June 1^st 2014. THE ASCENSION OF OUR LORD

Gospel: Matthew 28:16-20

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini, broadcast on Vatican Radio

Don Fabio’s reflection follows the Gospel reading ...

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GOSPEL Matthew 28:16-20

The eleven disciples set out for Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had arranged to meet them. When they saw him they fell down before him, though some hesitated. Jesus came up and spoke to them. He said,

‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

Go, therefore, make disciples of all the nations;

baptise them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

and teach them to observe all the commands I gave you.

And know that I am with you always; yes, to the end of time.’

 The Gospel of the Lord: Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ

Kieran’s summary . . . Sometimes we ask ourselves where the world is going, how it will all end. We wonder what our mission in life is. The first reading tells us that this wondering and worrying is not something that we should engage in. Our task is to place our feet in the shoes that God has assigned for us and walk the simple path that he has opened before us. But what is our mission exactly? Should we seek to defend the image of the Church? Are we to attack the errors found in other philosophies/spiritualities? No, our mission is not to defeat other people by the force of our intellectual argument but to generate new life in them. We generate new life in others by proclaiming a word that will help them to embark on a relationship with God. How wonderful is the dignity that the Lord gives us! He permits us to share in his divine work of generating new life! The Lord did not say “Go out to the whole world and organise intellectual conferences”. Our mission is to go out and generate new children for God, children in the faith.

Jesus entrusts to the disciples a mission that will lead to their fulfilment

The Gospel passage we read on Sunday does not describe the exact event of the Ascension, but it contains the sense of that moment. Christ proclaims the fundamental words that express the mission of the Church. The words are short and sweet, but packed with meaning. We are told that the eleven apostles set out for the mountain where Jesus had arranged to meet them. The fact that there is only eleven reminds us that this is a group that has lost a member because of his betrayal. It is a group that is incomplete and impoverished, and that impoverishment will not be resolved by the autonomous efforts of the group or their inherent talents. The only way that group will come to fulfilment is by carrying out the mission that has been entrusted to it.

We wish to know the future. We seek to understand everything. But our real task is to trust in the Lord and walk the path that he has opened up in front of us

In the first reading from Acts, Jesus announces the coming of the Holy Spirit. The disciples are curious and wish to know exactly what is going to happen in the future. Jesus tells them: “It is not for you to know times or dates that the Father has decided by his own authority, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and then you will be my witnesses not only in Jerusalem but throughout Judaea and Samaria, and indeed to the ends of the earth”. We know that the world is passing away and we wish to know the whys and the wherefores of the whole process. But Jesus tells us that this is not something that we ought to be concerned about. Our task is to complete our mission, to be witnesses to the ends of the earth. How many people are preoccupied with knowing and understanding everything before they take the least step! We get lost in abstract planning about what we are going to do instead of actually doing anything! Our job is to place our feet in the shoes that God has assigned to us and walk the simple path that the Lord has opened up ahead of us.

The Lord entrusts us with a mission because he wants us to grow in autonomy and dignity

The traumatic aspect of the Ascension for the apostles is that the Lord is leaving them. He promises the coming of the Spirit, but this doesn’t necessarily comfort them for the loss that they are feeling. Jesus had only risen from the dead forty days before. The disciples were still struggling to understand the meaning of everything and then he goes up in the clouds! But this is how the Lord is. As soon as he feels that he can entrust us with the slightest little responsibility then he does so. God loves us and for that reason he gives us the space we need to develop. He is a Father who is happy to entrust us with the freedom that confers dignity on us. Any father is happy when he sees his son begin to do things by himself and gain autonomy. Our heavenly Father is not like the Kronos of Greek mythology who ate his children so that they would not usurp his reign. God wishes to regenerate us so that we can grow in dignity, and the mission he gives us allows us to live out this dignity.

