Friday, April 24, 2026

 Friday of the Third Week of Easter

(Acts 9:1-20; John 6:52-59)

Today’s first reading helps us appreciate the Easter mystery.  Saul, on his way to Damascus, has a vision of the risen Lord.  What does he see?  The passage does not say directly.  It says that there was “a light from the sky” evidently so intense that Saul reacted by falling to the ground in fear.  The peculiarity of this vision should be compared to the oddities of other visions of the resurrected Jesus.

In his appearance to Mary Magdalene in the Gospel of John Jesus cannot be readily recognized.  He looks different: the text says like a gardener.  In the appearance on the road to Emmaus, the two disciples likewise cannot identify their teacher until he breaks bread with them.  Similarly, when the resurrected Jesus invites his disciples to breakfast on the shore of Lake Tiberias, none but the Beloved Disciple recognize him on sight.  This disciple was the one who believed in Jesus from seeing his burial cloths in his tomb.

Upon seeing the light in today’s reading from Acts, Saul is blinded. He is forced to look inwardly to know himself and, more importantly, to recall the Scriptures.  With this introspection and recollection, he can understand what the voice from the sky told him: “’I am Jesus …’”  As this name indicates, Jesus is the one through whom God saves.  He fulfills our deepest longings for truth, justice, and love.  His resurrected body, though indescribable, is God’s verification that his mission has been accomplished.  It begs us, as it did those who saw it, to believe in him.

Thursday, April 23, 2026

 

Thursday of the Third Week of Easter

(Acts 8:26-40; John 6:44-51)

There is a magnificent painting of Christ, the Lamb of God, hanging in the Prado Museum, Madrid.  It has no human characteristics.  Rather the artist, Francisco de Zurbaran, portrays Christ as an unblemished lamb bound and ready for slaughter.  The painting reflects the prophecy of Christ in Isaiah which the official of the candace is reading in today’s first reading.

The court official of the Candace would be interested in this figure as he too is bound and forced to suffer.  Although he is not a poor man, as a eunuch he cannot worship in the Jewish Temple.  Christ, however, died for all so that eunuchs, Africans and people of all stripes suffer no inherent impediment to praising God in him.  Of course, the court official accepts Christian baptism.

Like Christ and like this Ethiopian, we are called to suffer.  We may have a painful disease, burdensome responsibilities, or just periodic trials.  In any case, let us bear them for and with Christ. He endured unmitigated suffering so that our sins might be forgiven.  He now allows us to contribute to the merit of his suffering as members of his Body.

Wednesday, April 22, 2026

 

Wednesday of the Third Week of Easter

(Acts 8:1b-8; John 6:35-40)

The old man laughed to himself as he watched television.  He took delight in the commercials offering luscious foods without mentioning any cost.  “Give me some,” he said in broken English, “I’ll take it.”  Jesus similarly offers desirable food in today’s gospel It is not for the stomach, however, but for the soul.

Echoing a theme of Second Isaiah, Jesus describes himself as the “bread of life” that has come down from heaven.  He will nourish his followers with divine wisdom that, when heeded, brings eternal life.  Being the Word of God that II Isaiah promised, Jesus will not lose any follower.  Quite the contrary, he will save each one.

Does the wisdom Jesus offers come without cost? it is fair to ask.  We might say with the poet T.S. Eliot that it costs “not less than everything.”  Like the pearl of great price in the gospel parable, divine wisdom is worth all we can give.  We should not pass by Jesus’ offer.

Tuesday, April 21, 2026

 

Tuesday of the Third Week of Easter

(Acts 7:51-8:1a; John 6:30-35)

Stephen hardly seems “filled with the Holy Spirit” as he castigates the Jews in today’s first reading. However, it should be remembered that the altercation has grown bitter.  A previous passage reads that Stephen’s adversaries paid people to testify against him with insidious lies.  St. Luke, the author of Acts, wants to show how Stephen imitates Jesus when the latter uttered similar disparagements against the Pharisees.

Stephen also imitates Jesus as he is being stoned to death.  Like Jesus, he asks the Lord Jesus to pardon his executioners and entrusts his spirit to the same Lord.  Something even more significant is in Luke’s mind here.  The evangelist has written that Jesus’ death eventually brought the Holy Spirit upon his disciples to complete his mission in the world.  With Stephen’s execution, Luke presents Saul (i.e., Paul of Tarsus).  This Pharisee will become the principal instrument of Jesus’ message to the non-Jewish world.

Luke shows readers like us that the mission is inexorable.  Whether we join it or not, it will go on because it is propelled by the Holy Spirit.  Nevertheless, it behooves us to join because with it we move along our course to eternal life.

Monday, April 20, 2026

 

Monday of the Third Week of Easter

(Acts 6:8-15; John 6:22-29)

In the “Grand Inquisitor” Fyodor Dostoyevsky presents a searing socialist critique of Christianity.  The inquisitor chastises Christ for not accepting Satan’s invitation to turn stone into bread.  If he had fed the world with that bread, the inquisitor claims, he would have its allegiance forever.  In contrast, he says, all Christ attained was freedom which few people appreciate. 

But, some will object, Christ fed the multitudes as the gospels of yesterday and today attest. It should be clear from both passages, however, that the intention of the feeding was not to win the people’s allegiance.  Jesus worked the miracle as a sign of the Eucharist which is available to the world as the key to full or eternal life.

In the Eucharist we take and consume the Body and Blood of Christ not to satisfy physical but spiritual needs.  In the Eucharist we hear the Word of God which makes us attentive to His will.  Then we offer to Him what we have in gratitude for that gracious Word.  Of course, the greatest gift that we give to God is His own Son.  He, Jesus Christ -- human and divine -- is who the bread, blessed and broken by the priest, and the wine, blessed and poured out, have become.  Ingesting him, we become not only free but also loving as he is.