Thursday of the Octave of Easter
The author we call “Luke” dominates today’s Liturgy of the Word. Both readings come from Luke’s two part work – the Gospel according to Luke and Acts of the Apostles.
Like Peter’s speech which we hear today, almost half of Acts of the Apostles consists of speeches by a variety of people. There are at least 26 speeches, and eight of those are from Peter. A very important point to keep in mind when reading these speeches is that, although they appear to be coming from Peter, they actually express the theology of Luke who wrote them. Using speeches as a literary device and attributing them to lead characters in the story is an ancient practice. What Luke has Peter preach today is reiterated in our Gospel of the day: “He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures” (Lk 24:45).
Still overcome with fear despite a first hand experience of the Risen Lord, the disciples’ minds remain closed. They can’t anticipate that the messiah would die and rise as Jesus had done, so eloquently professed by Peter in the first reading. Instead they “circle the wagons” of their minds, thinking that they knew better than any divine plan. Aren't we like that sometimes when fear grips us and we then lack openness to what God might be doing in our lives?
How can we change?
- Accept our human limitations before God. Who can know the mind of God? The vulnerability needed here is scary and uncomfortable. God can never be “controlled” as we might like to do. Surrender is the only way.
- Pray for the virtue of humility. We are not God and that is a good thing, not something to fear but something to celebrate.
- Ask the Lord to open the scriptures for us as he did on the road to Emmaus and he does every mass in the Liturgy of the Word.
Most of all we must be patient with ourselves as the work of faith is the work of a lifetime. Be patient with ourselves as Jesus was with his disciples on that first Easter Sunday night.
—Timothy J. Cronin