Our mission is not to defend the image of the church but to proclaim a life-giving word that prompts others to enter into relationship with God

Our mission is to transform people into children of God, to share with them new life. This is the incredible work of spiritual procreation that we are called to. The Lord wants us to have the same joy that he has himself when he brings people to new life. Nowadays we are quite preoccupied by the image of the Church and the public perception of Christianity. We seek to promote our ideas in sophisticated ways, whilst defending our viewpoint against the erroneous positions of others. We try to dismantle the deceit contained in other philosophies that cause suffering for humanity. But this is not the most urgent task that the Lord has set before us. This is not the message that he gave us when he entrusted the Church with her mission. Life is not transmitted to others through explanations. Life is not shared with others by means of communication techniques that help us to understand. Life is conveyed to others by generation. This is the process by which a word enters the heart of someone who through that word learns to relate to God. It is not merely a word that increases that person’s understanding of something. This regeneration through the proclaimed word is the process that precedes baptism.

Our mission confers on us incredible dignity. We can share in the divine experience of generating people in the new life that comes from embarking on a relationship with God.

We have the dignity of being people entrusted with the mission of generation in the faith. Parents have the task of generating the faith in their children. This is the most important task that anyone could be given, to open in the heart of another person the door to God. The mission of the church is to generate children in the faith. Every priest, every Christian is a teacher of the faith who is called to exercise a prophetic mission. This has nothing to do with teaching people theories or moral obligations. We are not called to defeat people in arguments but to give them new life by generating in them a true relationship with God. This is something that we can offer to our most sworn enemies, a new pathway to life instead of engaging in mental combat with them. Jesus didn’t say, “Go out to the whole world and organise conferences”, or “Go out to the whole world and transmit intellectual truths through sophisticated means of communication”. Instead he commanded us to go out and make children in the faith, to generate new life and to experience at first hand the fecundity of God.

May 25^th 2014. SIXTH SUNDAY OF EASTER

Gospel: John 14:15-21

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini, broadcast on Vatican Radio

Don Fabio’s reflection follows the Gospel reading ...

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GOSPEL John 14:15-21

Jesus said to his disciples:

If you love me you will keep my commandments. 

I shall ask the Father, 

and he will give you another Advocate 

to be with you for ever,

that Spirit of truth 

whom the world can never receive 

since it neither sees nor knows him; 

but you know him, 

because he is with you, he is in you.

I will not leave you orphans; 

I will come back to you.

In a short time the world will no longer see me; 

but you will see me, 

because I live and you will live.

On that day you will understand 

that I am in my Father 

and you in me and I in you.

Anybody who receives my commandments 

and keeps them will be one who loves me; 

and anybody who loves me 

will be loved by my Father, 

and I shall love him and show myself to him.'

 The Gospel of the Lord: Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ

Kieran’s summary . . . Maybe sometimes we wonder why the gift of the Spirit seems to be absent from our lives. We hear of Spirit-filled people doing wonderful things and we ask ourselves why that is not the case with us. The first reading and the Gospel both emphasize that the Spirit is received only after one has first welcomed the word of God. In the Gospel Jesus says, “If you love me you will keep my commandments; I will ask the Father and he will send you another Advocate to be with you forever.” How wonderful it would be to have this Advocate! But He comes to us gradually and only when we welcome the word of God. The question then is how do we welcome the word that the Lord is addressing to us? We must contemplate on this matter and discern the ways in which God is speaking to us in our lives. Each of us has already received a “word” from the Lord. Each of us has a nugget of pure joy inside of us that owes its origin to a moment in our lives when a word of profound Gospel truth was spoken to us. This might have been in the words someone said to us in the home or in Church, in the example of the lives of the saints, or in acts of loving service that were directed to us. We must contemplate on that joyful truth that we already possess, no matter how small or insignificant it might be, for that is the door through which the Holy Spirit will enter our lives! And not only, contemplate it, we must be faithful to it! “If you love me you will keep my commandments . . .” That is the door to the Spirit and it may be the only door! Jesus tells us that he will not leave us orphans. When we welcome and are faithful to this word that he has already given to us, then we open ourselves of the Spirit. This Spirit of sonship banishes the spirit of self-centeredness and makes us children of our heavenly Father. Let us be faithful to that word the Lord has addressed to us! Let us discover it through contemplation, welcoming it wholeheartedly! In this way we open ourselves to the reception of the Holy Spirit.

