20190424 MAKING
CONNECTIONS: EVENT AND WORD
24 APRIL, 2019,
Easter Wednesday
Readings at Mass
Liturgical Colour:
White.
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First reading
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Acts 3:1-10 ©
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I will give you what I have: in the name
of Jesus, walk!
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Once, when Peter and John were going up to
the Temple for the prayers at the ninth hour, it happened that there was a man
being carried past. He was a cripple from birth; and they used to put him down
every day near the Temple entrance called the Beautiful Gate so that he could
beg from the people going in. When this man saw Peter and John on their way
into the Temple he begged from them. Both Peter and John looked straight at him
and said, ‘Look at us.’ He turned to them expectantly, hoping to get something
from them, but Peter said, ‘I have neither silver nor gold, but I will give you
what I have: in the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, walk!’ Peter then took
him by the hand and helped him to stand up. Instantly his feet and ankles
became firm, he jumped up, stood, and began to walk, and he went with them into
the Temple, walking and jumping and praising God. Everyone could see him
walking and praising God, and they recognised him as the man who used to sit
begging at the Beautiful Gate of the Temple. They were all astonished and
unable to explain what had happened to him.
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Responsorial Psalm
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Psalm 104(105):1-4,6-9 ©
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Let the hearts that seek
the Lord rejoice.
or
Alleluia, alleluia,
alleluia!
Give thanks to the Lord, tell his name,
make known his deeds among the
peoples.
O sing to him, sing his praise;
tell all his wonderful works!
Let the hearts that seek
the Lord rejoice.
or
Alleluia, alleluia,
alleluia!
Be proud of his holy name,
let the hearts that seek the
Lord rejoice.
Consider the Lord and his strength;
constantly seek his face.
Let the hearts that seek
the Lord rejoice.
or
Alleluia, alleluia,
alleluia!
O children of Abraham, his servant,
O sons of the Jacob he chose.
He, the Lord, is our God:
his judgements prevail in all
the earth.
Let the hearts that seek
the Lord rejoice.
or
Alleluia, alleluia,
alleluia!
He remembers his covenant for ever,
his promise for a thousand
generations,
the covenant he made with Abraham,
the oath he swore to Isaac.
Let the hearts that seek
the Lord rejoice.
or
Alleluia, alleluia,
alleluia!
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Sequence
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Christians, to the Paschal Victim
offer sacrifice and praise.
The sheep are ransomed by the Lamb;
and Christ, the undefiled,
hath sinners to his Father reconciled.
Death with life contended:
combat strangely ended!
Life’s own Champion, slain,
yet lives to reign.
Tell us, Mary:
say what thou didst see
upon the way.
The tomb the Living did enclose;
I saw Christ’s glory as he rose!
The angels there attesting;
shroud with grave-clothes resting.
Christ, my hope, has risen:
he goes before you into Galilee.
That Christ is truly risen
from the dead we know.
Victorious king, thy mercy show!
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Gospel Acclamation
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Ps117:24
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Alleluia, alleluia!
This day was made by the Lord:
we rejoice and are glad.
Alleluia!
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Gospel
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Luke 24:13-35 ©
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They recognised him at the breaking of
bread
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Two of the disciples of Jesus were on
their way to a village called Emmaus, seven miles from Jerusalem, and they were
talking together about all that had happened. Now as they talked this over,
Jesus himself came up and walked by their side; but something prevented them
from recognising him. He said to them, ‘What matters are you discussing as you
walk along?’ They stopped short, their faces downcast.
Then
one of them, called Cleopas, answered him, ‘You must be the only person staying
in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have been happening there these
last few days.’ ‘What things?’ he asked. ‘All about Jesus of Nazareth’ they
answered ‘who proved he was a great prophet by the things he said and did in
the sight of God and of the whole people; and how our chief priests and our
leaders handed him over to be sentenced to death, and had him crucified. Our
own hope had been that he would be the one to set Israel free. And this is not
all: two whole days have gone by since it all happened; and some women from our
group have astounded us: they went to the tomb in the early morning, and when
they did not find the body, they came back to tell us they had seen a vision of
angels who declared he was alive. Some of our friends went to the tomb and
found everything exactly as the women had reported, but of him they saw
nothing.’
