FRIENDS and SERVANTS of the WORD
14 April 2024 EASTER SUNDAY 3
WORD of the DAY
The two disciples recounted
what had taken place on the way, and how Jesus was made known to them in the
breaking of bread. While they were still speaking about this, he stood in their
midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.” But they were startled
and terrified and thought that they were seeing a ghost. Then he said to them,
“Why are you troubled? And why do questions arise in your hearts? Look at
my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me and see, because a ghost
does not have flesh and bones as you can see, I have.” And as he said
this,
he showed them his hands and his feet. While they were still incredulous for
joy and were amazed, he asked them, “Have you anything here to eat?” They
gave him a piece of baked fish;
he took it and ate it in front of them. He said to them, “These are my
words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written
about me in the law of Moses and in the prophets and psalms must be
fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures. And
he said to them, “Thus it is written that the Christ would suffer and rise
from the dead on the third day and that repentance, for the forgiveness of
sins, would be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning from
Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.” (Luke 24: 35-48)
How shall I live this Word? 
In the accounts of the apparitions of the Risen One, joy follows the initial fear. The first is associated with closure, withdrawal, and darkness. The second, to the undeniable presence. So undeniable for them that they feel the need to shape their certainty in a story that – breaking all the laws of physics – presents the Risen One in the act of eating, like a physical being. This was their way of insisting on the intensity with which they perceived His presence. We too have been invited to move from fear to joy. From something we have (or can have: fear) to what we really are (joy, pleasure). The fact that Jesus ate a piece of fish could be a strong test for the disciples, but not for the readers of the Gospel, who had to make a new act of faith: believe what Luke tells us. This is why Luke adds a brief discourse of Jesus addressed to all of us. In it He does not intend to prove anything, but to explain the meaning of His passion, death, and resurrection. And the only way is to open our mind to understand the Scriptures. Through them, through those announced by Moses, the prophets, and the psalms, the mystery of His death is illuminated, which is for us a cause of forgiveness and salvation.
Jesus’ last words announce the future, “In His name will be preached to all peoples the conversion and forgiveness of sins, beginning with Jerusalem. You are witnesses of this.” The final sentence “of this you are witnesses” seems addressed to us, after twenty centuries. We are witnesses of the spread of the Gospel among people who, as the first letter of Peter says, “love Him without having seen Him”. This is the best proof of Jesus’ resurrection.
Lord Jesus, I ask you, help me feel sent, a happy envoy because I proclaim You, Lord of life.
The voice of a Scholastic Proverb
What you test too much doesn’t prove anything
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E-mail: srmterzo@gmail.com Website: www.sanbiagio.org info@sanbiagio.org Blog: livingscripture.wordpress.com -Comment: Sr. Yarislet Berrios, fma