First we must receive the word of God. Then we receive the gift of the Spirit

As we near the end of the Easter Season, we begin preparing for the Feast of Pentecost. Both the first reading and the Gospel present us with a two-phase process of receiving the Spirit. In the reading from the Acts of the Apostles, Philip preaches in a Samaritan town and the people receive the word of God. Then Peter and John come to the town, lay their hands on the Samaritans who receive the gift of the Spirit. In the Gospel we see a similar process. Jesus says: “If you love me you will keep my commandments. I shall ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you for ever”. We are asked to keep the Lord’s commandments, to be faithful to the word that has been given to us. Once we do this then we are enabled to make the leap that consists in the reception of the gift of the Holy Spirit. Jesus goes on to emphasize this point still further: “Anybody who receives my commandments and keeps them will be one who loves me; and anybody who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I shall love him and show myself to him”.

The Spirit cannot be received ex-nihilo in hearts that have no preparation

It is important to recognize the necessity of this two-phase process. The Holy Spirit is not obtained out of nothing. Rather, there is a clear road that must be followed that leads to the gift of the Paraclete. If the Church taught that someone could suddenly receive the Spirit of God in his heart with no preparation whatsoever, then that would smack of magic. The normal route for the entry of the Spirit of God into our hearts is to welcome first the word of God. We often forget that God’s action in our lives is of a gradual sort. We are inclined to think that the spiritual life is a case of black and white: either the Spirit is given to us or it is not. But this is the wrong way to view the interior life of the Spirit, not to mention the salvation and redemption of humanity. In Scripture we see that the Lord works by gradual means. He always gives us first a word. Abraham began by receiving a word from the Lord. Then he began a journey that led to him having the capacity to show a complete and absurd trust in the Lord. The entire history of the Jewish people is a story of a people who are being gradually prepared to enter into ever closer relationship with their heavenly Father. To arrive at the Father we must have the Spirit of sons, and this requires the sort of gradual journey that we find in the Scriptures.

Each of us has a nugget of pure joy inside of us that derives from a word of profound Gospel truth that has been spoken to us during our past lives

Our spiritual lives begin with the reception of a simple word from the Lord. Some people strive for instant progress in the spiritual live. They torture themselves if they feel they are not getting anywhere, if they do not achieve a certain rapid development. But this focus on results and experiences is misplaced. What we are called to do is to be attentive to the small and simple word that God addresses to us. In all of us there is a feeling of joy, of cheerfulness, that takes its origin from the fact that we have received something profoundly true from the Gospel, or from the Church, or from someone who spoke to us or served us in the name of Christ. To be faithful to this beautiful element is the sure road that leads upward. This is the doorway through which the Holy Spirit enters.

The word that the Lord has addressed to us in a word that renews us and transforms us. It banishes from us the sulky, sullen, fatigued spirit of self-centeredness. The Lord does not want us to be self-referential orphans. He wants to sow in us the seed of sonship. By being faithful to his word we open ourselves to the Spirit that makes us children of our heavenly Father

In the Gospel Jesus says, “I will not leave you orphans.” We are all children of a heavenly Father and Jesus does not want us to live and act as if we were individuals. He wants us to escape from the habit of behaving as if we were orphans. The word that Jesus plants in us is a seed that regenerates us and makes us new. The Lord changes us from being solitary, self-centred, distrustful and fatigued individuals. He places a seed in our hearts, a word that transforms. We must be true to the first stirrings of the faith within us. Perhaps when we were small a grandparent awakened in us a miniscule seed of delight and joy in the truth of the Gospel. Faith always begins with something small, but from that small beginning it goes ever forward. The Lord has addressed a word to each and every one of us that opens our hearts to the Holy Spirit. We must be faithful to that word.

May 18^th 2014. FIFTH SUNDAY OF EASTER

Gospel: John 14:1-12

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini, broadcast on Vatican Radio

Don Fabio’s reflection follows the Gospel reading ...

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GOSPEL John 14:1-12

Jesus said to his disciples

'Do not let your hearts be troubled. 

Trust in God still, and trust in me.

