EASTER THIRD SUNDAY 23

23 APRIL 2023: 3RD SUNDAY EASTER Acts 2. 14, 22-23; 1 Pet 1. 17-21; Luke 24. 13-35   Pivot: Experience leads to witness; Personal Vision leads to mission Indicative: Our life of faith is like a journey. There will be times when things look dark and without hope. But for sure the risen Lord will accompany us, enlighten us and stabilize us in our faith so that we can become witnesses   1.      The two disciples on the way to Emmaus symbolise most of us. The same features and factors are found in us: “looking downcast”, “prevented from recognising the Lord”, “foolish”, and “slow to heart to believe”. 2.      They did not have the patience to wait for the Lord in Jerusalem. They could have remembered and believed in what the Lord foretold about his rising, what some women and some others attested about his rising, and they would have spent their time in faith, hope, prayer, patience and eager expectation 3.      Instead, they go away from Jerusalem. It is symbolic of their moving away from the centre of their life. They lose their focus. They allow themselves to fall back and deviate from the main track and rhythm of life. 4.      Similar is our journey of faith many times. Many times we subject ourselves to situations of dissipation, dull and shallow faith, failure to see and accept others’ genuine experience and testimony, foolishness, lack of hope, moving away from the centre, loss of focus, and relapse into old ways and deviations. Consequently, we fail to recognise the Lord and continue hard of hearts and incredulous. 5.      How to remedy this? Realise deeply the precious gift of our faith. This implies, realise the immense value of God’s love and sacrifice; the incomparable and imperishable treasure of salvation wrought by the precious blood of Christ who offered himself as the spotless unblemished lamb. 6.      So be ceaselessly aware that we are ransomed, liberated and transitioned from false conduct of sin. Realise the Lord is constantly walking with us. Be open and docile and listen to his teaching and instruction. Stay with him. Experience the intimacy of a relationship with him. Share the table with him. 7.      Then there will be tremendous effects of the risen Lord. Our hearts will start burning. We will realise his presence. We will once again return to the centre from our diversions and deviations. And we will share the same encounter and experience of Jesus with others.   Imperative: We are called to manifest truly the Lord’s resurrection in our life. This is done only through becoming authentic, bold and passionate witnesses before others, and conducting ourselves with reverence during the time of our sojourning   (Reflection 2 from earlier reflections)   Pivot: Hearts burn! Indicative: When the Lord is with us, when he walks with us, and when he speaks to us, surely our hearts shall be set ablaze and we shall recognise him   1.      We all are crippled. The gospel presents us with another kind of crippling, other than the physical. It is spiritual crippling. It is the “crippled faith”. This is seen in the case of the two disciples on the way to Emmaus. Their faith was truly crippled. The Lord himself indicates this spiritual crippling as he rebukes them, saying, “How foolish you are! How slow of heart to believe what was already foretold!” 2.      The effects of this spiritual crippling are clear: They were prevented from recognising the Lord. They were overpowered by the human realm and human factors like sorrow and disappointment. They too needed healing to cure this spiritual crippling. This consists of listening to the Lord, staying with him, and sharing the (Eucharistic) table with him. 3.      Constantly we are called to be healed and heal others from various forms of crippling. This is possible only with the power of the Lord. If only we have deep faith in the Lord, we can receive his great power and give it freely and abundantly to others. 4.      This is our mission. Our mission should be of both word and deed: not only speak healing words but also assist them concretely to raise up and make their walking strong and straight. Help the people become strong and steady. 5.      We must try to make our mission more holistic and not merely material. Restore the lost human dignity and joy of life. For this, what is needed is to rise above our moments of disappointment and loss of hope. The two disciples on the way to Emmaus experienced this low condition. But they were rejuvenated once they allowed the Lord to accompany them. 6.       Like the two disciples on the way to Emmaus, we too may be totally disappointed and dejected. We may be so confused and disturbed. Our hopes and expectations may be shattered. Our faith may be shaken. We may not even recognize Jesus walking with us. 7.       But we must not lose our faith. We need to keep it awake and alive. We need to foster that spiritual power of the risen Lord. For this, what is needed is to listen attentively to the words of Jesus who constantly walks along with us, and to recognize his presence in the Holy Eucharist. 8.       Our eyes should be opened and our hearts should be inflamed. Thus, we must ourselves be touched and reconfirmed by the risen Lord. Allow the Lord to stay and share with us, speak to us, let our hearts burn within us, open our eyes and recognise him, and heal us.    Imperative: It is a simple principle that we cannot give others what we ourselves do not have. If we fail to give the world the healing touch that it needs, is it because we ourselves lack it?