Jesus Walks Along with us

04-18-2021Weekly ReflectionFr. Anthony Okolo, C.S.Sp

We are still celebrating the resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ by which He conquered the power of shame, injustice, evil, lies, darkness, death and sin and taken the victory. In His name mighty deeds are done because there is power in the risen Christ, this is what Peter in the first reading exhorts the crowd who were amazed at the miracle Peter and the apostles did in the name of the Christ by healing a crippled beggar. He takes them through the Old Testament and explains to them how God has glorified his servant Jesus whom He caused to rise from the dead. He proclaims that they are witnesses to these great works of God that is they who give the testimony of His rising from the dead and believe in it. We as Christ followers should also believe in it and give the testimony of our own faith in the Risen Christ. As Easter people we have also received the power to conquer the power of evil, despair, sin and darkness in our own lives.

The second reading John explains to us that Jesus is the advocate who is the expiation for our sins. The only way to demonstrate our love for Jesus is to keep His commandments especially the commandment of love. This was the commandment He gave to His apostles on the evening of the last supper when He said, “I give you a new commandment love one another as I have loved you.” Jesus loved us even unto death. He wants us as His true disciples to imitate these acts of love for others by sacrificing our lives for others beginning with those who are close to us and those we know and do not know.

The gospel tells the story of Jesus’ appearance to the disciples who were terrified thinking they were seeing a ghost. To convince them He was not a ghost He showed them the nail marks on His hands and feet as proof to them that He has risen. Archbishop Fulton Sheen would say that “if the scars had been removed, men might have forgotten that there was a sacrifice and that He was both a Priest and a victim. These nail prints, His pierced side, were the unmistakable scars of battle against sin and evil. As many a soldier looks upon the wounds He received in battle not as a disfigurement, but as a trophy of honor, so He wore His wounds to prove that love was stronger than death.” By rising with the scars He wants to prove to them He was still the same person that was crucified on the cross on Good Friday. Jesus by rising with His wounded hands and feet, He wants to unite and be in solidarity with all those who are wounded in body, mind and Spirit. His wounds become a healing remedy for all the wounded victims in our world. Had He risen with no memorials of His passion, men and women might have doubted Him with the passing of time. That there might be no doubt of the sacrificial purpose of His coming, He gave them not only the memorial of His death the night of the last supper, asking that it be perpetuated as long as time endured, but He also bore on His Person, as Jesus Christ, the ‘the same yesterday, today and forever’ the Memorial of His Redemption. Fulton Sheen.

The showing of His scars was followed by this simple greeting “Peace be with you” The greeting of peace after rising from the dead is to indicate that He has come with peace, He has not come to judge or condemn them for abandoning Him and running away. By greeting them “Peace be with you” He wants to assuage their fear and give them hope and joy irrespective of their failure to stand with Him when He needed them. In the same way, Jesus gives us peace in spite of our failures to stand with Him. He wants His disciples to be people of peace. Peace can be achieved when we ourselves are carriers of peace.

Finally, the Gospel passage tells us that afterwards, He asked them “have you anything to eat”. They gave Him a piece of baked fish, He took it and ate it in front of them. They believe in the resurrection, but by sharing meals with them gave them the greatest of the joy. Eating with them would be the greatest proof of His Resurrection because this was what He had done with them before the crucifixion. A ghost does not have the body and the ability to share meals with others. Our Lord has Risen, may our faith be strong and firm in knowing that He is with us. May we approach His thrown of mercy and love to receive His mercy. May we sincerely turn back to God in total repentance of our wrong doing and He would welcome us with love.

Once again Happy Easter and may the power of the Risen Lord bring many blessing to your homes and families.

Fr. Tony Okolo CSSp