Third Sunday in Easter

April 22, 2012

Acts 3:13-15; Psalm 4; 1 John 2:1-5; Luke 24:35-48

The story of the beleaguered disciples who left Jerusalem for nearby Emmaus touches the hearts of many. Their hopes were dashed and they were despondent. As they understood it, the mission of Jesus ended in a colossal failure. They hoped he was the one who was to deliver them from the oppression of the Romans and other national threats. Instead¸ calamity confronted them. This was their 9/11, but of much greater magnitude. With nothing left to do, they headed for home to pick up the pieces and cope with their disillusioned hopes.

The Gospel begins after the risen Jesus appears to the disciples who turn around straightaway so they can tell the other disciples. With the others, the Emmaus disciples tell their story of meeting Jesus on the road and discovering who he was in the breaking of the bread. He appears to them again and wishes them ‘peace.’ Their initial excitement turns into anxiety because the risen Jesus is with them again. A first encounter is certainly wondrous, but a second appearance must have a weighty significance to it.

It is at this point that we see the development of the Resurrection accounts. In Mark, the earliest Gospel, the empty tomb is enough to bring people to belief. The women who went to the tomb look inside and believe. Matthew tries to answer some questions of the early community who were under outside pressure to answer the charge presented to them: the disciples stole his body. The Roman guards deflect that volley. The disciples encounter Jesus in a human form when he appears to Mary and to the Eleven Apostles. The later disciples wanted visible proof that he rose from the dead. An empty tomb is insufficient proof to later generations that Jesus was raised by God.

Luke, the third Gospel written, goes one step further. Not only does Jesus appear in risen form, he bears the marks of the crucifixion. This is to negate the charge that he is a ghost for a ghost does not have flesh and blood. A ghost does not eat and drink. He asks his disciples to look at his hands and feet to show that his risen form is continuous with his crucified self. This bodily form of Jesus is the same who died brutally.

The third proof of the resurrection is evidenced in the Acts of the Apostles when Peter speaks boldly and without fear. It was just a mere few days beforehand when he was cowering behind locked doors with the others who deserted Jesus. They feared for their lives because the religious authority and the Romans knew they were the cohorts of Jesus. Any public appearance meant crucifixion was likely. However, we find Peter boldly calling out the people and telling them what God has done for them. He does not hesitate to let them know that they were agents in the death of Jesus, but he does not hold it against them. It is their responsibility to own up to their actions and repent. Their sins are wiped away if they come to belief.

Both Peter and Jesus insist that it was necessary that Jesus suffered for us. We can treat that in more detail in the future. Today, I think it is helpful if we reflect on what the resurrection really is (since it is a present reality.) For your belief, do you need proof of the bodily resurrection of Jesus to know the resurrection occurred? Or, is the empty tomb enough? What really does it mean that Jesus was vindicated by God, in his entire person, which includes his teachings and deeds? It makes us ask what the resurrection means for us? It takes a great deal of time to ponder and wonder. We also have to remember that Jesus can tell us. In fact, I think he wants to tell each of us in a way we can hear and understand.

Jesus is risen from the dead. It means so much to me. I have to always remind myself that my life ought to be markedly different from those who do not believe. I hope my actions testify to my belief that Jesus has been raised from beyond death so that we all may have life. This means that in a world of suffering, we can find deep joy – very deep joy.

Themes for this Week’s Masses

First Reading:  We continue with the Acts of the Apostles and we read the account of Stephen who was working great signs and wonders among the people in the name of Jesus. False testimony is lodged against him but he stands angelic before them. His angry opponents stone him including Saul who gave consent to execute him. A severe persecution breaks out in Jerusalem and the believers are displaced to Judea and Samaria. Saul, trying to destroy the Church, enters house after house to arrest them. Philip's testimony and miracles in Samaria emboldens the believers. Philip heads out to Gaza and meets an Ethiopian eunuch who is reading Isaiah's texts. Philip interprets the scripture and the eunuch begs to be baptized. Meanwhile, Saul is carrying out hateful acts against the believers and is struck blind as he beholds an appearance of Jesus. The beginning of his call and conversion is happening.

Gospel: In John 6, Jesus feeds the 5,000 as a flashback to the Eucharistic memory of the believers with the Bread of Life discourse. Jesus instructs them, "it was not Moses who gave you bread from heaven; my heavenly Father gives true bread." Jesus proclaims, "I am the bread of life." He further states that anyone who comes to him will never hunger or thirst. Jesus will raise everyone on the last day. All that is required is belief in him. Belief is a gift not given to all and the way to the Father is through the Son. As you would expect, opposition arises to the statements of Jesus as his cannibalistic references are hard sayings to swallow. He tells the people, "my flesh is true food, and by blood is true drink." If you eat of Jesus, you will live forever.

