First reading: Acts 2: 14, 22-33
“Then 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 Israelites, 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 on 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 netherworld, nor will you suffer you 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 has 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 received the promise of the Holy Spirit from the
Father and poured him forth, as you see and hear.”
Second reading: 1 Pt. 1: 17-21
“Beloved: If you invoke as Father him who judges impartially
according to each one’s works, conduct yourselves with reverence during the
time of your sojourning, realizing that
you were ransomed from your futile conduct, handed on by your ancestors, not
with perishable things like silver or gold but with the precious blood of
Christ as of a spotless unblemished lamb.
“He was known before the foundation of the world but
revealed in the final time for you, who through him believe in God who raised
him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.”
Gospel reading: Lk. 24: 13-16, 28-35 (Short form) Long form
includes versus 17-27
“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.
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 returning 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 make known to them in
the breaking of the bread.”
Introductory theme summary:
The common theme for today’s readings address three
different perspective for the real significance of Jesus’ resurrection.
Reflection:
In the first reading from Acts, Peter teaches us that the
life Jesus lived is incorruptible.
Because of which it was not possible for Jesus to be held by death, nor
was it possible for his body to even see corruption. This knowledge was actually foreknown by
virtue of it having been foreseen by King David, who is regarded as a prophet
of the Lord. What makes our Lord’s body
incorruptible is the perfection of his life and person in every aspect of
living and being.
Moving to the second reading, Peter admonishes his listeners
to abandon their futile conduct of sin by consideration for the tremendous
price of Jesus’ blood paid for them to receive the means by which they attain to
such a life that pleases God who judges impartially. For it is by the impartial judgment of God
that the Gentiles were included in God’s plan of salvation, even though they
were previously so corrupt in their ways and beliefs.
Finally, the most significant of all three readings is the
gospel passage that validates the Catholic belief in the Eucharistic bread and
wine as literally becoming the actual body and blood of Christ, for it was in
the breaking of the bread that He became known to them. The breaking of the break is the act that
represents separating Christ’s blood from his body in an unbloody sacrifice to
perpetuate Christ’s bloody sacrifice on the cross.
Even more significant than the perpetuation of Christ’s
sacrifice on the cross is what we receive through that sacrifice by eating his
body and drinking his blood. Because the
Eucharist is the body and blood, soul and divinity of Christ, we receive Christ
himself, for we become that which we receive.
Furthermore, through our reception of him we become able to live our
lives as he lived his, and by doing so we validate his actual being within us;
thus becoming born of God. This
condition necessitates not sinning for John says, “No one who is begotten by
God commits sin, because God’s seed remains in him; he cannot sin because he is
begotten by God.” (1 Jn. 3:9)
Now, how many of us can say we live our life in the state of
grace, where we do not sin on a day to day basis? Yet that truly is possible. To John doing so is a condition of authentic
faith in Christ. How many of us have
even considered the possibility that this condition might actually be expected
of us? Since he gives us himself in the
Eucharist, and we claim to believe in it as His body and blood, soul and
divinity; isn’t it also reasonable to expect us to fulfill living such a life
to validate our belief? What’s missing
in our world today are people who by an authentic belief in the Eucharist commit
their faith to manifesting the example the gift implies – living their lives as
Christ lived His.
Come, let us bravely accept the Catholic challenge of living
as Christ lived by our reception Him in His gift of Himself – the Eucharist.
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