Third Sunday of Easter. Year A - Sunday, April 26, 2020
Readings for 3rd Sunday of Easter A
FIRST READING: Acts 2:14, 22-33 (diff)
Ps 16:1-2a+5, 7-8, 9-10, 11. "Lord, you will show us the path of life."
SECOND READING: 1 Pet 1:17-21
GOSPEL ACCLAMATION (cf. Luke 24:32). Alleluia, alleluia! Lord Jesus, make your word plain to us. Make our hearts burn with love when you speak.
GOSPEL: Luke 24:13-35
Image Credit: Shutterstock Licensed stock photo ID: 1585608064. Ramla, Israel, December 07, 2019 : Religious icon on the territory of the ruins of the Byzantine church complex on the territory of Emmaus Nicopolis. Photo by Dmitriy Feldman svarshik.
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Please listen to my audio recordings of the readings, prayers and reflections for the Third Sunday of Easter. Year A - Sunday, April 26, 2020 by clicking this link here: https://soundcloud.com/user-633212303/easter-3a-202faith-hope-and-love-3a-ep-225/s-swxX5H9wOQF (EPISODE: 225)
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The homily this weekend will be given by Fr. Peter Dillon.
3rd Sunday Easter. A – Road to Emmaus
Journeys can be both frustrating and illuminating. We learn about new places, meet new people, see our travelling companions in a new and deeper way. Pilgrimage is a journey undertaken for a spiritual motive. Places such as Lourdes, Guadalupe, Santiago de Compostela, are still immensely popular today. Each year over 100,000 people from over 100 countries walk over 800 kilometres on the Camino Way in Spain. Many of them having life-changing experiences on the journey. The idea of pilgrimage has only been relatively rediscovered, because we have become so used to fast convenient forms of transport, wanting to get places quickly, thinking more of the destination than the journey itself. Pilgrimage was a major factor in the religion of Jesus' time, people using the time to reflect on life and its many questions and mysteries.
On the other hand, St Augustine, a fairly well-travelled man, hated journeys of any kind, especially sea voyages, and gave this advice to a friend, who wanted to travel to find God: 'Do not plan long journeys, because whatever you believe in, you have already seen. When a thing is everywhere, the way to find it is not to travel but to love.'
Obviously St Augustine did not have shares in Travel World but he does have a good point. In today's gospel, the two disciples not only break off their journey, but end up back where they started, and what led them to do this was precisely love. Love led them to see something that had been there all along.
In fact the two disciples are making a kind of 'anti-pilgrimage'. They are heading away from Jerusalem, the site of the Temple, of God's presence, and, most recently, the site of the death and resurrection of Christ. They seem to have given up, and to be lost. What Jesus does is to re-orientate them. He turns them round, physically, and they end up returning to Jerusalem.
They are spiritually re-oriented as well. He interprets the familiar, ancient scriptures they have known all their lives, yet shows them their meaning as if for the first time. He shares a meal with them – the traditional sign of hospitality, welcome and acceptance. He reminds them of who they are. Who they can be.
One of the best places for us to hear the scriptures and hopefully re-orientate ourselves is in the liturgy. To overlay the words of the writer over our daily life and recognize the places of convergence and hopefully be moved by them to conversion where that is necessary.
Meister Eckhart: German theologian, philosopher and mystic,
'Every creature is a book about God'.
Every generation must start the journey from Jerusalem to Emmaus. From the familiar to the unknown. Every generation must fight with its own demons, struggle with its own sadness. On the road to Emmaus, we abandon God, the Church, and the dreams of childhood. And yet there will be that stranger who will join us and encourage us to share our crucified dreams. In that conversation, we will discover that the old worlds, the old creeds, the ancient Alleluias, still burn somewhere in our hearts. One day we will find ourselves back at a Mass and like those disciples find that our hearts are burning within us.
