THE PATH OF LIFE - 3RD SUNDAY OF EASTER (4/23/2023)

THIRD SUNDAY OF EASTER
April 23, 2023

Acts 2:14, 22-33
Psalm 16
1 Peter 1:17-21
Luke 24:13-35

THE PATH OF LIFE

Where can we find "the path of life?" People all over the world are searching and want to know. "Lord, you will show us the path of life," says Psalm 16, our Responsorial today. This psalm is an unabashed act of faith in the Lord and a prophecy of the Messiah's resurrection.

ACTS

Our first reading is an excerpt of St. Peter's sermon on Pentecost Sunday after the coming of the Holy Spirit. It is a straightforward announcement of the kerygma, the Basic Christian Message. "Jesus, the Nazorean, was a man commended to you by God with mighty deeds and wonders and signs, which God worked through him..."

"You killed him," Peter says, "but God raised him up, because it was impossible for death to hold him. Peter quotes Psalm 16, today's Responsorial. He says, "You have made known to me the path of life..."

Our reading concludes with a very concise statement of the Paschal Mystery: "Exalted at the right hand of God, he received the promise of the Holy Spirit from the Father and poured him forth, as you see and hear." The resurrected, ascended, and exalted Jesus pours out the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles...and that is what you "see and hear!"

1 PETER

The second reading today is from the First Letter of Peter, which has some characteristics of a baptismal homily. In a strikingly beautiful reference, the Letter says that we were ransomed, "not with perishable things like silver and gold but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a spotless, unblemished lamb."

Just like the Pentecost Sermon in the first reading, this selection also refers to God raising Jesus from the dead and giving him glory, "so that your faith and hope are in God."

GOSPEL

Our gospel is that of the two disciples walking to Emmaus on Easter Sunday afternoon. This account is poignant and even contains some humorous touches. Jesus walks alongside the two men and asks what they are discussing. "One of them, named Cleophas, said to him in reply, 'Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know of the things that have taken place through these days?'" And Jesus asks, "What sort of things?" Just let that exchange sink in for a moment!

After hearing the disciples relate the events of the past few days - including the discovery of the empty tomb - Jesus begins to interpret the Scriptures as they referred to him.

The two disciples urge Jesus to stay with them longer. When Jesus blesses, breaks, and distributes the bread, "their eyes were opened and they recognized him, but he vanished from their sight." Then they utter that famous quote, "Were not our hearts burning within us while he spoke to us on the way and opened the Scriptures to us?"

The disciples return to Jerusalem to tell the Eleven, only to hear that "The Lord has truly risen and appeared to Simon."

This entire episode illustrates what should ideally happen in every Mass - our hearts burning within us in the Liturgy of the Word, and recognizing the Lord Jesus in the "breaking of the bread."

FOR YOU ARE MY GOD

in 1970, John Foley, SJ, composed a song with this title using the words of Psalm 16. The fourth verse is as follows:

You show me the path for my life;
In your presence the fullness of joy.
To be at your right hand forever,
For me would be happiness always.

This song is a very special memory because my wife Patti and I included it as one of the hymns at our wedding Mass on December 22, 1973. Today, as we celebrate this Third Sunday of Easter, we rejoice in the Lord's resurrection and also in his promise to "show me the path for my life."