Daily Gospel Reflection
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April 13, 2023
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.
Then he said to them, “Why are you troubled?
And why do questions arise in your hearts?
Look at my hands and my feet, that it is I myself.
Touch me and see, because a ghost does not have flesh and bones
as you can see I have.”
And as he said this,
he showed them his hands and his feet.
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.
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.”
The Easter Season is time to think about the Jesus of history and the Christ of faith. Jesus was not lost but transformed; what happened to him is not denial but confirmation of the Scriptures. Jesus did not fail but fulfilled the promises of redemption.
Today, we are like the disciples in this gospel in many ways. They doubted the truth of the resurrection; for them, initially, it was wishful thinking. We have similar difficulties because, too often, the death and resurrection of Jesus are peripheral to our lives. We experience the kinds of death Jesus suffered, but where do we look for his resurrection?
Living in the Buffalo, New York area, we experienced loss and hope in two major instances
this past year. Last May, ten people were killed by a young person filled with hatred, but
those deaths resurrected a community. The outpouring of support from all walks of life has
already begun the transformation of an area that was cast as a place to avoid.
Then we witnessed on nationwide television the Bulls/Bengals game called off by the near death of Damar Hamlin. His resurrection experience brought newfound hope, love, and faith through donations to his foundation. The support was not just local but nationwide.
These transforming events remind us of the death and resurrection of Jesus. A holy declaration followed the reality of the resurrection. Jesus said that because of his destruction and resurrection, the forgiveness of sin may be proclaimed far and wide.
For us, the challenge is real. We often think there is no way out of war and greed. Injustice and oppression seem inevitable. We even fear that the rising spiral of violence we see in the news must end in the total destruction of society. But, if we believe in the resurrection, we know that Jesus is the remedy for sin. He has already reversed the tide of history.
Prayer
In your appearances after the resurrection, Lord Jesus, you greeted your disciples with peace and showed them that your body, once dead in the tomb, was alive again. They became witnesses of your death and resurrection and preached your name to the ends of the earth, beginning from Jerusalem. Many centuries later, help us to know your life deep within us that we, too, might witness to you by all we do and say, and carry your good news to all we meet. You live and reign forever and ever. Amen.
Saint of the Day
In the four years during which he was pope, St. Martin I created powerful enemies with his stout-hearted defense of truth.
After he was elected pope in 649, one of his first acts was to convene a Church council to confront a heresy that distorted the way in which we understand Jesus. Monothelitism declared that though Jesus has both a human and divine nature (as is orthodox), he has only one will, which is divine.
In the controversy over this heresy, the emperor refused to support one side or the other, and commanded that the matter was not to be discussed.
Under Martin’s leadership, the council denounced Monothelitism, and proclaimed that Jesus has both a divine will and a human will to correspond to his two natures. Moreover, the council condemned the emperor’s edict, in essence saying that it was throwing out the baby with the bathwater.
The emperor was furious and sent soldiers from Constantinople to arrest Martin; he was imprisoned for months in a cold and dirty cell. He was fed little food, was not allowed to wash, and suffered from dysentery. When he was brought to trial, he was not allowed to speak and was convicted of treason.
He was eventually exiled to Crimea, where conditions did not improve. In fact, people there were under a famine, which made his situation worse. He died after two years, and is honored as a martyr for the faith.
Pope St. Martin I, you faithfully proclaimed the truth and died in prison for it—pray for us!
Image Credit: Our featured image of Pope St. Martin I is available for use under a Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication. Last accessed February 21, 2025 on Wikimedia Commons.
