Suy Niệm Tin Mừng Thứ Tư Tuần Bát Nhật Phục Sinh

Suy Niệm Tin Mừng Thứ Tư Tuần Bát Nhật Phục Sinh

Trong đoạn Tin Mừng , cho chúng thấy được hai người trên đường đi Emmau cũng giống như hành trình cuộc sống mỗi ngày của chúng ta. Giống như họ, chúng ta cũng có thể đã không nhận ra Chúa Kitô đang hiện diện với chúng ta trong những biến cố quan trọng trong cuộc sống. Họ chỉ nhận ra được Chúa Giêsu sau khi họ lấy được sự can đảm đê mời người khách lạ dừng lại với họ “ Hãy ỡ lại đay với chúng tôi vì trời cũng đã xế chiều và ngày cũng sắp hết.” Chúa Giêsu ở lại và cùng ăn tối với họ.

            Chúng ta đã thất bại trong việc nhận ra sự hiện diện của Ngài có thể vì thực tế là chúng ta đã không có hiếu khách hay chưa đủ hiếu khách để cho phép những người lạ mặt chưa quen, những người nghèo khổ hay những người không có cũng một chí hướng với chúng ta để mời họ ngồi chung một bàn và chia sẻ món món quà sự sống với chúng ta. Đây chính là dấu chỉ Tình Yêu vô điều kiện và tuyệt vời của Thiên Chúa dành cho nhân loại con người và đó cũng vì đó mà chúng được chắc chắn rằng sẽ được tăng thêm niền vui vô tận của Nước Trời. Trong lúc chúng ta vui mừng chào đón Mùa Phục Sinh Có lẽ là thời gian để chúng suy ngẫm về hành động của chúng ta. Chúng ta đã quảng đại được bao nhiêu trong việc đáp lại lòng thương xót của Chúa ? Chúng ta đã bắt đầu nền tảng cho những công việc từ thiện để mang Tin Mừng và những thứ cần thiết đến cho các anh chị em của chúng ta. Chúng ta đã biết đọc và đều chỉnh dấu chĩ thời gian?  Lạy Chúa Giêsu, Xin hãy biến đổi chúng con thành những khí cụ cứu rỗi của Chúa cho dân Chúa.

 

Wednesday within Easter Octave,

Acts 3:1-10;   Ps. 105(104):1-2,3-4,6-7,8-9;   Lk. 24:13-35 

“Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”The Emmaus companions are like many of us on our daily life journey. Like them, we also may have failed to recognize Christ’s presence in various life events. They only recognized Jesus after they dared to invite this stranger to stay with them, saying: “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening and the day is almost over.” Jesus stayed and shared bread and wine with them. 

Our failure to recognize his presence may be due to the fact that we are not hospitable enough to allow strangers, the poor, those who do not share our views, to sit at the same table and share the gift of life. This is the hallmark of God’s abiding love for humanity and it is also that which will surely gain for us abundant joy from heaven. As we come fresh from Easter, maybe it is time to reflect upon ourselves. 

How generous have we been in response to Jesus’ salvific act? Are we now doing concrete acts of charity to bring this Good News to our brothers and sisters in need? How are we adjusting ourselves to the signs of the times? Lord Jesus, make us instruments of Your salvation for Your people.

 

Wednesday within Easter Octave

And it happened that, while he was with them at table, he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them. With that their eyes were opened and they recognized him, but he vanished from their sight. Then they said to each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he spoke to us on the way and opened the Scriptures to us?” Luke 24:30–31

Two of Jesus’ disciples had been discussing the events of the past week as they walked the seven-mile journey along the road from Jerusalem to Emmaus. They previously had hoped that Jesus was the one Who would redeem Israel—but then He was killed. And three days later, there were rumors of His Resurrection, which only left them confused. As they journeyed, Jesus appeared to the two disciples, but they did not recognize Him at first. His identity was hidden from their eyes. Jesus listened to them and expressed sorrow at their lack of understanding, so He explained to them the teachings of Moses and the prophets and that the Messiah needed to suffer, die and rise on the third day. As Jesus spoke, the disciples began to understand, and their hearts burned within them. Finally, in the gift of the Holy Eucharist, in the breaking of the Bread, their eyes were opened to see that it was Jesus with them.

Why did Jesus hide His risen presence from these disciples? It appears that He did so because they lacked faith. They said, “…we were hoping that he would be the one to redeem Israel.”  But the Crucifixion was too much for them to handle. They could not comprehend why the Redeemer had to suffer as Jesus did, so they began to doubt.

