15 April 2018

Third Sunday of Easter

This week we are invited to meditate on the joy which the Risen Lord brings to us. “Cry out with joy to God, all the earth!” we pray with the Psalmist. ( Ps 66:1) Then we pray that “rejoicing in the restored glory of our adoption, we may look forward in confident hope to the rejoicing in the day of resurrection.” How do we rejoice “in the restored glory of our adoption”? How do we look forward “to the rejoicing in the day of resurrection”? Such questions are the subject for meditations on the rich Scripture proclaimed all this week. Today, in particular, we may begin by considering the appearance of the Risen Lord.

When He first comes to the disciples, Jesus offers to them the gift of peace. They, however, at seeing again Him who they thought was dead are terrified. It is too sudden. They are not ready for Him (because they still have yet to let His promises sink deeply into their hearts). Christ is insistent, however, rebuking their fear, He shows them His hands and feet, seeking to assure them that He is neither illusion nor phantom, but their Lord, come to them in the flesh. The result of these efforts of Christ is that the disciples are “incredulous for joy and amazed.” ( Lk 24:41) Such is the effect of the works of the Lord. In general, we expect far too little from life and from the Lord. When the Risen Lord breaks into our doubts, our sadness, or our limited view of how the world should work, the first reaction may be one of fear. Fear at the prospect that someone else should rob us of doubt or sadness which we consider to be rightfully ours. We, however, are not to remain in the state of immature fear. Our Lord is patient, but insistent. He stays with us in our fear. He offers us continual evidences that it is truly He who is present, neither an illusion nor a phantom. This week let us contemplate the ways in which our Lord approaches us in the midst of darkness, the evidences He gives us of His Presence, and the true joy which He thus inspires.