Third Sunday of Easter

April 14, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/041424.cfm

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You denied the Holy and Righteous One
and asked that a murderer be released to you.
The author of life you put to death,
but God raised him from the dead; of this we are witnesses.
Now I know, brothers,
that you acted out of ignorance, just as your leaders did;
but God has thus brought to fulfillment
what he had announced beforehand
through the mouth of all the prophets,
that his Christ would suffer.
Repent, therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be wiped away.”

Acts 3:14-18

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In our first reading, Peter excuses the ignorance of his listeners and invites them to repentance.

Our Gospel describes a certain kind of “ignorance” in the Emmaus disciples who are unable to see Jesus because of their worried agitation.

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:

We don’t like to think of ourselves as “ignorant “, but we are. There is so much we don’t know about ourselves, others, and certainly about God. Yet sometimes we choose to act, or fail to act, out of our ignorance.

But just as with the Emmaus couple, Jesus does walk with us, offering the bright grace of recognition and repentance to us, over and over again.

And as with them, that grace comes through prayer, reflection, community, service, and sacrament.

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Poetry: Emmaus Journey – Irene Zimmerman, OSF

All was chaos when he died.
We fled our separate ways at first,
then gathered again in the upper room
to chatter blue-lipped prayers
around the table where he’d talked
of love and oneness. On the third day Cleopas and I
left for the home we’d abandoned
in order to follow him.
We wanted no part of the babble
the women had brought from the tomb.
We vowed to get on with our grieving. On the road we met a Stranger
whose voice grew vaguely familiar
as he spoke of signs and suffering.
By the time we reached our village,
every tree and bush was blazing
and we pressed him to stay the night. Yet not till we sat at the table
and watched the bread being broken
did we see the Light.

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Music: Oh, I Want to Know You – Steve Green