Homily for the Week of April 23, 2012

Third Sunday of Easter, 2012
First Reading: Acts 3:13–15, 17–19
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 4:2, 4, 7–8, 9
Second Reading: 1 John 2:1–5a
Gospel: Luke 24:35–48

About 400 years before Jesus was born there was a man who lived in Greece by the name of Aristotle. He was a teacher who taught a way of thinking, of what is right or wrong, and a way of trying to understand some of our ideas that don’t seem to make sense. Aristotle said that the best activities are the most useless. That is because these activities are done for their own sake. For example watching a basketball game is more important than getting a haircut, developing a friendship is more important than making money.

For many Catholics today the most useless activity is participatining in Mass on weekends. But, according to Aristotle it is another way of saying that it is the most important thing we can do each week. There is no greater good than to honor and praise God which is why we are here once a week. This is also the importance of the first sentence of the Gospel I just read Jesus was made known to them in the breaking of the bread. As a child many of us have been taught that Jesus is in the bread, not in the breaking of the bread which I will do later at the altar.

From the moment we prepare ourselves to come to Mass and the moment we enter the church we are challenged to realize what God does for us, and how we need God to do more for us. This in a sense is what Jesus is talking about today in our Gospel when he was on the road to Emmaus with his disciples. Jesus gave up everything he had -- even his life, in order to help others. But even those closest to him did not understand. They were preoccupied with the Jesus that they had imagined.

Many had left Jesus after the Last Supper. It is now about 3 weeks after his resurrrection on Easter Sunday. Jesus is walking on the road to a small village called Emmaus and he stops by locked house where Peter and others were staying. Jesus goes into the house inspite of the locked doors and starts talking to them about all that happened to him in the last 4 weeks. And then they decide to have a meal at which time he says the same words and does the same thing as he did at the Last Supper. And they then recognized Jesus.

The Bible gives us a picture of real people meeting the Risen Jesus, and they did not do it easily. They had no point of reference for such a happening, only his words to them that this would happen, only his promise to them that it would happen. How is it that the story has continued for over 2000 years inspite of many challenges to it? In fact, for all of us the story is part of history.

The more that we know Jesus the more we realized that Jesus does not offer us security but peace. The peace Jesus offers is not the absence of war, violence, sickness or death. The peace that He gives is the peace that exists in the midst of the suffering that surrounds us. It is the peace that gives both courage and comfort. Sadly, too often this is not the gift we seek; rather, we still seek the security of locked doors.

The appearances of Jesus after the Resurrection teach us that wherever there is fear or hopelessness, Jesus is present. Wherever a community gathers to call upon the him, He is there. Jesus appears in His glory, but He also appears with His wounds. Jesus’ wounds, to which Luke calls attention, remind us that Jesus suffered. In His risen body, He did not cover up His wounds. He kept them to remind us that He understands and stands with us in the midst of human suffering.

Despite locked doors, Jesus appeared to teach us that we cannot prevent His reaching us. He also appeared despite locked doors to remind us that we cannot lock ourselves up with selfish things and hope to find the peace He offers. The safety and security of locked doors is, by any definition, a prison. There is no peace in a prison. Rather, as we read in our reading Jesus is the author of life.

Jesus’ first gift to us from the Resurrection was peace, a freedom from fear. “Peace be with you!” he said. This peace is given, but we must spread it. We cannot stay behind locked doors thinking we will always be secure. Thomas told Jesus that he did not understand. Jesus responded, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.”

The disciples gathered, Jesus appeared, and they were given peace. Let us gather, and with Jesus in our midst as the Way, either prevent those wounds or heal them. Jesus’ peace offers us the courage we need to follow him out of our locked rooms.

Before we criticize the first disciples too harshly for their lack of recognizing Jesus, we must look to ourselves and ask: How do I expect Jesus to come to me? Jesus comes in many ways. Let us recognize him every time we participate at Mass, when we receive Communion, when we offer peace to someone. The basic question of our Christianity is: HOW WELL DOES WHAT I DO REFLECT WHAT JESUS HAS TAUGHT ME? During this Easter time at the end of our Mass I invite you to Go in Peace. To which you respond: thanks be to God. Make those words part of your daily prayer.