Today's Thoughts...

Today’s Thoughts: “Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have taken place there in these days?” We encounter two famous stories in our readings today. In Luke’s Gospel, it is the story of the two disciples on the road to Emmaus and in the Acts of the Apostles it is the story of Peter and John curing the man at “the Beautiful Gate.”  In some ways putting the two stories together on this Easter Wednesday can help us to enter into the mystery and power of the Resurrection.
 
The story of the two disciples on the road, in my book, is a classic. It has all the elements of our faith life. The struggle with the things of the world, of life, the missed opportunities of encountering Jesus because we are so focused on our struggles; the moments in time when we sense God’s presence, when our hearts burn but we don’t realize it until the end of the experience and those instances when Jesus becomes present to us in the breaking of the bread.
 
We have all been where these two disciples have been. We have been on that road in our life. We have been blind by our own lack of hope, our own disappointments, our own struggles. The gift, the hope of this story is that God that Jesus never gives up on us. He is always trying to enter our lives to remind us of the story and open our eyes to his presence.
 
Peter and John understood that as they entered Jerusalem through “the Beautiful Gate.” The opened the eyes of the crippled man who want silver and gold but ended up with much more. The power of the Risen Christ can transform our lives sometimes profoundly and sometimes simply but when that moment comes we just to be ready and not be blinded by our own lack of hope, our own disappointments, our own struggles.
 
Let’s not be the only ones who do not know the story, who have given up hope. Let us be people of faith and hope today whose hearts are burning with the word and presence of God and through the living of life who proclaim – “Jesus is Risen, Alleluia!”
 
Have a great Wednesday everyone!