April 18, 2017

Bright Tuesday; Venerable Father John, Disciple of Gregory the Decapolitan

Read
Acts 2:14-21; Luke 24:12-35


Christ is risen! Truly, He is risen!

Hindsight is 20/20 as the expression goes. It is always easy to judge the “silly disciples” who are constantly told of the suffering, passion, death and Resurrection of our Lord- and who yet still don’t get it! We can’t be too hard on them, brothers and sisters, because ultimately we rely on their witness to His Resurrection, as outlined in our reading today from the Gospel of Luke.

Walking away from Jerusalem in disappointment after the death of Jesus, the two disciples meet someone who is strange to them. The Person inspires them somehow and they can’t quite figure out why. Until the opening of the Scriptures and the breaking of the Bread. Christ reveals Himself to these disciples, and to us, through His Word and His Body and Blood in the Eucharist.

Although it might be tempting to judge the disciple who came before us, we need to surrender ourselves, as they did, to where we find truth. The truth about Jesus, about His Father, about who we are and the world in which we live is in the breaking open of the Word and the Eucharist. Once empowered from this encounter we will have the courage, as did these two disciples to race back and witness to “how He was made known to us” in the world!