Wednesday in the Octave of Easter
Last week I offered that you never know when the Lord Jesus himself will show up at your door or present himself to you unexpectedly, asking you to offer him radical hospitality. As we walk the Emmaus Road today with our Lord, let us sharpen our vision to recognize Christ’s presence within us and all around us. As Easter people, freed from the cloudiness of sin and death, we truly have a clear new lens through which to look at life. May we view the world today through Resurrection eyes and may our hearts and lives continue to remain wide open to receiving and hosting Jesus well and with great joy during this Easter season.
Jesus opened Cleopas’ and the other disciple’s eyes to his presence in the scriptures. I’ve heard people say that the New Testament is hidden in the Old and the Old Testament is revealed in the New. The entirety of the bible reveals God’s love to us and the plan of salvation. Jesus Christ is the Word of God himself. The Easter season marks a beautiful time to fall in love with God’s Word. Let it be a time for you to draw closer to our Lord, recognizing and receiving him in the scriptures each day.
During the Mass, I love pondering all the many ways that Christ is present to us there. The Emmaus travelers recognized Christ in the breaking of the bread. May we plumb the depths of intimacy with the Risen Lord each and every time we partake of his Eucharist. Words cannot express the glory, the majesty, the mystery, the transcendent and yet manifest experience of Christ in the Eucharist. Let us never take it for granted, but rather enter into every Eucharist with a fervent desire to recognize the very real presence of our crucified and Risen Lord, to adore him, to worship him, to passionately love him, to recommit our lives to him, to receive him. I love to look around the congregation during Mass and recognize Jesus so wondrously present in his Body. At Immaculate Conception Church, the sanctuary candle hangs out over the congregation rather than beside the Tabernacle as a stunning reminder that the worshipping community is the gathered Body of Christ. Christ also ministers beautifully in the person of the priest, and he is represented in the form of the altar. His presence manifests as his Word is proclaimed. When the Book of the Gospels, the altar, the priest, and the congregation are incensed during a Mass, it is Christ himself, present in each of these items and people who is being venerated. May we all be more mindful to recognize Christ in all these ways that he reveals himself to us, and let it be a means of growing in intimacy with him. As Easter people, let us recover the awe and wonder of Christ’s presence so wondrously present to us, for us, and within us during every Mass. As Easter people, let us ask the Holy Spirit to give us a deeper hunger for the Sacraments and for Eucharistic Adoration. The more time we spend with Jesus, the more we will know him and the better able we will be to recognize him instantly whenever and however he comes to us.
Peter and John encounter a man who was crippled from birth begging at the Temple gate. Expecting alms, this man received Jesus instead in the form of healing graces flowing through the disciples. This man encountered Jesus living within his friends. As friends of Jesus, may you, this Easter Wednesday, be increasingly and intimately aware of the Christ within you and may you offer him with joy to all whom you meet this day. And, as Peter and John did, let us recognize Christ in the poor. The poor are the Body of Christ. May this Easter season be one of renewed love for Christ in his poor and eyes wide open to recognize and serve him in them.
Rejoice, O hearts that seek the Lord! As we seek, may we have 20/20 Resurrection vision to recognize him within us and all around us. Amen, Alleluia!
Elizabeth Wells