April 12, 2023 – Wednesday in the Octave of Easter

Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/041223.cfm)

Easter proclaims that the Lord has risen. Let us be glad & rejoice. We, Christians proclaims our faith that our Lord Jesus Christ has risen from the death & now with us offering new life in Him. However, we may ask ourselves: “Has the Lord really risen now? Who & where now is the risen Lord?  How do we recognize the risen Lord in the midst of our daily lives now?”

Surely our disciples in our gospel today must have asked the same questions. After they have witnessed the death on the cross of their Lord Jesus, they decided to just go “nalang” back home with a heavy heart & question: “Has the Lord truly risen?” Some of them have already seen & testified that the Lord has risen indeed. But these two disciples have some doubts & could not believe what they heard about it.

On the road back home, to their ordinary lives, lo & behold, the risen Lord appeared to them, went with them on the journey, be with them in their grief, sorrow & hopelessness, explained to them the meaning of what they have experienced & experiencing, and stayed with them for dinner.

From their experience along the road back to Emmaus with the risen Lord, we could have a glimpse as to how we could experience now the risen Lord in our day to day lives. First, the Lord joined & walked with them in their journey. Meaning, the risen Lord IS & will be in our normal ordinary day to day life, & not so much on big & special events. Second, as He joins us in life, we might not recognize at first the risen Lord with us. He usually comes then to us as a stranger to us. Meaning, we should be open ourselves to the unfamiliar/strange, unusual events in our ordinary life.

So, whenever we sense something ordinary yet particularly moving, (like, feeling the cold breeze, hearing moving music, loosening up as we see and hear playing children, reminded of some memories, finding yourself talking to a stranger), perhaps the risen Lord is making Himself known to you. And above all, the risen Lord appears to people who believe in Him. However strong or weak our faith in God may be, the risen Lord can be recognized in & with the eyes of our faith in Him.

So as we celebrate Easter season, let us be more sensitive & beware of the presence of our risen Lord in our midst, as we live our ordinary normal day to day lives, open to something new & unfamiliar things to happen & see these with the eyes of faith.

Again, Easter invites us to brace ourselves for with the risen Lord, there are more things to come & happen in our lives ahead for the better. In other words, “Abangan ang susunod na kabanata.”

So Be it. Amen.