Alleluia! Christ is Risen! Alleluia! He is Risen indeed! How are you today? Hope you are well on this Thursday of the Easter Octave. As you receive this message I’ll actually be returning from a retreat at St. John’s in Collegeville. While I’m a proud 2008 graduate of that fine institution and many alumni affectionately refer to it as “God’s Country,” I am also well aware that we have the opportunity to encounter the Risen Lord wherever we happen to be. Within the Gospel readings at the daily Masses for this week we have heard about a variety of profound encounters that the disciples of Jesus had with their friend and teacher after his Resurrection. On Monday we heard Jesus say to them as they were traveling with fear, “Do not be afraid. Go tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me” (Matthew 28:10).
On Tuesday we heard about Mary Magdalene as she stood grieving outside of the tomb, even confusing Jesus for a gardener. After calling her by name Jesus said, “Stop holding on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am going to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God’” (John 20:17).
Yesterday was the famous story of The Road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-35) as two disciples were walking along with heavy hearts. Jesus appeared to them and spoke words of Truth and encouragement. He then broke bread with them before disappearing from their sight. The two were amazed by this experience stating, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he spoke to us on the way and opened the Scriptures to us?” (Luke 24:32) When they met with the other disciples they shared, “what had taken place on the way and how he was made known to them in the breaking of the bread” (Luke 24:32).
Today’s Gospel is an alternative account of what we will hear in the Gospel on Divine Mercy Sunday (John 20:19-31) when Jesus appeared to his disciples in the locked Upper Room. To alleviate their fearful concerns he said to them, “"Peace be with you." He then invited them to see and touch the wounds of his hands and feet as a confirmation that he was really with them and it wasn’t a ghost (Luke 24:36-40).
Tomorrow will be the appearance of Jesus to Simon Peter and several others on the shore of the Sea of Galilee (John 21:1-14). It was an opportunity in the middle of their labors for the Risen Lord to visit them and accompany them and provide them with food for their journey.
Saturday’s Gospel recalls a time when the faithful Eleven Disciples gathered together at table and Jesus appeared to them to give them their missionary duty to evangelize, “Go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature" (Mark 16:15).
Reflecting upon these appearances of Jesus to his friends after the Resurrection it becomes clear that some common threads emerge. Namely, when the disciples of Christ were heartbroken, afraid, feeling out of sorts, confused about what to do, working, sharing a meal, or just walking along in conversation, there He was in their midst. This is Good News for us as well when we have similar moments and experiences in life. Our Lord and Savior is truly divine but he also is truly human, able to identify with us in all of the hardships and difficulties of life. As members of his Mystical Body and branches of He who is the vine may we continue to stay connected to Him and lift up all that happens to us this side of Heaven.