Sunday, April 26th, 2020
Third Sunday of Easter
The Scripture readings on the Third Sunday of Easter focus on a theme of “sojourning.” As Christians, we see our lives as sojourning or journeying toward our ultimate destination which is heaven.
Sunday’s Gospel passage describes the sojourn of the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. The two were dejected and despondent after Jesus’ death. They knew Jesus personally and intimately. They had heard the Gospel message directly from His lips. They heard the testimony of the women who discovered the empty tomb of our Lord and saw a vision of angels announcing He was alive. They had been informed by other disciples who went to the tomb that all was exactly as the women reported.
How much more obvious could the Good News be?
And yet, at times, the reaction of the two disciples describes our own Christian sojourn or journey, doesn’t it? We have the fullness of the Catholic faith, the power of the sacraments, the support of our parish family. Yet, we often lose our way. We fail to see all the gifts we have been given. We fail to trust in the perfect goodness and almighty power of God.
But notice what happened to these two men when their eyes were opened once again, and they recognized Jesus in the Eucharist through the “breaking of the bread.” They were transformed! Their hearts were set on fire with love for the Lord and their faith. They recalled that their hearts “burned within them” as the Lord explained the Scriptures to them. When we find we have lost our way, we can go to the same sources as the two disciples on the road to Emmaus — the Scriptures and the Eucharist.
Today, and when the novel coronavirus pandemic and the stay at home mandate ends, I invite you to resolve to feast deeply on these two sources of grace the Scripture and the Eucharist together as the community of faith at Saint Joachim Parish. These sources of grace are and will always be the fuel that propels us on our journey toward heaven.