There are many rooms in my Father's house; 

if there were not, I should have told you. 

I am going now to prepare a place for you,

and after I have gone and prepared you a place, 

I shall return to take you with me; 

so that where I am you may be too.

You know the way to the place where I am going.'

Thomas said, 'Lord, we do not know where you are going, so how can we know the way?'

 Jesus said:

'I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. 

No one can come to the Father except through me.

If you know me, you know my Father too. 

From this moment you know him and have seen him.'

Philip said, 'Lord, let us see the Father and then we shall be satisfied'. 'Have I been with you all this time, Philip,' said Jesus to him 'and you still do not know me? '

To have seen me is to have seen the, Father, 

so how can you say, "Let us see the Father"?

Do you not believe that I am in the Father 

and the Father is in me? 

The words I say to you I do not speak as from myself: 

it is the Father, living in me, who is doing this work.

You must believe me when I say that 

I am in the Father and the Father is in me; 

believe it on the evidence of this work, if for no other reason.

I tell you most solemnly, 

whoever believes in me 

will perform the same works as I do myself, 

he will perform even greater works, 

because I am going to the Father.

The Gospel of the Lord: Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ

Kieran’s summary . . . The first reading tells us the story of how the Apostles came to the realisation that their unique calling did not include the task of distributing food. The distribution of food is a good and noble thing, but that doesn’t mean that everyone has to do it. Similarly, there are many good and noble things that we can do, but Jesus is not calling us to do every one of these things. Each one of us has a particular vocation from the Lord. How are we to discern which path we are to follow? How can we reach the unique place in heaven that the Lord has prepared for us? Jesus gives us the answer in the Gospel. He says, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.” Jesus is the Way because a living relationship with him leads us naturally to follow a particular direction in life. Jesus is the Truth because a genuine relationship with him leads us to embrace and personify that which is authentic, upright and faithful. And Jesus is the Life because an authentic relationship with him is to be fully alive. Jesus is the true way to life. The beautiful thing about this Gospel is that it emphasizes the personal and individual path that the Lord has laid out for each of us. Each path is different and each one leads to the individual place in heaven prepared for us by the Lord. But each of us can find our own individual path by entering into relationship with Jesus - our Way, our Truth and our Life.

Jesus has prepared a place for each of us in heaven. How can I know the particular path that the Lord is calling me to follow so that I will reach that place?

The Gospel reading from St John contains a beautiful phrase that assists us in orienting ourselves in the life of faith: “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.” There is a progression here and life is the point of arrival. We must follow a way, a way of truth, and this way of truth leads to life. It is our task to interpret this text in the light of Easter. We are still living in the period of Easter and we must seek constantly to enter into this mystery more deeply. The first reading from the Acts of the Apostles presents us with a practical problem. The Apostles feel that they will neglect their duty towards the Word of God if they are occupied with the distribution of food. To resolve the problem, they choose seven upright men to look after this task. This seems like a very banal story, but it has something to teach us that is extremely important. There are things in life that are good and upright, such as the distribution of food. But that does not mean that everyone is called to do those things. The way that God has laid out for you or me might well be a very different way altogether. The Gospel tells us that Jesus is preparing a place for us in heaven. The way to that place is very precise and we can easily take the wrong path and end up somewhere else. This raises a very critical issue for all of us. How are we to know which road we are to follow in life? How can we avoid wasting our existence following paths that are wrong for us? Some paths are beautiful, interesting and morally good, but they may not be necessarily the path that Jesus wants me to follow. It is for this reason that the Apostles in the first reading say “Stop! We have a ministry to be faithful to. We must allow others to look after the distribution of food. The Lord has given us a vocation that only we can follow.”

Jesus is the way because my relationship with him prompts me to follow him along a unique path that he has laid out especially for me

It is curious to consider that the Way, the Truth and the Life are identified with a person. How can a person be a way? A way is a course that we pursue. But a relationship with a person can also be a course of action or behaviour that we follow and which leads us along. If Jesus is the Way then that means that I must follow him. My relationship with Jesus provides the signposts which direct me along. If in life I encounter something good and sacrosanct then I must confront it with my relationship with Christ. If it is not the way that Jesus wants me to follow then I must leave that good thing to be looked after by another. Someone else will be led by Jesus along that way. My duty is to follow Christ in the way that he is leading me.