The risen Christ is always on the road to Emmaus. He is a respecter of the pilgrims on the road to nowhere. He is the patient listener to the story of our sadness, and disappointments. He is there to stir up old hopes. At some point, our eyes will open and we will recognize the Risen Lord walking with us.
Our Christian life is nothing else except the 10k journey from Jerusalem to Emmaus. It is always a journey of discovery: 'Where is the Risen Christ?" How do I experience the presence of God in my life? The Gospel today gives us the answers. We find the Risen Christ in the Scriptures and their interpretation, in the witness of others, in the life of the faith community, the Church, in the celebration of Eucharist, in our families and communal gatherings, in our conversations with others especially strangers. All that is needed is the disposition of love.
So while the great St Augustine may have been a reluctant traveller, he was able to make the greatest journey of all. The journey away from his directionless life into the life of Christ.
He says in his Confessions:
Late have I loved you, O Beauty, so ancient and so new; late have I loved you. For you were within me and I was not with you…. You called and cried to me to break open my deafness. You sent your beams to shine on me and chase away my blindness. You breathed fragrance upon me and I drew in my breath - and now I pant for you. You touched me, and I have burned for your peace.
God is not the one to be found, but the finder.
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References:
Fr Peter Dillon
Image Credit: Shutterstock Licensed stock photo ID: 1585608064. Ramla, Israel, December 07, 2019: Religious icon on the territory of the ruins of the Byzantine church complex on the territory of Emmaus Nicopolis. Photo by Dmitriy Feldman Svarshik.
Prologue: Fr. Paul Kelly. With reference to Mark Link SJ. "Vision." Year A.
Third Sunday of Easter. Year A (Sunday, April 26, 2020) (EPISODE: 225 )
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. (or/ The Lord be with You)
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{{Shalom (peace)}}
Coming together as brothers and sisters in Christ, let us pause and reflect upon our sins, in order to celebrate the Holy Eucharist.
Lord Jesus, you have revealed yourself as the way to the Father: Lord, have mercy//You have poured out on your people the Spirit of truth: Christ, have mercy//You are the Good Shepherd, leading us to eternal life: Lord, have mercy.//
May almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us our sins, and bring us to everlasting life. Amen.
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Memorial Acclamation
3. Save us, Saviour of the world, for by your Cross and Resurrection you have set us free.
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PREFACE: Easter II
Euch Prayer Three
Communion side. pwk: RH
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{May God's love, strength, mercy and kindness guide you all this week.}
Go in peace.(glorifying the Lord by your life)
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Archive of homilies and reflections: http://homilycatholic.blogspot.com.au
To contact Fr. Paul, please email: paulwkelly68@gmail.com
To listen to my weekly homily audio podcast, please click this link here.
NB - It is often a week or so Ahead: https://soundcloud.com/user-633212303/tracks
You are welcome to subscribe to Fr Paul's homily mail-out by sending an email to this address: paulkellyreflections+subscribe@googlegroups.com
Further information relating to the audio productions linked to this Blog:
"Faith, Hope and Love - Christian worship and reflection" - Led by Rev Paul Kelly
Prayers and chants — Roman Missal, 3rd edition, © 2010, The International Commission on English in the liturgy. (ICEL)
Scriptures - New Revised Standard Version: © 1989, and 2009 by the NCC-USA. (National Council of Churches of Christ - USA)
"The Psalms" ©1963, 2009, The Grail - Collins publishers.
Prayers of the Faithful - " Together we pray" by Robert Borg'. E.J. Dwyer, Publishers, (1993) . (Sydney Australia).
Sung "Mass In Honour of St. Ralph Sherwin" - By Jeffrey M. Ostrowski. The ….Gloria, copyright 2011 ccwatershed.org.
- "Today I Arise" - For Patricia Kelly. Original words and music by Paul W. Kelly. Inspired by St Patrick's Prayer. Arranged and sung, with additional lyrics by Stefan Kelk. 2019.
May God bless and keep you.
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