Your word is a lamp for my feet and a light for my path. (Psalm 119)
Luke 24:13-25 Cleopas and his friend who were walking away from Jerusalem to Emmaus the evening of the Third Day following Jesus’ death were disconsolate and even disturbed. They had thought that Jesus would bring them salvation – a reason to live and to die; for, and by, the love of God. Not so, it seemed to them. The Master had been crucified as a common criminal. Where was justice, where was the light of God in this darkness? So too, we walk away from our churches and routines of praise and prayer, disconsolate and upset that what we thought would save us and bless us, hasn’t. Jesus’ response to Cleopas and his companion was to walk beside them for a time and review with them all the scriptures that foretold the death and resurrection of the Christ – and then he simply took bread, blessed it and gave it to them. Jesus answers our desolations and disturbances in the same way. He continues to ‘feed us with the holy mysteries’ in just just as he did the evening of his Resurrection. We too can walk with Christ Jesus and hear him remind us of our place in the history of salvation – through prayer and reading Scripture (so much richer for us who now have the New Testament as well!), through song and music, through the people and events in our lives, and through the glory and movements of creation. We too can receive from him bread blessed and broken, through Holy Communion and the Liturgies of the Church. And when we faithfully and hopefully ‘return to Jerusalem’ like Cleopas and his friend, to participate fully in the Body of Christ that is the Church, we too can receive the comfort, the wisdom and the protection of the Holy Spirit from the hand of God. Will I give into my desolations and let them hide the presence of Jesus from me, or will I realize the Lord walking with me, listen to his reminders of God’s mercy for me, receive his Grace and return to a life deeply rooted in prayer and empowered by the Holy Spirit of God? Holy Spirit of Jesus, remind me of my place in your history of salvation. I bless the Lord who gives me counsel; in the night also my heart instructs me, I keep the Lord always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. (Psalm 16:7-8) Let God’s people then recognize that they are a new creation in Christ, and with all vigilance understand by whom they have been adopted and whom they have adopted. St. Leo the Great. A Happy and a Blessed Easter Season to you and your family! Much Grace, Peace and Joy be with you! Soli ad gloriam Dei Gospel Mystery of the Day on FaceBook & www.gospelmysteryoftheday.ca
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AuthorBeverly Illauq lives in Kemptville, Ontario, where she greets each morning by seeking the Gospel Mystery of the Day - the Word of the Lord for direct and practical application to the specific challenges & joys of the day. Archives
March 2024
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