Then
he said to them, ‘You foolish men! So slow to believe the full message of the
prophets! Was it not ordained that the Christ should suffer and so enter into
his glory?’ Then, starting with Moses and going through all the prophets, he
explained to them the passages throughout the scriptures that were about
himself.
When
they drew near to the village to which they were going, he made as if to go on;
but they pressed him to stay with them. ‘It is nearly evening’ they said ‘and
the day is almost over.’ So he went in to stay with them. Now while he was with
them at table, he took the bread and said the blessing; then he broke it and
handed it to them. And their eyes were opened and they recognised him; but he
had vanished from their sight. Then they said to each other, ‘Did not our
hearts burn within us as he talked to us on the road and explained the
scriptures to us?’
They
set out that instant and returned to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven
assembled together with their companions, who said to them, ‘Yes, it is true.
The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.’ Then they told their story of
what had happened on the road and how they had recognised him at the breaking
of bread.
MAKING
CONNECTIONS: EVENT AND WORD
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ACTS 3:1-10; PS 105:1-4,6-9; LUKE 24:13-35 ]
It is ironical that when
things are doing well for us, we never ask, “why?” We never stop to ask why we have
been blessed or given such gifts in life. What does God want us to do
with the gifts that He has blessed us with? Instead, we take for granted
our health, blessings, our loved ones and our career. Indeed, those of us
who are born into well-to-do families often take our food, our comfortable houses
and cars for granted. As a result, we become complacent in life. We
go through life oblivious of what is going on around us and so live a life of
ingratitude and even irresponsibility. This is particularly true of
children today when their parents provide them with everything, including
luxuries and holidays. What is a privilege or a blessing becomes a right.
But when tragedy
strikes, then we begin to ask the question, “why?” Why me and why has this happened to
me and my loved ones? Indeed, only in time of privation and suffering do
we begin to ask the reasons for our loss, whether of our loved ones, our
health, wealth and job. We begin to find fault with others and
ultimately blame God for our suffering. Suddenly, when things go wrong,
God comes into the picture. In good times, God is hardly thought of and
even when we are successful, the credit does not go to God but to our hard work
and ingenuity. But when things do not turn out the way we desire, then
God is to be blamed. Only then, do we begin to question God’s existence
and His love for us.
But this was not the
case of the crippled man who was healed by Peter and John. The man was begging for money but God
wanted to offer him more than just material things. “Peter and John looked
straight at him and said, ‘Look at us’. He turned to them expectantly, hoping
to get something from them, but Peter said, ‘I have neither silver nor gold,
but I will give you what I have: in the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene,
walk!’ Peter then took him by the hand and helped him to stand up. Instantly
his feet and ankles became firm, he jumped up, stood, and began to walk.”
This man who was healed immediately knew that it was God who cured him.
Hence, “he went with them into the Temple, walking and jumping and praising God.”
However, the people
could not understand the significance of the event. We read that “everyone could see
him walking and praising God, and they recognised him as the man who used to
sit begging at the Beautiful Gate of the Temple. They were all astonished and
unable to explain what had happened to him.” This clearly goes to
show that miracles in themselves cannot convince people to faith. We can
see the sign but not the meaning. In fact, the healing of the crippled
man brought different reactions as we read later on. The Jewish leaders
arrested them, questioned them and “ordered them not to speak or teach at all
in the name of Jesus.” (Acts 4:18)
This, too, was the case
of the disciples at Emmaus at the death of our Lord. They were
disheartened at the events that unfolded at the end of the life of Jesus.
They could not make
sense of them. They could not understand how Jesus who proved
to be “a great prophet by the things he said and did in the sight of God and of
the whole people” of whom the people had high hopes to liberate them from the
Roman’s control could instead end up with the Jewish religious leaders handing
“him over to be sentenced to death, and had him crucified” by the Romans.
These events were inexplicable. Over and above such tragic events were
the dubious information that they received from some sources. They said,
“some women from our group have astounded us: they went to the tomb in the early
morning, and when they did not find the body, they came back to tell us they
had seen a vision of angels who declared he was alive. Some of our friends went
to the tomb and found everything exactly as the women had reported, but of him
they saw nothing.”
