Third Sunday of Easter Year !
Acts 2:14, 22–33
Psalm 16:1–2, 5, 7–8, 9–10, 11
1 Peter 1:17–21
Luke 24:13–35
The pattern of our lives is expressed in the very structure of the Mass: welcome, the word, the sacramental encounter and the mission. This is seen in the earliest experiences of the followers of Jesus, as we can observe in the Emmaus Road experience.
Luke is very clear in his use of liturgical language that he wants us to realize that what Jesus did in His earthly life and especially at the Last Supper continues to happen in the life of the Church.
The two disciples welcome Jesus as a stranger into their midst. In the discussion, they share their lives with Him, “all that has happened.” By His interpretation of the Scriptures, He shares His life with them.
The breaking of the bread at the meal evokes the Eucharist, especially when the host of the meal disappears from their sight. They rediscover their mission to be with the other disciples in Jerusalem. When they return, they find that word of the Resurrection is already proclaimed and is beginning to be believed.
Our lives have meaning. God is intensely interested in us and in the way we understand what we experience. The Easter mystery helps us to learn how to recognize and acknowledge meaning that comes from God, the true purpose of our life on this earth. God sent His Son to share our life so that we might share divine life.
The Acts of the Apostles presents the proclamation made by Peter on Pentecost. He speaks with a boldness that was missing when Jesus endured His Passion, as we know, because he and the other disciples have received the Holy Spirit.
He describes the historical reality of both the life of the people of God and their response to Jesus. His emphasis is not on what they did to Jesus, but rather on what God accomplished through those circumstances.
“But God raised him up, releasing him from the throes of death, because it was impossible for him to be held by it.” The Author of Life could not be held down by death.
Peter’s invitation is to see the Resurrection from God’s point of view and to allow it to have an impact on our choices. With the Responsorial Psalm, we can cry out, “Lord, you will show us the path of life.”
The First Letter of Peter comes from a perspective that reveals a deepened understanding of all that has happened. “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.”
The struggles and trials of the disciples in the years after Pentecost serve to draw together life’s experiences and the promise that flows from the Resurrection of Jesus.
As the Easter season unfolds, we are invited to discover more and more the power of the Resurrection. The witness of the Church finds its source in faith that Jesus has been raised. Like Peter and the other disciples, we learn to persevere in the face of rejection because we have the example of Jesus.
The sacramental life of the Church molds us into believers who are aware of our own purpose and whose hearts are burning as He makes Himself known to us in the breaking of the bread.
In the United States, our bishops have called us to work for a Eucharistic Revival, to renew our faith in the Eucharist so that we can live it more fully. Faith in Jesus risen, hope in the power of the Spirit Who frees us to recognize His Presence, and love of God for the gift He has poured out on us through the risen Lord are ours to live and to share.
May we grow in grace and rejoice in this gift.