By John Desing csc –
Readings: Acts 3: 11-26; Lk 24: 35-48
Just as the apostles recognized and believed the risen Lord in the reaking of the bread, we are invited to encounter him more profoundly in the daily Eucharist.
In the Eucharist, the Lord breaks himself for us. Do we have anything to offer to the Lord at the Table of Sacrifice? As the Lord asked, “Have you anything here to eat”?
Jesus’s coming into our hearts is always preceded by permission as he asked the disciples in Mathew 14: 34, “How many loaves have you got?” They said, “Seven, and a few small fish.” And in Rev 3: 20 ‘Listen! I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come into you and eat with you, and you with me. Jesus himself assures that “I am with you to the end of the age” (Mt 28:20). Those who eat his bread and drink his blood will have life in him.
The apostles had the privilege of witnessing Christ’s public ministry, his passion, death, and resurrection. They also had a task to give witness to the risen Christ in bringing his message of peace and healing to the world. As baptized Christians, we are called to experience the mystical body of Christ in the Eucharist and be nourished by his word. We may not have the opportunity to see the pierced hands and feet of Jesus to confirm our faith, but we can truly see the wounded hand and feet of Christ in the sick, the rough hands of a farmer, or in the plight of the
homeless.
To become his true witnesses to the broken world today, we need to draw strength from the Eucharist which is the source and summit of every Christian life.