Body;
they came back and reported
that they had indeed seen a vision of angels
who announced that he was alive.
Then some of those with us went to the tomb
and found things just as the women had described,
but him they did not see.”
And he said to them, “Oh, how foolish you are!
How slow of heart to believe all that the prophets spoke!
Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things
and enter into his glory?”
Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets,
he interpreted to them what referred to him
in all the Scriptures.
As they approached the village to which they were going,
he gave the impression that he was going on farther.
But they urged him, “Stay with us,
for it is nearly evening and the day is almost over.”
So he went in to stay with them.
And it happened that, while he was with them at table,
he took bread, said the blessing,
broke it, and gave it to them.
With that their eyes were opened and they recognized him,
but he vanished from their sight.
Then they said to each other,
“Were not our hearts burning within us
while he spoke to us on the way and opened the Scriptures to us?”
So they set out at once and returned to Jerusalem
where they found gathered together
the Eleven and those with them who were saying,
“The Lord has truly been raised and has appeared to Simon!”
Then the two recounted what had taken place on the way
and how he was made known to them in the breaking of the bread.

The Gospel of the Lord.

***

***

Without faith, life can seem bleak and meaningless, certainly in the face of senseless suffering and injustice.

But with faith, our entire outlook changes.

***

In today’s Gospel, two of Jesus’ disciples are headed to Emmaus, which was seven miles west of Jerusalem.

They were literally walking into the sunset; into the darkness; into the night.

That journey was symbolic of their own spiritual and emotional state.

They were without Christ. Believing Jesus was dead, the disciples began returning to their former way of life.

“Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know of the things that have taken place in these days?” they say unknowingly to Jesus. “We were hoping that he would be the one to redeem Israel.”

Little did they understand, Christ did more than that; he redeemed the world!

***

Slowly, Jesus changes their perspective. First, he meets them where they’re at; he journeys with them; he listens to them and asks them questions. Then, he interprets the scriptures and breaks the bread.

By days end, their eyes are opened. The disciples make a U-turn and begin walking towards Jerusalem, towards the light.

“Were not our hearts burning within us?” they say. They’ve come to see that Christ conquered the world.

That’s the Christian perspective: God wins; life wins; love wins.

***

Such a beautiful truth should make our hearts burn within us.

***

***

Acts 2: 14, 22-33

On the day of Pentecost, Peter stood up with the Eleven,
raised his voice, and proclaimed:
“You who are Jews, indeed all of you staying in Jerusalem.
Let this be known to you, and listen to my words.

“You who are children of Israel, hear these words.
Jesus the Nazorean was a man commended to you by God
with mighty deeds, wonders, and signs,
which God worked through him in your midst, as you yourselves know.
This man, delivered up by the set plan and foreknowledge of God,
you killed, using lawless men to crucify him.
But God raised him up, releasing him from the throes of death,
because it was impossible for him to be held by it.
For David says of him:

    I saw the Lord ever before me,
        with him at my right hand I shall not be disturbed.
    Therefore my heart has been glad and my tongue has exulted;
        my flesh, too, will dwell in hope, 
    because you will not abandon my soul to the nether world,
        nor will you suffer your holy one to see corruption.
    You have made known to me the paths of life;
        you will fill me with joy in your presence.

My brothers, one can confidently say to you
about the patriarch David that he died and was buried,
and his tomb is in our midst to this day.
But since he was a prophet and knew that God had sworn an oath to him
that he would set one of his descendants upon his throne,
he foresaw and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ,
that neither was he abandoned to the netherworld
nor did his flesh see corruption.
God raised this Jesus;
of this we are all witnesses.
Exalted at the right hand of God,
he poured forth the promise of the Holy Spirit 
that he received from the Father, as you both see and hear.”

The Word of the Lord.

***

***

When we grieve, it feels like the lights have been turned off inside. Our world becomes hyper-focused on the person we’ve lost.

***

Such was the case of the disciples on Good Friday. Jesus was everything to them – their best friend; their leader; their Lord.

Then poof! He was gone in an instant. Understandably terrified, the disciples rush into hiding, fearing for their own lives. 

***

But in our first reading, Peter’s preaching to the very crowds who wanted to put Jesus to death.

“This man,” he says, “you killed…But God raised him up, releasing him from the throes of death, because it was impossible for him to be held by it.”

This sudden change in Peter’s attitude becomes one of the first arguments for the truth of the resurrection.

The same Peter who once cowered in fear is now risking his life to share the Good News. Death does not win – it cannot – and he’ll risk his life to prove it.

All of the grief he felt on Good Friday has been transformed into Easter joy because he’s seen and touched the Risen Christ. 

There’s no other logical reason for the change in his behavior.

***

While we cannot see and touch the Risen Lord like Peter did, we can have that same Easter joy. 

As Jesus says to Doubting Thomas, “Blessed are those who have not seen me and have believed.” 

Their mourning shall be turned into dancing.

***