Truth is not a concept. Life is not an autonomous state of being. If I enter into true relationship with Jesus then I have true life. Only then will I be following the way that he has laid out for me that leads to the place he has prepared for me in heaven

Jesus says “I am the Truth.” We have a tendency to think of truth in intellectual terms, but here, once again, the concept becomes a person. What is true and authentic is that which leads me into ever deeper relationship with Christ. The way that leads to life is a way of truth, of authenticity. The truth in question here is not truth of the conceptual kind but a relationship. In the first reading, the distribution of food is not the authentic path that the Apostles must follow. If I wish to be with the Lord, if my truth is him, then it is not enough to pursue things that are true and authentic in themselves. I must pursue a true and authentic relationship with Jesus and this will lead me to life. Jesus tells us, in fact, that he is the Life. Living is not something that I do autonomously. Life is not something that I possess, full stop. Life is a relationship with Christ. There are many things that each of us can do in life. But only those things that put us in personal relationship with the Lord Jesus are those that will bring us to the fullness of life, the place in heaven he has prepared for us.

May 11^th 2014. FOURTH SUNDAY OF EASTER

Gospel: John 10:1-10

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini, broadcast on Vatican Radio

Don Fabio’s reflection follows the Gospel reading ...

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GOSPEL John 10:1-10

Jesus said: 'I tell you most solemnly, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold through the gate, but gets in some other way is a thief and a brigand. The one who enters through the gate is the shepherd of the flock; the gatekeeper lets him in, the sheep hear his voice, one by one he calls his own sheep and leads them out. When he has brought out his flock, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow because they know his voice. They never follow a stranger but run away from him: they do not recognise the voice of strangers.'

Jesus told them this parable but they failed to understand what he meant by telling it to them. So Jesus spoke to them again:

'I tell you most solemnly, 

I am the gate of the sheepfold.

All others who have come 

are thieves and brigands; 

but the sheep took no notice of them

I am the gate. 

Anyone who enters through me will be safe: 

he will go freely in and out 

and be sure of finding pasture.

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. 

I have come so that they may have life 

and have it to the full.

 The Gospel of the Lord: Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ

Kieran’s summary . . . The Gospel tells us that Christ is both the gate for the sheep enclosure and the Good Shepherd. What does this mean? How can he be both gate and shepherd? All of us live in narrow enclosures. We are fixated with ourselves, enclosed in routines and habits that bind us. Our practice of religion is dominated by things that are self-referential and only accidentally connected to the Lord. The Gospel tells us that the gatekeeper allows the Good Shepherd to enter the sheepfold. The Shepherd enters, calls each sheep by name and leads them out to pasture. Inside each of us there is a gatekeeper that controls what we give our hearts to. This gatekeeper must allow the Good Shepherd to enter the narrow enclosure of our hearts! When Christ enters into our lives, he cuts us to the heart, challenging us to leave our old ways behind us. Then he leads us out to rich pasture. The whole point of this Gospel is that we need to be led out by Christ to the fuller, freer existence that comes with being a member of his flock. What must we do to be led out into this wonderful life of grace? This is the very question that the people of Jerusalem ask Peter in the first reading! We must be cut to the heart by Jesus! We must allow Jesus to become the dominant principle in our hearts! We must leave behind the old enclosures and fixations which bind us and follow only him.

The saving acts of Jesus ought to cut us to the heart. To be cut to the heart means to make a fundamental choice from the core of our being.

The first reading contains the celebrated phrase from Acts describing the reaction of the crowd in Jerusalem to Peter’s sermon on the death and resurrection of Jesus: “Hearing this, they were cut to the heart . . .” A heart that has been cut in two signifies a heart that is divided and has two choices open to it. And, in fact, the crowd ask Peter what they must do in response to the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. And that is how it is with us. Our hearts must be cut in two when we reflect on what Jesus has done. We must make a choice between one of two paths.

