Saturday, April 22, 2023

THE EUCHARISTIC SPARK

Meditation for the Third Sunday of Easter
(Acts 2:14, 22-33; 1 Pet 1:17-21; Lk 24:13-35)

Let us meditate on one of the most prominent appearances of Jesus after His resurrection. The encounter between Jesus and two of His disciples, who were on their way to Emmaus, says a lot about our Eucharistic celebration. “While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were kept from recognizing Him.” What could prevent believers from recognizing their Master? It is lack of faith in the resurrection or sin! The resurrected Jesus is present among believers, but unbelief and sin blur our eyes of faith from recognizing Him. That is why the Mass begins with the act of contrition, when we acknowledge our sins and ask for God’s mercy. As Peter said in the first reading, we have crucified Jesus by our sins, “But God raised Him up.”

 

In the liturgy of the word during the Mass, Jesus speaks to us through the Bible readings, just as He spoke to the disciples along the road. Only Jesus can reveal to us how He is in the Scriptures; “Beginning with Moses and all the prophets, He interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.” So, we listen to Jesus through the Scriptures, for He alone is the one who can reveal to us the hidden mysteries in the words of the Bible, and draw us to Himself as we listen. This is how both the words read at Mass and the preaching can set our hearts on fire for Jesus.

Then the disciples said to Him, “Stay with us, for it is towards evening and the day is now far spent.” The desire for communion is sparked off by our reception of the word in our hearts. At the sacred table, Jesus gives Himself in an extra ordinary way through the breaking of the Bread, which becomes His new presence. “And their eyes were opened and they recognized Him; and He vanished out of their sight.” Jesus immediately withdrew the ordinary human form, but the Eucharistic form remains. In Holy Communion, the faithful realize that the Eucharistic spark within, is a deepening of the same fire they felt while listening to the Scriptures. Hence, the disciples said, “Did not our hearts burn within us while He talked to us on the road, while He opened to us the Scriptures?”

 

Just as the two disciples were energized by the assurance of faith, they received through the Eucharistic encounter to leave behind their comfort and go against their fears back to Jerusalem, bearing witness to what they experienced, so also, we rise from the Mass to go home and live out the grace we received. That is why the second reading says that our faith and hope are rooted in God through the confidence we have in Jesus, who ransomed us, not with perishable gold or silver, but with His precious Blood. That is why, like the disciples that were going to Emmaus, we must humbly listen and sanctify our hearts with word of God, so that we can have a deeper encounter with Jesus in the Eucharist. Amen.

 

Fr Jude Chinwenwa Nwachukwu, C.Ss.R

Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church,

Tedi-Muwo, Ojo, Lagos.

Sunday April 23, 2023.

www.nwachinwe.blogspot.com