12/04/2023

If the New Testament was a film the "Acts" would be "St Luke 2".  In the first reading, the Church of the Apostles is still centred on the Temple for we are all still Jews. The God we know is still the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob and His Temple is where we worship. It is also where we follow Jesus' example to proclaim the message of his Father and inspired by the Holy Spirit we proclaim the Resurrection. In today's first reading it is also where God upholds our mission and cures, in plain sight of all, the former fixture at the "Beautiful Gate" who runs and jumps up the steps into the Temple.

In the Gospel reading St Luke shows us a "flashback" to the first days after the Crucifixion. The two disciples are undoubtedly part of the group who had been to Bethany to see the resuscitated Lazarus and joined the throng on Palm Sunday. They had suffered the unimaginable gall that the Crucifixion had been for all the Apostles and disciples. They had also heard of what had happened  on the first day of that week but had not been sufficiently moved to stay with those who remained in Jerusalem. The hope that Jesus had enkindled had been brutally extinguished. There was no hope for Israel.

As they trudged back to Emmaus the stranger appeared and after listening to them began by scolding . "You foolish men". Their hearts began to burn at the recognition of the Truth the stranger expounded from the Prophets but they still did not recognise their Rabbi. They must have been with him for some time when they invited him to stay. He broke the loaf and they saw Jesus. They immediately rushed back to Jerusalem.

The "Breaking of the Bread" is accepted as a reference to the Last Supper but this need not necessarily be true for we do not know when they could have been told about the events of that meal and their significance. It could be a simple time-marker of the moment when they saw that he who had been a stranger was in fact Jesus. Thus, we are all taught that Jesus is always with us and we will see him if our hearts are ready for our eyes to be opened. Maranatha!

Dear Lord I am always ready to think about these familiar passages from scripture. I know that I have failed to live up to them during the "acts" of my own life and you already know that I will soon see evidence of how we have abandoned you who pours out love and suffered so much pain to inaugurate a new covenant for your people. May Mary and all your Saints plead for thy Church and have her strip herself of all the trappings of worldly wealth so that you can be with us and we can be with you in the bread that she breaks.