Within each of us there is a gatekeeper. This gatekeeper has the job of governing what enters inside of us to control our hearts. May the gatekeeper within us allow the Good Shepherd in!

The Gospel describes a people who are be led out of an enclosure. Before being led out, they must be visited in a special way by the shepherd. It is essential that this shepherd enter the sheepfold in the correct manner, not by illicit means or by subterfuge. It is the gatekeeper’s job to allow the shepherd to enter. Thus we are presented with this surprising figure of the gatekeeper. Who might that be? It is the image of someone within us who is vigilant for our good and has control over what rules or leads us. This gatekeeper allows the good shepherd in. The sheep hear the voice of the shepherd and he calls each one by their own name.

To understand the story of the Good Shepherd it is necessary to read the previous chapter about the man led by Jesus out of darkness into light

In order to understand better Chapter 10 of John’s Gospel, we must consider the passage that precedes it in Chapter 9. This recounts the story of the man blind from birth who is healed by Jesus. The man is cast out of the synagogue for testifying to the works of Jesus. Here there is a juxtaposition. A man is liberated from darkness at the same moment that he is cast out of the synagogue. St John is not trying to imply that the Jewish religion is a religion of darkness. At the time that he is writing the Gospel, it is already the end of the first century and the clash with Judaism has receded in importance for the Christian community. What John is interested in highlighting is a much more general problem for the Christian faith. There is always the tendency of the faithful to erect barriers and procedures around themselves. There is a persistent inclination to return to the law rather than to live by grace. To the extent that we try to rely on our own efforts at salvation, we are lacking in true freedom; there is a part of us that Jesus has not liberated completely.

All of us live in the narrow enclosures of self-fixation. Our hearts are fixated with ourselves. Christ cuts us to the heart and leads us out of ourselves to real pasture

All of us live in an enclosure that we desperately need to escape from. Then the shepherd arrives. He is the door, the way out of this narrow room, the room created by our inwardly directed gaze - our utter preoccupation with ourselves. We live by routines and habits that do not bring salvation. We are fixated on a daily basis with things that do not lead us anywhere, things that keep us fenced in the same narrow enclosure. Christ is the door, but we must be cut to the heart before we take this route to freedom. The shepherd enters our enclosure, cutting us to the heart so that the old preoccupations of the heart are left behind. Approaches to religion, images of God that do not foster authentic relation with God, these must all be left behind. Jesus is the door. The text tells us that whoever passes by this door goes out and finds pasture. The end goal of all of this is the fact of going out! The Lord wants us to be nurtured on good pasture, to escape from the narrow enclosures in which we barricade ourselves. The blind man who is healed by Christ enters into a new way of life. His existence is no longer limited to begging at the door of the Temple. His religion is no longer the practice of living by rules and meaningless prescriptions. Finally he is following Christ. He is the sheep who has passed through the true door and has found pasture.

Without Christ, we live an existence of mediocrity at best. When we allow Christ to become our door, we begin to live authentic lives of freedom.

When we enter into the life of Christ, we no longer live like robbers. Without Christ we live an existence of trying to draw nourishment and sustenance from things in inappropriate ways. When we follow Christ we are truly ourselves, liberated from the narrow limits within ourselves, freed from the old enclosures that bind us. Then we find the restful valleys where the Lord gives us repose, as Psalm 23 tells us. We are called to go out with Christ who is our door, to leave behind our mediocrity, our old ways, old vices and old fears. We are called to follow Christ on the road to freedom.

May 4^th 2014. THIRD SUNDAY OF EASTER

Gospel: Luke 24:13-35

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini, broadcast on Vatican Radio

Don Fabio’s reflection follows the Gospel reading ...

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GOSPEL Luke 24:13-35

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.

