Dear Brothers and Sisters,
The gospel says that same day, the first day of the week, always impresses me because God makes all things news on this day. He renews all of creation. Today and every day can be the first day you live the life of a Christian man or woman. I hope you believe this because Our Lord makes all things new. He doesn’t just fix a few little problems, but he makes of us a new person as we saw in the Easter vigil. He renews us with a new heart and a new spirit and takes away the stony heart. Today you can be that holy woman or man.
Christ does this today in the gospel. They recognize him in the breaking of the bread. What does this mean, the breaking of the bread? It refers to the Eucharist, yes. But what specifically is the priest doing when he breaks the bread during the Eucharist? At the time of the breaking, it is no longer bread. It has been already consecrated, totally transformed into the Body and Blood of Christ. He does not break it until the transubstantiation has taken place. So, breaking of the bread means that Christ is broken, again, for you and for me, and part of his body is given to you, again and again. Every Eucharist is a new Golgotha and an empty tomb, a resurrection.
Today we just don’t remember what happened 2,000 years ago; it happens again. His death and resurrection are made present again in your life and mine, today! The Eucharist is like an exorcism; it renews us as Christians because our Lord gives us another chance. He says, come on, let’s go; I will help you today, get up. I will give my life for you again today! Imagine if your best friend gave in some way gave his life for you, how you would be changed. And Christ does it for us in every Eucharist.
He says, it doesn’t matter what you have done; I have erased it all, calm down, relax! He gives his life again and opens the heavens for you because he rose again. The blood signifies heaven; he wants to take us there.
To recognize Jesus in the breaking of the bread is to recognize his love. You can see his love for you as he sends his Son, our Lord, to break himself for you, to die for you. This is Easter. We can make Easter today again with Christ on this altar. Christ rises again today. He passes from death to life, again. Hopefully, you can pass from your death to eternal life as well. You can forgive, you can be patient, you can be chaste, you can love the enemy!
The story of the cure of the paralytic in Acts of the Apostles by Peter is a marvelous miracle. I think even Peter was surprised when he said to the paralyzed man, get up and walk, and the man did so. He was paralyzed from birth not because of the sins of his parents but only for the glory of God. His sickness was a sign of God’s love. Any sickness is a sign of God’s love for us; it means he trusts you and wants to give you something beautiful.
In the gospel the two disciples are not looking for Jesus and neither is this paralyzed man. He was looking for money. And Peter says to him, I have neither gold nor silver but in the name of Jesus I say get up and walk. The two disciples on the way to Emmaus are not looking for Christ; they are fleeing from Jerusalem. They are broken and sad and they expected him to free Jerusalem from the Romans. But he had been killed like a lamb led to the slaughter. These disciples see that they don’t understand the true liberation. They were expecting a liberation from Rome but now their eyes are opened to see a deeper liberation, a liberation from death, m sin.
They are not looking for Jesus. He is the one who finds them, and he is the one who will find you. Perhaps it will be in your frustration, in your dark night, in whatever. Christ makes Easter with the two men on the road to Emmaus and with this paralytic man. They pass from death to life. Now the lame man can enter the temple. They all recognize him as the man who was sitting next to the Beautiful Gate begging. They were totally baffled to see this man walking and dancing.
Why has the Lord healed us or freed us from something? Only to manifest his glory! Why did he meet the disciples on the road to Emmaus, why did he cure you of your slavery to sin or money or another idol? Only to show his glory! To show that he has power over death. He’s the light in the middle of the darkness.
Why does he seek us? Now we can see the huge difference between faith and natural religion. In natural religion it is man who seeks God. In faith it is God who comes to look for man. He finds us in the middle of darkness and then a light appears. Didn’t it happen that way to you? Christ does this in our lives, brothers and sisters, so we can be truly Christian, so we can experience this Easter.
Today these two disciples can understand all of Scripture and how it is speaks of Christ. Faith is a journey, a path, an encounter with the Word, with Christ and his love is manifested to you. Christ is the Way, and, on the way, we can find him in the sacraments, in the preaching, in the events of life. It is an incredible gift for us!