Saints of the Week

April 22: Jesuits honor Mary as the Mother of the Society of Jesus. In the Gesu church in Rome, a painting of Our Lady of the Way (Maria della Strada) is portrayed to represent Jesuit spirituality. Mary had been a central figure to Ignatius’s spirituality. In 1541, seven months after papal approval of the Jesuit Order and two weeks after his election as the first general, Ignatius celebrated Mass at Our Lady’s altar in the basilica of St. Paul Outside-the-Walls in Rome.

April 23: George, martyr (d. 303), was killed in Lydda, Palestine. He may have been a Roman soldier who organized a Christian community in what is now Iran (Urmiah). He became part of the Middle Ages imagination for his ideal of Christian chivalry and is thought to have slain a dragon. He was sent to Britain on an imperial expedition. He became the patron of England (and of Crusaders) and the nation adopted George’s Arms, a red cross on a white background, which is still part of the British flag.

April 23: Adalbert, bishop and martyr (956-997), was Bohemian-born who was consecrated bishop of Prague amidst fierce political opposition. He was exiled and became a Benedictine monk in Rome that he used as a base to preach missions in Poland, Prussia, Hungary, and Russia. He is named the "Apostle to the Slavs." He was killed in Gdansk, Poland.

April 24: Fidelis of Sigmaringen, priest and martyr (1578-1622), was a canon lawyer from Swabia, Germany who became a Capuchin Franciscan  in Switzerland in 1612. Prior to priesthood, he tutored nobles in France, Italy and Spain and helped interpret legislation that served the poor. He was known as the "lawyer for the poor." He was later appointed to the challenging task of preaching to the Protestants in Switzerland, where he was killed for being an agent for the king. He was the head of the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith in anti-Catholic hostilities. He was accused of being the king's political agent and was assaulted and killed.

April 25: Mark, the Evangelist is the author of the earliest Gospel and is associated with Peter whom he heard preach. Mark was a member of the first Christian community in Jerusalem and his mother owned a house in the city that was used as a place of prayer during Peter's imprisonment under Herod Agrippa I. He was originally a companion of Paul and Barnabas having traveled with them back to Antioch in Syria. Later, they brought him along as their assistant on a missionary journey. He is associated with Peter’s ministry later in life. He was sent to Alexandria and formed a church that is now known as the Coptic Orthodox Church.

April 28: Peter Chanel, priest, missionary, martyr (1803-1841), is the first martyr of the Pacific South Seas. Originally a parish priest in rural eastern France, he joined the Society of Mary (Marists) to become a missionary in 1831 after a five-year stint teaching in the seminary. At first the missionaries were well-received in the New Hebrides and other Pacific island nations as they recently outlawed cannibalism. The growth of white influence placed Chanel under suspicion, which led to an attack on the missionaries. When the king’s son wanted to be baptized, his anger erupted and Peter was clubbed to death in protest. 

April 28: Louis of Montfort, priest (1673-1716), dedicated his life to the care of the poor and the sick as a hospital chaplain in Poitiers, France. He angered the public and the administration when he tried to organize the hospital women's workers into a religious organization. He was let go. He went to Rome where the pope gave him the title "missionary apostolic" so he could preach missions that promoted a Marian and Rosary-based spirituality. He formed the "Priests of the Company of Mary" and the "Daughters of Wisdom."

This Week in Jesuit History

·         Apr 22, 1541. Ignatius and his first companions made their solemn profession of vows in the basilica of St Paul Outside-the-Walls.

·         Apr 23, 1644. A General Chapter of the Benedictines condemned the calumny that St Ignatius was not the real author of the Spiritual Exercises. A monk had earlier claimed that the matter was borrowed from a work by Garzia Cisneros.

·         Apr 24, 1589. At Bordeaux, the Society was ordered to leave the city. It had been falsely accused of favoring the faction which was opposed to King Henry III.

·         Apr 25, 1915. Pierre Rousselot, Professor at the Institute Catholique in Paris, is wounded and taken prisoner during World War I.

·         Apr 26, 1935. Lumen Vitae, center for catechetics and religious formation was founded in Brussels.

·         Apr 27, 1880. On the occasion of the visit of Jules Ferry, French minister of education, to Amiens, France, shouts were raised under the Jesuit College windows: "Les Jesuites a la guillotine."

Apr 28, 1542. St Ignatius sent Pedro Ribadeneira, aged fifteen, from Rome to Paris for his studies. Pedro had been admitted into the Society in l539 or l540.