 The Gospel of the Lord: Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ

Kieran’s summary . . . The disciples on the road to Emmaus think they have understood everything. They have seen Jesus crucified and are leaving the city, dejected. Jesus meets them and explains to them the meaning of the scriptures. He helps them to see that God’s plan unfolds in ways that we do not comprehend. At one point he reprimands them severely for their stupidity and narrow-mindedness. This reprimand is also for each one of us! How easily we lose heart in the face of suffering and the cross! Sunday’s Gospel is a call for each of us to hand ourselves over to the loving design of God. Christianity is not a series of moral prescriptions. It is a way of life in which we must entrust ourselves daily to the providence of God. If God’s plan for us were easy to discern, then that would mean that it was as small and limited as we are. There is nothing mediocre about what God has in store for us! Like the disciples on the road to Emmaus, we must be ever ready to meet the Lord and be turned upside down by the discovery of what he has planned for us! Like those disciples, we must be prepared to change direction in response to our encounter with him.

One of the themes of Luke’s Gospel is the way that God’s plan for humanity comes to fulfilment

The first reading recounts Peter’s annunciation of the Gospel to the people of Jerusalem in the Acts of the Apostles. During his speech, Peter tells the people that Jesus was handed over to be killed according to the foreknowledge and deliberate design of God. What does this mean? The Gospel of Luke has the same author of the Acts of the Apostles and the notion of God’s design has a central place in the Gospel. Does this mean that God predetermined everything that was going to happen? No. Our freewill is a sacred thing that is fully respected by God. God is outside of things and manages to bring about the fulfilment of his will notwithstanding our contrary behaviour.

Our approach to understanding life is unable to comprehend the design of God. God’s plan unfolds through the cross, something that makes no sense to us at all

The problem of the disciples on the road to Emmaus is that they have not understood God’s design. They are downcast and believe that the cross represents the definitive failure of Jesus. They feel that they were wrong to have believed in him in the first place. Why does our faith tend to unravel in the face of the cross? Because our perspective on things is so narrow and limited. We are unable to comprehend the design of God which transcends us utterly. The things that God does are greater than the things that we are fixated with. Jesus reprimands the disciples for their blindness and inability to understand the message of the prophets. These words of Jesus are extremely harsh and they highlight the stupidity that is within all of us. Our limited viewpoint has difficulty comprehending the design of God which often unfolds through the absurdities of death and the cross. It is in these absurd situations that we experience the power of God. We are intrinsically gifted with the capacity to encounter God, but the encounter with God is something that does not fit in the conceptual scheme that we operate from on a daily basis. The design of God and the resurrection from the dead are not things that fit in the preconceived notions of the disciples of Emmaus.

Being a Christian involves being open to the work of God in our lives. The will of God is not something that is easy to discern. If it were, then it would mean that it was as limited and narrow as we are

If we do not open ourselves to the design of God, then we reduce Christianity to a series of ethical norms and prescriptions. Instead, Christianity involves an encounter with the providence and design of God that lies hidden within all of the things that happen to us. If we are not open to the design of God, then our existence is less a dialogue than a monologue dictated by a book that we call the Gospel. Christianity instead must involve a continuous discernment of God’s action within us and an openness to following his will. And his will, thank God, is never clear. If God’s will were crystal clear then this would indicate that it was as small and limited as we are. It would mean that it was something mediocre. We are creatures that are being led in ways that are marvellous and unknown. The disciples on the road to Emmaus are people who are in a state of sadness that is then transformed into joy precisely because they become open to the design of God. They discover that the way of things is greater and more surprising that they supposed. We think we have understood everything but our journey is just beginning!

Like the disciples of Emmaus, may we constantly have our plans overturned in response to the loving designs of God

The Gospel this Sunday should help us to make this leap into the arms of God. We must hand over to him the things that bewilder us. Let us no longer attribute absolute value to the categories that seem reasonable to our way of looking at things. The Lord is beyond all of that and is saying “Foolish people! So slow to understand the message of the prophets!” When we attend liturgy, when we begin to pray, we must always be aware that we have understood little and that we are in constant need of God to explain everything to us again from the start. Life is a process of rediscovering everything from a more fundamental perspective. May the Lord help each one of us to become like the disciples of Emmaus. They were on their way to a particular place but then they joyfully changed direction because they had met the Lord! May each one of us be changed continuously by the power of the Lord! May we live in obedience to his loving designs for us!