HOMILY FOR EASTER WEDNESDAY.
THEME: Their eyes were opened and they recognised him at the breaking of bread.
BY: FR. DEOTATIOUS CHIKONTWE SMA.
*READINGS OF THE DAY*
Acts 3:1-10
Psalms 105:1-2, 3-4, 6-7, 8-9
Luke 24:13-35
*LITURGICAL COLOUR*
WHITE
*ABOUT THE READING OF TODAY*
In today’s first reading we find a man crippled from birth who is put down every day by others at the entrance to the Temple so that he could beg. He relies on others completely to put him in the most auspicious place to collect alms. By the end of the reading, as a result of his encounter with Peter, he is walking and jumping and praising God. Peter didn’t give him alms, but gave him a more precious gift, enabling him to walk through the power of the risen Lord.
RELATED: HOMILY FOR EASTER TUESDAY.
*ABOUT THE GOSPEL READING OF TODAY*
The transformation in that man’s life has a parallel in the gospel reading in the transformation of the two disciples who were heading from Jerusalem to Emmaus. At the beginning of the gospel reading, they are not crippled, they are walking. However, they are certainly not walking and jumping and praising God. Theirs is a slow, sad, walk, with downcast faces. In their own way, they are crippled too. They walk in the shadow of Jesus’ death. They are soon joined by a stranger, who, unknown to them, is the risen Lord. His impact on them is akin to Peter’s impact on the crippled man. Having told their sad story to the stranger, he in turn tells them a different story, drawn from the Scriptures. It is not a story that ends in death but in glory. Their hearts begin to burn within them; they begin to come alive. They don’t want this stranger to leave them and so they invite him to their home, where in the breaking of bread at their table, they finally recognize him as the Lord.
*CONCLUSION*
Having left Jerusalem, dragging their feet, they return in joy, with a spring in their step. They re-join the community of disciples to share their Easter story and to hear other Easter stories, a wonderful image of the church. The risen Lord comes to us all, as he came to the crippled man through Peter, as he came to the two disciples through the stranger, through God’s word and through the Eucharist. He comes to renew our life, to recreate us in his love, to fan into a living flame the gift of our faith, to replenish our hopeful spirit. This is the season to open our lives to the many ways that the risen Lord comes to us with his many Easter graces.
May the Risen Lord be with You!
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