＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊

Acts 3: 11-26

 

Ps 8: 2ab & 5, 6-7, 8-9

O Lord, our God, how wonderful your name in all the earth!

＊＊＊＊ Gospel ＊＊＊＊

Luke 24: 35-48

 Then the two told what had happened on the road and how Jesus made himself known when he broke bread with them.  While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood in their midst. (He said to them, “Peace to you.”)  In their panic and fright they thought they were seeing a ghost, but he said to them, “Why are you upset and why do such ideas cross your mind? 

Look at my hands and feet and see that it is I myself. Touch me and see for yourselves that a ghost has no flesh and bones as I have.” (As he said this, he showed his hands and feet.) Their  joy was so great that still could not believe it, as they were astonished; So he said to them, “Have you any­­thing to eat?” and they gave him a piece of broiled fish. He took it and ate it before them. 

Then Jesus said to them, “Remember the words I spoke to you when I was still with you: Everything written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms had to be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.

 And he said, “So it was written: the Messiah had to suffer and on the third day rise from the dead. Then repentance and forgiveness in his name would be proclaimed to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. And you are witnesses of these things. 

 

Gospel Reflection：

When Jesus himself appeared to them, they thought they were seeing a ghost and were terrified. Jesus had to reassure them that it was really he that stood before them, even asking for something to eat. (A ghost, after all, does not ask for food.) By doing something quite ordinary, that is, eating, Jesus allowed them to wrap their heads around something extraordinary, that is, his rising from the dead.

We often think of miracles as something so incredibly different and strange that the very laws of nature are bent or even broken. But there are countless miracles that happen every single day, miracles that we often for granted because we believe they’re nothing more than ordinary occurrences.

And yet it is precisely in such common and ordinary events that the power of God makes itself known. We just have to be attentive to their quiet and subtle presence.