So, do you believe in your hearts? Because that\u2019s what today\u2019s readings are all about. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now I am sure that if I ask all of you if you believe in Jesus Christ and the Resurrection; your all going to tell me \u201cyes\u201d. But let\u2019s take a closer look at today\u2019s Gospel to see about believing in the heart. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jesus is walking along with Cleopas and his companion on the road to Emmaus. Not recognizing him, they tell Jesus about all the mighty deeds and words that Jesus did. Yet even so, they say that Jesus was betrayed, crucified, died, and buried. Then they proceed to tell him that some of the women went to the tomb that very morning and found it empty. The women were told by an angel that Jesus was not there but was Risen. Instead of being happy and joyous, they are confused and despondent. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, Jesus says to them: \u201cOh. How foolish you are, slow of heart to believe all that the prophets spoke.\u201d Yes, \u201cSlow of heart\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
These disciples of Jesus presumably had followed him in his ministry. They had heard all of this before. Jesus had been very open to his disciples about who he was, what would happen to him, and that it would all unfold according to the scriptures. They heard it before, they knew it, they kind of believed it too. Else they wouldn\u2019t have talked about how mighty Jesus\u2019 words and deeds were. But they didn\u2019t believe it in their hearts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, they believed; but they didn\u2019t believe. They didn\u2019t believe in their hearts because they were distracted. They were distracted by the events taking place in the world and the magnitude of the cultural establishment. Despite everything Jesus had said, they still believed that death was death; because that\u2019s what everyone\u2019s experience was. And even the testimony of the \u201cwomen in their group\u201d about what the angel said couldn\u2019t penetrate that. They didn\u2019t connect the dots because reality was more relevant than Jesus message about the Kingdom. The Kingdom of God is, after all, beyond worldly reality. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
About 6 weeks ago, I was participating as a Deacon in a Funeral Mass. Before Mass, a group of us were gathered in the back of the Church while the family assembled in the front. The deceased was the 104 year old Aunt of a friend of mine, who lost her husband within weeks of when Jane died. She had told me the lady was her favorite Aunt. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Well, I remarked to the priest and some of the Parish Staff Members that I wasn\u2019t sure I wanted to live to 104 because with each year, I was less and less nimble; and the list of chronic ailments was growing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then one of the staff members said to me: \u201cYes but consider the alternative.\u201d Really, consider the alternative. This is a perfect example of how someone can believe, and yet not believe in their heart. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now if you follow the daily readings, then you know that today\u2019s reading from Acts shows a dramatic change in the Disciples behavior. In this week\u2019s readings, the Apostles were summoned by the Jewish Leaders twice and told not to preach about \u201cThat Name\u201d. And yet, the 40 days of the post Resurrection Jesus had converted these men. They didn\u2019t care any more what the Jewish Leaders thought or what they might do to them. They were fearless; because they were now believing in their hearts in the Resurrection. Peter\u2019s speech clearly demonstrated that as he calls Jesus\u2019 persecutors, the Jewish Leaders, \u201clawless men\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
How can we come to really believe in our hearts like these men did? After all, we are not first-hand witnesses, but rather, we are called to listen to the Gospel and accept everything on faith some 2000 years later. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When Jesus accepts Cleopas\u2019 invitation to stay with him and share a meal, he does something truly remarkable. He repeats his actions from the last Supper by taking bread, blessing it, breaking it, and giving it to the others. It is then, and only then, that they recognize him. And instantly, he is gone. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I remarked last week about \u201cthe breaking of bread\u201d. Here again we hear Cleopas and his companion return to Jerusalem And describe that Jesus was not made known to them until \u201cthe breaking of bread\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Well, we all have this same experience available to us. That is what Communion is all about. We can\u2019t see Jesus; we can\u2019t feel Jesus in worldly terms. But he is really present in the Eucharist, in the breaking of bread; and not only that, His ethereal presence will help us to understand and internalize our faith in our hearts. This experience is available to us each time we attend Mass. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Life is God\u2019s most precious gift to each of us as individuals. The world tells us that eventually we will die, and that is it. The world acts as if \u201cthat is it\u201d when someone dies. But you know what, as Christians, we should believe in our hearts. After all, consider the alternative!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
3rd Sunday of Easter Acts 2: 14; 22-33; 1 Pet 1: 17-21; Lk 24: 13-35 Deacon Larry Brockman So, do you believe in your hearts? Because that\u2019s what today\u2019s readings are all about. Now I am sure that if I ask all of you if you believe in Jesus Christ and the Resurrection; your all […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[601],"tags":[614],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1212"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1212"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1212\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1213,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1212\/revisions\/1213"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1212"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1212"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1212"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}