Touch Me and See

April 26, 2009

Third Sunday of Easter

By Rev. Joe McCloskey, S.J.

God has thus brought to fulfillment what he had announced beforehand through the mouth of all the prophets, that his Messiah would suffer. Repent, therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be wiped away. Acts 3:18-19

Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures. And he said to them, "Thus it is written that the Messiah would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day and that repentance, for the forgiveness of sins, would be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. Luke 24:45-48

Piety

Jesus, help us to see you in everyone we encounter. Help us to see what scars others bear and give us the ability to heal their wounds. Open us to the healing that others offer to us. Help us to forgive those who hurt us. Open us to the free and unlimited love and forgiveness that you grant to all including us. Amen.

Study

Sharing the moment close to Christ brings Christ back again. The disciples on the road to Emmaus were talking about Christ and Christ came to them. They recognized Christ in the breaking of the bread. When we share Christ with others, he comes back to us again. It is all too true that the only way to hold unto Christ is to give him away. He calls us into his life by the love we share with each other. And the greatest love we have to share is Christ himself. They recognized Christ in the breaking of the bread. We find Christ when we do things with each other. Walking with Christ on our journey of life comes to the point where Christ will go on unless we invite him to break bread with us. It is in the breaking of bread with each other that we recognize the Christ of the other’s heart. Sometimes I say it too easily that the Christ of my heart recognizes the Christ of your heart. We need more than a few moments to reach the rock bottom of Christ in our lives. He is there without forcing himself on us. We solidify his presence in the asking each other to stay.

Keeping the commandments is how to stay in each other’s life with Christ as the ultimate meaning of our love. The commandments are the ultimate statement of interpersonal relationships. Happiness is the living of our lives with the good of each other utmost in our minds and our hearts. Once the two disciples on the road to Emmaus realized they had been with Christ they returned to Jerusalem to be with the bigger community. We live the wonder of Christ with us when we are willing to go out of our way to share Christ with those with whom we have met Christ. It is in the further sharing of Christ that a deeper encounter with Christ takes place. Christ is the expiation for our sins and for those of the whole world. Thus, Christ is perfected in us. We need to experience the efforts that others put out. Thus, we find Christ in the time and the energy that others expend for the sharing of Christ. It is a wonderful journey when we are free to put out for each other. Christ fulfilled his destiny that he learned about in the writings of Moses and the prophets. We have to be witnesses of what Christ did in his life by living out in our lives what Christ would do if he were us. We allow him to live in us by the love we share with those who need us most. Family, friends and strangers become one in Christ by charity and love shared. The people of God who are the Church are also the mystical body of Christ. He gathers with us when we gather in his name. When two or three gather in his name, he promises us his companionship. We are called by Christ to be witnesses to his love.

Action

So we pray to the Lord that his face not only shine on us, but that we may be his face to the world. It is Christ who brings gladness into our hearts by his countenance shining upon us. Christ is the gladness of our hearts and brings security into our dwelling places. In each other we touch and see the goodness of the Lord. Christ rises from the dead again in the goodness of each of us. Every encounter of our lives becomes an encounter with Christ in our efforts to bring Christ into each meeting with another. Our apostolic actions are the richness of our love shared. With our efforts to do something about the needs of our brothers and sisters, our love covers a multitude of sinfulness. In the love of Christ shared by our willingness to bring Christ into anything we do for another, we become the perfect witnesses of the resurrection of Christ. We make up for the failures of each other by our love shared. Forgiveness of sins is preached whither we go when we offer our lives for what is wrong with our world. Thus we are witnesses of the resurrection of Christ.