This week's message from Fr. Bob

Sunday's Readings:

1st Reading Act 2:14, 22-23
Responsorial Psalm Ps 16:1-2, 5, 7-11
Reading 2  1Pt 1:17-21
Gospel Lk 24:13-35

Homily for Third Sunday of Easter, 2020

What a difference it makes to have Jesus in our life! With Jesus we have a positive attitude and enjoy life. How wretched our life would be without Jesus. Without Jesus we would be in a mess. Jesus gave the two disciples on the road to Emmaus a new understanding of Scripture that corrected their erroneous views and they met Jesus in the breaking of the bread. When we meet Jesus in the Scripture and the Eucharist and have our thinking healed we too can stop on the road to the depression of Emmaus and return to the joy of our everyday tasks in Jerusalem.

During this pandemic we may be feeling a concerned, depressed, anxious, or even not sure what we can do.  When we meet Jesus then we have the strength to face the difficulties of life. We get this strength from Jesus the same way that the two disciples on the road to Emmaus did, by reading the Sacred Scriptures of the Bible and in the breaking of the bread at Mass. Jesus gave those two disciples a new understanding of Scripture that corrected their erroneous views and they met Jesus in the breaking of the bread. Reading Scripture helps correct our wayward thinking and we meet Jesus in the Eucharist. We all believe that Jesus is really present in the Eucharist but Jesus is also present to us when we read the Bible. Would you consider taking out your Bible and reading from it if you are not doing so? It will heal your thinking just as the thinking of those two disciples on the road to Emmaus was healed. When their thinking was healed they were able to turn around from Emmaus and return to Jerusalem. When we meet Jesus in the Scripture and the Eucharist and have our thinking healed we too can return from Emmaus to Jerusalem. 

Such a beautiful positive attitude is what we would expect of a disciple of Jesus but such an attitude is not what we meet in the two disciples going from Jerusalem towards Emmaus because they had temporarily lost Jesus. Their faces were downcast. Their hopes had been dashed. They thought Jesus was the Messiah but he had been crucified and died, and with his death their hopes died also. When they came near to Emmaus they stopped, not wishing to continue their journey any longer because it was evening. After recognizing Jesus in the breaking of the bread do you notice the big change that came over them? They set out that instant and returned to Jerusalem. They had been leaving Jerusalem trying to escape from the reality of a dashed hope. Instead of staying away from Jerusalem now they wanted to go back again to where their hope was dashed. Previously when it was evening they did not have the enthusiasm to continue their journey any longer, and stopped when it was dusk. Now even though it was dark they set out to travel back to Jerusalem by night. What a difference it makes to have Jesus in your life! What a difference it makes to meet Jesus and know him. What a difference to meet Jesus in the Sacred Scriptures of the Bible and in the breaking of the bread. Then your heart burns within you.

When the disciples met Jesus on the road it was a gentle meeting. He walked by their side. He listened to their story. He met them where they were at. He met them at their own level. We too meet Jesus in people who treat us like that, who listen to our stories even if they don’t make sense to them. We meet Jesus in people who have the time to talk to us and listen to our troubles without being patronizing. We meet Jesus in the people who accept us with all our faults and failings. We meet Jesus in the people who help us to have a positive attitude towards life, and by helping us in that way they help us to stop on the road to the depression of Emmaus and return to the joy of our everyday tasks in Jerusalem.

Just think of the various ways we have traveled the road to Emmaus during these trying times. I think of the healthcare workers, those who work at the grocery stores, those who work for the food industry, those who are delivering those essential items we desire, and all of those who are making sacrifices for the whole community. Our parish reaching out to our parish family, and provide for the spiritual and other needs of those around us. Think of the service that you/we have done. It harkens us to think back of those two disciples. 

But what do these two disciples do after Jesus proclaims the Word to them, and shares with them the Word made Flesh? After hearing, seeing, and receiving Jesus, they serve Him by sharing with others their encounter with the Word in the Flesh. That such service is called for from those who receive the Holy Eucharist is ritualized by the conclusion of Holy Mass. In fact, the word “Mass” comes from the Latin for the phrase spoken at the end of Holy Mass: “Ite, missa est”. This phrase, while officially translated as “Go forth, the Mass is ended”, literally means “Go, the dismissal is made.” Then-Pope Benedict XVI in a 2007 document on the Sacrament of the Eucharist taught: “In antiquity, missa simply meant ‘dismissal’. However in Christian usage it gradually took on a deeper meaning. The word ‘dismissal’ has come to imply a ‘mission’. These few words [that is, “Ite, missa est”] succinctly express the missionary nature of the Church.” This teaching from our Pope Emeritus helps us see today’s Gospel passage, and the gift of Holy Mass itself, in light of the end—the goal—of the entire Easter Season:  the solemn feast of Pentecost and the mission of Jesus’ Church. Let us continue to fulfill this mission even as we live our lives during this extraordinary time. -Fr. Bob Garrow

Intercessions 

V/ As we rejoice in Christ's victory:
R/ Risen Savior, hear our prayer.

For the Church. May the Lord open our eyes to recognize him in this Eucharist and in the difficult circumstances of our ordinary lives…R/
 
For world and national leaders. May the Lamb who has ransomed us from the futile ways of war and oppression by his own blood, raise up leaders with the wisdom and patience to negotiate for peace…R/
 
For our parish community, and all who have received the Easter Sacraments. May we come to know our risen Lord in the breaking of this bread and fearlessly go forth to spread the Good News…R/
 
For all who have been sorely tried by pain and loss, particularly the sick and the bereaved. May Jesus join them on the road and help them interpret what has happened, making their hearts burn again with faith and love…R/ 
 
For a swift end to the coronavirus pandemic that afflicts our world, that our Risen Savior will heal the sick, strengthen those who care for them, and help us all to persevere in faith…R/  

For those who have died, may they live forever with Christ in the glory of the resurrection...R/
 
For the prayers in our book of intercessions, and for those prayers we hold in the silence of our hearts (pause 5 seconds), and for:

Casimer Kubiak, 4:15 Vigil Mass
The People of the Parish, 8:15 Sunday Mass
Lucille McMahon, 10:30 Sunday Mass
 
As we rejoice in Christ's victory…R/ 
 
In company with Mary, the Holy Mother of God, St. Anthony de Padua our patron, and all the angels and saints, in peace…R/

St. Anthony de Padua: Pray for us!