Gospel – Luke 24: 35-48
Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread.
While they were talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, ‘Peace be with you.’ They were startled and terrified, and thought that they were seeing a ghost. He said to them, ‘Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts?
Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself. Touch me and see; for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.’ And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering, he said to them, ‘Have you anything here to eat?’ They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate in their presence.
Then 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, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.’ Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and he said to them, ‘Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.
The Gospel of the Lord
The Mass Intention is for Mickey Galistan RIP -Our Lady’s
John Jesson RIP Holy Cross
Reflection:
Dear friends, Jesus is keen to reassure his friends that he is not a ghost, but the same one as before, though in a new state. The strongest proof of this identity are his wounds, a clear sign that ‘that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day’.
Yet they are also signs that ‘repentance and the forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations.’ Death and life are closely linked, yet life has the last word.
Jesus tells his friends that they are to be his witnesses. He asks that of me and you too, and I pray to be a faithful witness of the Resurrection and of the good news about the forgiveness of sins. Like the Apostles, I can only witness what I have already experienced, and I ask for a heart open to Jesus’ presence in my life.
Christ commissions the disciples with the words “You are witnesses to this.” We too get this commission of being His witnesses, through our baptism and incorporation into the Church. If we do not take on this mission then the world will not hear Christ’s message of reconciliation and forgiveness.
- Our Christian call is four fold: to hear His word, to accept His word, to follow His word and to spread His word. How are you doing?