THURSDAY - APRIL 21, 2022
“What does Jesus Christ do in the Eucharist? It is God, who, as our savior, offers himself each day for us to his Father’s justice. If you are in difficulties and sorrows, he will comfort and relieve you. If you are sick, he will either cure you or give you strength to suffer so as to merit Heaven. If the devil, the world, and the flesh are making war on you, he will give you the weapons with which to fight, to resist, and to win victory. If you are poor, he will enrich you with all sorts of riches for time and eternity. Let us open the door to his sacred and adorable Heart and be wrapped about for an instant by the flames of his love, and we shall see what a God who loves us can do. O my God, who shall be able to comprehend?”
– St. John Vianney
TODAY'S READINGS
April 21 2022
Thursday in the Octave of Easter
Lectionary: 264
Reading 1ACTS 3:11-26
As the crippled man who had been cured clung to Peter and John,
all the people hurried in amazement toward them
in the portico called “Solomon’s Portico.”
When Peter saw this, he addressed the people,
“You children of Israel, why are you amazed at this,
and why do you look so intently at us
as if we had made him walk by our own power or piety?
The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob,
the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus
whom you handed over and denied in Pilate’s presence,
when he had decided to release him.
You denied the Holy and Righteous One
and asked that a murderer be released to you.
The author of life you put to death,
but God raised him from the dead; of this we are witnesses.
And by faith in his name,
this man, whom you see and know, his name has made strong,
and the faith that comes through it
has given him this perfect health,
in the presence of all of you.
Now I know, brothers and sisters,
that you acted out of ignorance, just as your leaders did;
but God has thus brought to fulfillment
what he had announced beforehand
through the mouth of all the prophets,
that his Christ would suffer.
Repent, therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be wiped away,
and that the Lord may grant you times of refreshment
and send you the Christ already appointed for you, Jesus,
whom heaven must receive until the times of universal restoration
of which God spoke through the mouth
of his holy prophets from of old.
For Moses said:
A prophet like me will the Lord, your God, raise up for you
from among your own kin;
to him you shall listen in all that he may say to you.
Everyone who does not listen to that prophet
will be cut off from the people.
“Moreover, all the prophets who spoke,
from Samuel and those afterwards, also announced these days.
You are the children of the prophets
and of the covenant that God made with your ancestors
when he said to Abraham,
In your offspring all the families of the earth shall be blessed.
For you first, God raised up his servant and sent him to bless you
by turning each of you from your evil ways.”
Responsorial Psalm8:2AB AND 5, 6-7, 8-9
R. (2ab) O Lord, our God, how wonderful your name in all the earth!
or:
R. Alleluia.
O LORD, our Lord,
how glorious is your name over all the earth!
What is man that you should be mindful of him,
or the son of man that you should care for him?
R. O Lord, our God, how wonderful your name in all the earth!
or:
R. Alleluia.
You have made him little less than the angels,
and crowned him with glory and honor.
You have given him rule over the works of your hands,
putting all things under his feet.
R. O Lord, our God, how wonderful your name in all the earth!
or:
R. Alleluia.
All sheep and oxen,
yes, and the beasts of the field,
The birds of the air, the fishes of the sea,
and whatever swims the paths of the seas.
R. O Lord, our God, how wonderful your name in all the earth!
or:
R. Alleluia.
AlleluiaPS 118:24
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
This is the day the LORD has made;
let us be glad and rejoice in it.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
GospelLK 24:35-48
The disciples of Jesus recounted what had taken place along the way,
and how they had come to recognize him in the breaking of bread.
While they were still speaking about this,
he stood in their midst and said to them,
“Peace be with you.”
But they were startled and terrified
and thought that they were seeing a ghost.
Then he said to them, “Why are you troubled?
And why do questions arise in your hearts?
Look at my hands and my feet, that it is I myself.
Touch me and see, because a ghost does not have flesh and bones
as you can see I have.”
And as he said this,
he showed them his hands and his feet.
While they were still incredulous for joy and were amazed,
he asked them, “Have you anything here to eat?”
They gave him a piece of baked fish;
he took it and ate it in front of them.
He said to them,
“These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you,
that everything written about me in the law of Moses
and in the prophets and psalms must be fulfilled.”
Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.
And he said to them,
“Thus it is written that the Christ 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.”
The story in today's first reading reminds me of the time my parish received a visit from a mission priest who was advertised as a healer. Although his teachings did not focus on supernatural healings, the people did. They came in droves for miracles, and although miracles did occur, the greatest healings were those that happened inside of hearts and minds and souls. The man's reputation as a "healing priest" drew them in, but those who listened attentively discovered Jesus.
Peter said, "Why are you fascinated by this miracle, and why do you look at us as if we made this man walk by our own power or piety?" Then he refocused them on the Who behind the miracle. The people did not initially understand -- they crowded around Peter and John because they wanted to see more miracles; what they got was a message of truth about Jesus.
In the Gospel reading, I wonder why the disciples still thought Jesus was only a ghost, even though the women had reported seeing Jesus alive, and even though Peter and John had witnessed the empty tomb. They did not initially understand what Jesus had foretold about rising from the dead. Jesus had to explain it to them again, from the Easter side of his death. After seeing the miracle in front of their faces (Jesus proved he was alive by munching on some fish), they finally started to grasp his message.
Why is it that we don't see our risen Lord everywhere and in everything until we understand the message that he's trying to convey?
To be honest, it's because we're looking at the resurrection the wrong way: "What's in it for me? How does this bless my life?" Spiritual truths are impossible to understand when we limit them to a self-centered view. We grasp the true message when we realize: "What's in it for God? If he's blessed, I will be blessed, too, and others besides!"
Remember, Jesus didn't rise from the dead for his own sake, for the same reason he didn't die for his own sake. His victory over our sins and then his victory over death blessed the Father and the whole world too.
What don't you understand? This is where you still need an outward-focused resurrection experience.
The resurrection becomes real in our everyday lives when we stop the selfish thinking of "What's in it for me?" and start looking at how our crosses can glorify God and benefit other people.
Today's Prayer
My Lord: Give me the grace of recognizing Your Real Presence in the Eucharist. Forgive me for living enclosed in my worries without going to You, the living Bread from Heaven. Amen.
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The mother of Jesus promised St. Dominic that, “one day through the rosary & the scapular I shall save the world!”
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