Year B
Discover the deeper meaning and connections found in this week's readings, through these great commentaries written by our priests.
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Today’s Gospel (Lk24:35-38) comes right after Jesus’ encounter with the two disciples on their way to Emmaus. In the opening verse the two disciples have just shared their story about meeting Jesus on the road and how Jesus made Himself known to them in the breaking of the bread. After the two disciples vented their disappointment and expressed their shattered hopes and expectations, Jesus asked them: “Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter His glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning Himself. And after they recognized Jesus in the breaking of the bread, the two disciples asked each other: “Were not our hearts burning within us while He talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”
Now in today’s Gospel these same two disciples are sharing their experience, when Jesus suddenly appears. After showing them the marks of the nails in His hands and feet and after eating a piece of fish to show that it really was Him and He was indeed risen and alive, He does what He did for the two disciples of Emmaus. He opens their minds to understand the Scriptures: “This is what I told you while I was still with you: everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.”
Imagine attending a Bible class taught by Jesus Himself! Maybe we cannot sign up for such a Bible class, but if we begin to read the Bible on a regular basis and humbly ask Jesus to open our minds to understand it, Jesus will certainly give us this grace. Jesus will show us, as He did show His first disciples, the marvellous unity between the Old and the New Testament. The Old is a progressive preparation for what Jesus will fulfil in the New: “Everything written about me in the Law of Moses and in the Prophets and Psalms must be fulfilled.” We have to read Sacred Scripture in this light. Each book of the Bible refers to facts and events that happened long before Christ, but at the same time those facts and events are slowly opening up the door to the coming of Christ. They are like the dawn of a new day, heralding the rising of the sun, getting us ready for the full light of revelation brought to us by Christ. Each book of the Bible has a unique value of its own, but each book must be read in the bigger context of God’s wonderful plan of salvation.
Sacred Scripture is like a huge mine full of precious diamonds and gold and silver. On the surface a mine looks like a simple plot of land, but when we dig deeper, we begin to uncover the amazing treasures hidden beneath the surface. The Bible is like that. The more we read it and meditate on it and study it with the help of good commentaries, the more we discover how powerful it is.
An essential part of encountering the Risen Lord is to understand and fully appreciate how everything written in the Law of Moses, in the Prophets and in the Psalms is fulfilled in Christ. Here’s something to think about during this season of Easter: How often do we read the Bible? Do we take time to reflect on what we read? Do we try to understand what we read? Do we pray for the grace to understand what we read? There are many helpful biblical resources today that we can easily find online. As Catholics, shouldn’t we have a deep love for Sacred Scripture? Shouldn’t we read it in order to know our faith better? Evangelical Christians rightly put a lot of emphasis on the Word of God. Many of them can cite parts of Sacred Scripture by memory. This in in part due to the fact that their liturgy focuses almost exclusively on the Word of God. In our Catholic liturgy the Mass has two main parts – the liturgy of the Word and the liturgy of the Eucharist. What we read and try to understand in the first part of the liturgy actually comes to life for us and is made powerfully present in the second part. Everything in our liturgy is building up to the intimate, personal encounter with Jesus in Holy Communion. Jesus does not just give us His word. He gives us Himself!
Every Mass is like an Emmaus experience. In the first part of our journey, Jesus opens our minds to understand the Scriptures. Our journey reaches its climax when Jesus reveals Himself to us in the breaking of the bread. Wouldn’t you like to share your story with others, as the two disciples did?
Third Sunday of Easter
CCC 1346-1347: the Eucharist and the experience of the disciples at Emmaus
CCC 642-644, 857, 995-996: the apostles and disciples as witnesses of the Resurrection
CCC 102, 601, 426-429, 2763: Christ the key to interpreting all Scripture
CCC 519, 662, 1137: Christ, our Advocate in heaven
The Collect for the third Sunday of Easter is occupied with the great paschal themes of baptismal renewal and hope of resurrection. We pray: May your people exult for ever O God, in renewed youthfulness of spirit.
We are reminded of the psalmist singing: Your youth is renewed like the eagle's. (Ps.102(103):5.)
For our Fathers in the faith the eagle was a bird rich in symbolic meaning. They believed that an old eagle whose eyesight was dim and whose heavy feathers weighed him down, could find his youth again.
He flew first to the sun and the fiery orb burned away the film from his eyes. He then immersed himself three times in the waters of the world and his feathers regained their original freshness.
The aged bird is thus an image of ourselves grown old in sin. We are drawn to Christ, the Sun of Justice and receive the light of faith into new eyes. We then dive into the baptismal font, and emerge to new life in the Spirit.
Therefore we continue praying: Rejoicing now in the restored glory of our adoption, we may look forward with confident hope to the rejoicing of the day of resurrection.
One newly enlightened seeks the new day, the day of resurrection which is Christ himself. He is the eighth day, beyond the seven day week, which marks the passing present time. This eighth day is an eternal day, light without limit, life without end.
Notes These hymns are for Eastertide and can be found in the Laudate Hymnbook:
758-773 Jesus in Glory (Laudate)
319-327 Christ the King (Laudate)
511-514; 459, 462 Sprinkling songs (Laudate)
and
Let all the world in every corner sing (CFE 356, L716)
Those who were in the dark (Behold the Lamb of God) (CFE737)
(CFE - Celebration Hymnal for Everyone)
Do you have questions about the liturgy and how we are called to participate in it? Explore how the Church councils, saints, and popes have answered this key question and many more.
Every movement of the Mass is rich in meaning but we can become over-familiar with it. Rediscover the Mass and explore how it relates to the Exodus story, where many of its rituals come from, and how it makes Jesus present to us today.
