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OMELIE / Omelie EN

26 apr 2020
26/04/2020 -  3rd Sunday of Easter - A 

26/04/2020 -  3rd Sunday of Easter - A 

Reading 1 ACTS 2,14.22-33 * Psalm 15 * Reading 2 1PT 1,17-21 * Gospel LK 24,13-35

 

A good preacher… How to find a good preacher, who can make your jaw drop and take your breath away for half an hour, for one hour…? After the Gospel, the homily. What a disappointment, often. Many Christians judge the whole Mass based on the homily. Who is the good preacher? A couple of centuries ago more or less, a very famous preacher in Paris would attract so many people that the church was full beyond belief; one day he said: “When I am preaching, the church is so full that, in order to find a place, someone climb on the confessionals! Instead in Ars, after John Vianney's omely, people are going in the confessionals in order to have confession.” All the priests were envious of that preacher because he knew, with his eloquence, how to attract big crowds, he instead was jealous of the curate of Ars because, despite his ignorance, after listening to him many people were converted and were changing life! It was not eloquence to produce results, but the Lord’s love!

The homily needs to be an explanation of the Scriptures, or even better, some help to see that through those readings God is helping us to face our problems, our situations, how He wants to enrich our heart and our mind with His wisdom!

Today we have two examples of… preaching! Peter in the day of Pentecost announces Jesus' resurrection, and therefore the importance to listen to Him and welcome Him:  “God raised this Jesus; of this we are all witnesses”. We cannot remain indifferent to this fact: through Jesus, God Himself, the omnipotent, has become part of history. For us this happening is a joy, safety, consolation and stimulus to live in charity!

The other “homily” is the one Jesus, unrecognised, has given to the two sad and disappointed, inconsolable and dispirited disciples. He is talking about Himself giving importance to the words written about Him by the prophets! Hearing that the words of the prophets, lived a few centuries before, were coming to fruition now, is attractive, makes you really think that God is working: He was working then, in the heart and mind of the prophets, but above all He is working today before our very eyes! It is not easy to see this link. Only Jesus can, He who in His entire life has always taken seriously the words of the sacred Scriptures, because He is careful to live them, careful to always obey the Father.

Jesus today is a teacher for us, both for reading the Bible and for reading or interpreting life, He is a teacher who teaches how to link tightly these two realities: in them is hidden and is revealed the same love, the Father’s, who loves us! Through the Scriptures the Father is preparing us for life, and while we live gives us occasions to obey Him and fulfill His Word.

Jesus is our teacher in this double reading, so we can open our eyes and realise He is there. He is sent by the Father, it is Him, dead and risen from the dead, who can fill our heart still empty, still looking for peace and fullness. The Scriptures are talking to us about Him, and about His is also talking our awaiting. Our heart could not be content with doctrines, even seducing and attractive, like those which would like to focus us on the modern followers of the Cabala and exotericism, or all the different wise men of the world. In order to open our eyes, nay, our heart, to realise He is here, Jesus accepts the invitation to seat at the table, to share the rest and food, to break the bread. When Jesus breaks the bread blessing the Father, then our eyes can see that He is present! He has sent the Church in the whole world to continue to break the bread with the word of the blessing, so they who have welcomed the Word can recognise in the service of the Church Jesus' love and being in communion with Him!

Saint Peter recommends us a behaviour humble and obedient to the Father: we believe in His paternity thanks to Jesus, thanks to His death and resurrection! These facts remain at the centre of our life, now and in future! The concreteness of the life and death of Jesus is the source of our salvation, and His resurrection is our joyful certainty!

Therefore, let us listen again and always the Word of the Scriptures, in order to get to know our saviour and Lord Jesus Christ! And let us live in the world with joy, knowing that He walks with us and He is ready to sit at the table with us!