Too often we are like these disciples who are confused about matters of faith and who struggle with doubts. For that reason, we must see ourselves in the persons of these disciples as they walked the road to Emmaus. Jesus offered these disciples a wonderful gift of mercy by helping them to understand His saving act. He explained to them all that was taught in Scripture regarding Him. And as these disciples listened to Jesus teach them, they slowly came to believe.

We, too, must allow Jesus to teach us about the transforming power of His death and Resurrection. We must listen attentively and allow our hearts to burn within us as we listen to His holy Word. Only in this way will we come to the level of faith we need to more fully comprehend and accept the transforming power of the Paschal Mystery.

Reflect, today, upon these disciples and their need to reflect upon the Word of God so as to understand, believe and have their eyes opened. Know that you need this same grace. You need to spend time with our Lord, immersed in His Word, listening to His voice, so that you will come to believe more fully. Allow the message of Jesus’ death and Resurrection to burn within you so that you, too, will come to believe.

My resurrected Lord, You appeared to these disciples who lacked faith and understanding and gave them the gift of Your holy teaching. Teach me, dear Lord, all that I must come to understand and know about You, Your death, Resurrection and glorious gift of new life. May Your Word burn within me and lead me to a transformation of my life. Jesus, I trust in You.

 

Wednesday within Easter Octave, 2025

Opening Prayer: Lord God, each mass is a new Emmaus. In the Liturgy of the Word, I walk with your Son and he opens the Scriptures to me. In the Liturgy of the Eucharist, I sit at table with your Son and receive the Bread of Life. Open my eyes today to see with faith and inflame my heart with your divine love.

Encountering the Word of God

1. Cleopas and Mary? One interpretation of the identity of the two disciples who journeyed to Emmaus was that they were Cleopas and his wife, Mary. They were Jesus’ uncle and aunt. “According to John’s Gospel, we know that ‘Mary the wife of Clopas’ followed Jesus and was in Jerusalem for the Passover. Indeed, she was with Mary the mother of Jesus and Mary Magdalene at the foot of the cross (Jn 19:25). John’s spelling of Clopas follows the Semitic spelling, whereas Luke, naturally, uses the Greek spelling” (Gray and Cavins, Walking with God, 274). It seems, then, that Clopas/Cleopas is returning home after Passover with his wife, Mary. 

2. Walking with the Lord Jesus: The deeper meaning of this possible interpretation that Mary, the wife of Cleopas, is the other disciple is this: “At the first creation, God walked in the garden amidst a man, Adam, and his wife, Eve. Now, on the first day of the new creation, Jesus walks with a married couple. This couple has lost all hope, and yet by walking with Jesus, their hearts come back alive. When the first couple in Genesis at the first meal (from the forbidden fruit), ‘then the eyes of both were opened’ (Gn 3:7); as Jesus breaks open the bread at table with the couple from Emmaus, ‘their eyes were opened’ (Lk 24:31). The eyes of the original couple are opened to shame and guilt, whereas the eyes of the new couple that Jesus walks with to Emmaus have their eyes opened to the resurrected Lord in the Eucharist. The old creation begins with a married couple falling from grace, whereas the new creation begins with Jesus blessing a married couple by breaking open the Scriptures and the bread, where they recognize him in both” (Gray and Cavins, Walking with God, 275).

3. References to Jesus in Genesis: Jesus opened the scriptures to Cleopas and Mary by interpreting everything that pointed to him in the Five Books of Moses. We can take a closer look at what Genesis, the First Book of Moses, says about Jesus. In Genesis 3, God promised to send a savior, the seed of the woman, to crush the head of the serpent. In Genesis 4, the innocent Abel was killed by his brother, Cain. Genesis 22, God also promised that the seed of Abraham would be the one through whom all the families of the earth would receive a blessing. At the end of the Book of Genesis, Jacob blessed that the kingship, the royal scepter, would never pass from the line of his son Judah. Jesus is the seed of the woman who crushed the devil and saved humanity from sin and death. Jesus is the innocent Abel, who was crucified by his brothers. Jesus is the son of Abraham and the Lamb provided by God, who unleashed the blessing of the Holy Spirit upon all nations. Jesus is the Son of Jacob, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the royal Son of David who reigns eternally at the right hand of the Father.

Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, I am called, like the disciples on the way to Emmaus and like Peter and John, to stay with you and to be sent out on a mission. Open the Scriptures to me so that I may carry the Good News of salvation to all those I meet today.