Consequently, it is
important to apply the words to the events to bring out the significance. As Emmanuel Kant says, “Perception
without conception is blind; conception without perception is empty.” It
is not enough to have a sense of awareness of an event. We must give an
interpretation to it. This is true for every event in our life.
What happens to us and what we experience must teach us something about God,
about life, ourselves and about others. We must not let the events of
daily life pass each day without learning something from it. This is why
the Church always encourages us to do daily examen, which is not just about
going through those events when we missed out God’s presence in our lives
because we acted negatively, but also those events when God’s presence was
manifested. In this way, we learn from our mistakes and shortcomings and at the
same time, become grateful for God’s love being mediated to us through events,
big or small. It is not necessary that big events bring out the love of
God but even daily events when seen with the eyes of faith, wonder and
gratitude.
That was what St Peter
did immediately after the healing of the crippled man. We read that “all the people ran
together to them in the portico called Solomon’s, astounded. And when Peter saw
it he addressed the people, ‘Men of Israel, why do you wonder at this, or why
do you stare at us, as though by our own power or piety we had made him walk?
‘ The God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob, the God of our fathers,
glorified his servant Jesus, whom you delivered up and denied in the presence
of Pilate, when he had decided to release him. But you denied the Holy
and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, and
killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are
witnesses. And his name, by faith in his name, has made this man strong whom
you see and know; and the faith which is through Jesus has given the man this
perfect health in the presence of you all. (Acts 3:11-16) St Peter explained to them
the cause of the healing of the crippled man. He was only an
instrument. He only helped the man to stand up but the healing came from
the Lord through the invocation of His name. And this could only be
possible because the Lord whom they crucified is risen.
Jesus did the same thing
for the disciples at Emmaus. In contrast to the more forceful and direct
manner of Peter, His approach was one of gentleness and gradual understanding. He sought to win over their
confidence first by listening to them and making the journey with them.
“Now as they talked this over, Jesus himself came up and walked by their side;
but something prevented them from recognising him. He said to them, ‘What
matters are you discussing as you walk along?’ They stopped short, their faces
downcast.” It was through listening to them with great respect that they
began to talk more. Jesus allowed them time to heal their pains by giving
them the opportunity to articulate their confusion and disappointments.
But when it came to the
point when Jesus felt they were ready to hear Him out, He awakened them by confronting their ignorance. He
said, “‘You foolish men! So slow to believe the full message of the prophets!
Was it not ordained that the Christ should suffer and so enter into his glory?’
Then, starting with Moses and going through all the prophets, he explained to
them the passages throughout the scriptures that were about himself.”
With the help of the scriptures, Jesus was able to show the meaning of His
passion and death as a prelude to His resurrection and glorification so that
the world will know that He is Lord and Saviour of all.
Indeed, for us too, we
must learn from Peter and our Lord to find explanations for the confusion in
this world about faith, doctrines and morals from the scripture. If the disciples had only referred to the
scriptures and read the prophecy of the Suffering Servant in Isaiah 52,53 or reflected on Psalm 16, 2:7, 110:1 and Deuteronomy 18:15 and Daniel 7:13-14, they would have been able to
understand that the death and resurrection of our Lord was already foreshadowed
in the scriptures. But like the disciples, we are foolish and short-sighted.
Instead of consulting the Word of God for answers, directions in life, the
truth about morality and doctrines, we appeal to the so-called philosophers of
the world.
We too must search the
scriptures for the answers to the events of our daily life. We must seek directions from the
Lord. This is how we connect our life events and make sense of them for
our growth and our inspiration. This is what every homily seeks to
do. Better still, if we could form a group of people with whom we can
share the Word of God together. It is always in the community that we
discover the directions of God and the meaning of our lives. Indeed, it
was in fellowship that they came to understand their struggles and recognize
the presence of Jesus in their lives. We too must journey together in
faith, knowing that Jesus is with us in the Christian community gathered
together in His name, especially in the celebration of the Eucharist.
Written
by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All
Rights Reserved
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