Thursday in the Octave of Easter
April 13, 2023

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/041323.cfm

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, our readings bring us a bunch of people waking up to the reality of the Resurrected Christ! As we wake up to it as well, they have much to teach us.

Acts gives us:

• Peter, continuing to grow confidently into his leadership role in the Church
• John, tagging along beside him in supportive leadership
• the Jerusalem populace, owning their reprehensible role in Christ’s death
• the crippled man, now cured by Easter power

As the crippled man who had been cured clung to Peter and John,
all the people hurried in amazement toward them
in the portico called “Solomon’s Portico.”
When Peter saw this, he addressed the people,
“You children of Israel, why are you amazed at this,
and why do you look so intently at us
as if we had made him walk by our own power or piety?
The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob,
the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus …

Acts 2: 11-13

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Our Gospel adds a few more familiar people rousing from the stunning confusion of Good Friday – the Disciples themselves:

The disciples of Jesus recounted what had taken place along the way,
and how they had come to recognize him in the breaking of bread.
While they were still speaking about this,
he stood in their midst and said to them,
“Peace be with you.”
But they were startled and terrified
and thought that they were seeing a ghost.

Luke 24: 35-37

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Luke paints the dramatic scene of Jesus’s first appearance in the Upper Room. Through his Gospel, we are able to experience the same electrifying emotions that ran through the disciples as Jesus tenderly oriented them to their new reality.

It was a big leap for these guys and gals! This really was a whole new world in which they would now play an essential role. Note some of their reactions to Jesus’s unexpected appearance:

• amazed
• startled
• terrified
• troubled
• and my very favorite – “incredulous for joy”

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Jesus sees their intense response and soothes it in the most human of ways!

He doesn’t give them a big speech. He doesn’t grab a roll of scriptures and bonk them over the head with it. He says he is hungry and eats a piece of fish! Doing so, he confirms that he is alive, real, and present to their ordinary daily lives.

What an immense and profound gift all wrapped up in a baked tilapia!

While they were still incredulous for joy and were amazed,
he asked them, “Have you anything here to eat?”
They gave him a piece of baked fish; 
he took it and ate it in front of them.

He said to them,
“These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you,
that everything written about me in the law of Moses
and in the prophets and psalms must be fulfilled.”
Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.

Luke 24:41-45

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Jesus is with us just like this. God is with us just like this.

Through prayer and grateful, humble living, we release our incredulities and fears into God’s grace. We slowly wake up to the astounding yet simple Presence of God in our very ordinary life.

This is where we find our salvation – not in some treatise, or ritual, or law. But in the honest commitment of our everyday lives to the love and service of God.

• Will you wake up to Jesus over a piece of fish today?
• Or might it be a cup of coffee shared with a troubled friend?
• Or a savory casserole baked for a homeless shelter?
• Or in a prayer offered for someone who has hurt you?

Whatever it might be, as we live our everyday lives, we must open our eyes to see the Christ who is always there — even in a simple piece of fish! Then, like the disciples, our minds will slowly be opened to all that God is trying to teach us.

He said to them,
“These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you,
that everything written about me in the law of Moses
and in the prophets and psalms must be fulfilled.”
Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.
And he said to them,
“Thus it is written that the Christ would suffer
and rise from the dead on the third day
and that repentance, for the forgiveness of sins,
would be preached in his name
to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.
You are witnesses of these things.”

Luke 24: 44-48

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Poetry: Jesus Christ Appeared in the Upper Room – Patrick McCaskey

In terms of literature, this is not a great poem. But I have included it here because it is a great example of a personal and simple response to today’s Gospel. It captures the essence of what the scripture means and applies it to the author’s own faith. It’s what we do every day when we pray with the scriptures.

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Luke 24:35-48

Jesus Christ showed that He was flesh and bones.
He was not just a guy named Smith or Jones.
Jesus was very hungry because He
Had not eaten since Holy Thursday night.
After He had asked for something to eat,
The Apostles gave Him something quite light.

“They gave Him a piece of baked fish.”  It was
A secular communion.  When they served
Loaves and fishes, there were a few dishes.
Then there was time for Jesus in His prime.

They did not have dessert even though it
Was the end of the original Lent.

The Apostles went to every nation.
They brought the humble news of salvation.

Patrick McCaskey is a Vice President and Director of the Chicago Bears, Chair of Sports Faith International, and Chair of WSFI Catholic Radio 88.5, as well as poet and the author of our Sports and Faith Series. 

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Music:In the Upper Room – Mahalia Jackson

In the upper room with Jesus
Singing in tears blessed fears
Daily there my sins confessing
Beggin for his mercy sweet
Trusting his grace and power
Seeking help in loving prayers
It is this how I feel the spirit
And I sat with him and pray 

Oh, he’s in in the upper room
With Jesus
Oh, it’s in the upper room 
When my lord and your god
When he’s in the upper room
Yes, he’s in the upper room
Well he’s in the upper room
Talking with the Lord
Oh my, Hallelujah, Lord

He’s in the upper room
With Jesus
Oh, he’s in the upper room
Talking with my Lord
Yes, and your God
I know he’s in the upper room
It’s in the upper room
Lord, he’s in, yeah, the upper room
Talking with the Lord, oh yes
But Hallelujah

In the upper room
In the upper room
In the upper room
In the upper room
In the upper room
In the upper room
In the upper room, Lord

You know I’m in the upper room
Yeah, I’m in the upper room
Lord, he’s in, in the upper room
Talking with my Lord, oh yeah