LENTEN REFLECTION

Message

Regular retreats to encounter the  risen Lord  continue to transform many and are  to be encouraged. The  Mass above all, is the  vivid  encounter with  the  risen Lord  in the  word and the  Eucharist. At adoration of the  Blessed Sacrament, we continue to encounter our Lord who is humbly in our midst. By the one perfect sacrifice of Himself, He is the saviour of the world and has established the  eternal covenant reconciling God  and creation.

Gospel Reading

13 Now  on that same day  two  of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, 14 and talking with  each other about all these things that had happened. 15 While  they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and went with  them, 16 but  their eyes were kept  from recognizing him. 17 And  he  said to them, “What are you  discussing with  each other while you  walk  along?” They   stood still,  looking sad. 18 Then one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answered him, “Are you  the  only  stranger in Jerusalem who does not  know the  things that have taken place there in these days?” 19 He  asked them, “What things?” They   replied, “The things about Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the  people, 20 and how our  chief  priests and leaders handed him  over to be condemned to death and crucified him. 21 But we had hoped that he was the  one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the  third day  since these things took  place. 22 Moreover, some women of our  group astounded us. They were at the  tomb early this morning, 23 and when they did not  find his body there, they came back  and told  us that they had indeed seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive. 24 Some of those who were with  us went to the  tomb and found it  just  as the  women had said; but  they did  not  see him.” 25 Then he said to them, “Oh, how foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the  prophets have declared! 26 Was it not  necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into  his  glory?” 27 Then beginning with  Moses and all the  prophets, he interpreted to them the  things about himself in all the  scriptures. 28 As they came near the village to which they were going, he walked ahead as if he  were going on.  29 But  they urged him  strongly, saying, “Stay with  us, because it is almost evening and the  day  is now nearly over.” So  he went in to  stay with  them. 30 When he  was at  the  table with  them, he  took  bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him;  and he vanished from their sight. 32 They  said to  each other, “Were not  our  hearts burning within us  while he was talking to  us  on the  road, while he was opening the  scriptures to us?” 33 That  same hour they got   up  and returned to  Jerusalem;  and they found the   eleven and their companions gathered together. 34 They  were saying, “The Lord   has risen indeed, and he has appeared to Simon!” 35 Then they told what had happened on  the  road, and how he  had been made known to  them in the breaking of the  bread.

We return to the  question of why  our  Lord  Jesus Christ had to suffer and die. Today our Lord  explains it Himself in  the  Gospel of  Luke.  Our  Lord  fulfilled and completed the Scriptures including the  Prophet that Moses said God  would raise up  (Dt 18:15),  the suffering servant by whose suffering the  world would be  healed and reconciled to God (Isa 42:1-4,  49:1-6,  50:4-9,  52:13-53-12) and Psalm 22 in which we always join our  Lord to live  through the  crucifixion but  end on  the  joyful  note of victory when the  whole of creation adores the  Lord God  (vv.23-31).

The Gospel of Luke begins in the Temple, which was a place for offering sacrifices to God  (Dt 12:13), with  the  Priest Zechariah (Lk 1:8-9).  It ends in the  temple, where the disciples were continually blessing the  Lord (Lk 24:53); as they waited for the  Holy Spirit (Acts 2), before transitioning to the  Acts of the  Apostles where we see the  Holy Spirit in action as the  Church spreads across the world. The Acts of the  Apostles does not  have a concrete ending; we  today continue the  Acts. Jesus was the  sacrifice, the  ox  being the symbol/ tetramorph of Luke’s Gospel, that ended all  temple sacrifices; the  Priest who offered the  one perfect and permanent sacrifice of Himself (Mt 26:28,  Heb  10:1-18);  and sent the  Holy Spirit through whom the salvation of the world continues to be worked (Mt

28:16-20, Acts 1:8). As the  sacrifice, He had to suffer and die.

Upon His resurrection,  Jesus  established  the   basic structure of  the   Mass as: encounter with  Him,  He takes the  initiative to find  us;  receiving Him in the  proclaimed and preached word; commemorating and making present the  sacrifice of His body and blood; and joyful  thanksgiving and being sent out  to deliver the  good news. On the way to  Emmaus, Jesus approaches the  two  disciples and enters dialogue with  them. They present their state or condition (sadness and sorrow) and their predicament (they had hoped Jesus would be  the  one to redeem Israel). Our  Lord  responds to their condition and predicament. He explains the  Scriptures to  them, thoroughly and as one unit. He then presides over the  liturgy of the  Eucharist; “30  When he was at the  table with  them, he took  bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them.” (v.30).  He then vanishes; He is now the  consecrated bread. He brings joy in the  midst of our  sorrow and predicaments. We irresistibly go out  to share the Good News (1 Cor 9:16, Jer 20:19) that the  Lord Jesus Christ, who suffered, was crucified, died and was buried, is truly  risen and glorified, and He abides with  us in our  lives, in the  humble consecrated Bread and Blessed Sacrament (Acts 2:22-24;  Mt 26:26; Jn 6:48-59).

Our Lord Jesus Christ transformed the  Jewish temple liturgy. All who thirst should come to Him, which the water libations signified, and He is the  Light of the world, He is the  real  shekinah (the  pillar  of fire  that led  the  people of Israel in the  night during the exodus), He is the  future abode or the  dwelling with God  that our  hearts yearn for which the  tents signified (Jn 7:37, 8:12); thus, He is the  new feast of tabernacles or booths. He sent the  Holy  Spirit at  Pentecost  (Acts 2:1-4), who lives in us (Gal  4:6,  1 Cor  6:19);  the Law  is now written in  our   hearts as the   Holy  Spirit teaches  us  and reminds us  of everything (Jn 14:26),  and we  bear the  fruit  of  the  Holy  Spirit (Gal  5:22-23);  just  as Jeremiah and Ezekiel  prophesied (Jer 31:33,  Ez 36:26-27); He is the  new Pentecost. And He transformed the  Passover; by becoming the  lamb of God  that takes away the  sin  of the  world (Jn 1:29, Mt 26:28),  the  lamb that saves the  people from death (by taking the wine on  the  hyssop branch which the  people of Israel had used to apply blood on  their doorposts in the night of Passover in Egypt (Jn 19:29 cf Ex 12:22), and dying on the cross on  the   day   of  preparation at  the   precise hour, at  15.00  hours, when lambs for  the Passover were being slaughtered in the  temple (Jn 19:14,  42; Mt 27:45-54). He put  an end to the  old  and established the  new, by His one perfect sacrifice for the  forgiveness of sin (Heb  10:1-18). Being risen from the  dead vindicates and permanently confirms all these liturgical transformations:  Jesus  fulfilled and completed them, giving them their fullest meaning. He is the saviour of the world through His death and resurrection.