Placing Faith in Jesus in Our Daily Lives

Homily for Wednesday in the Octave of Easter

The first reading for today’s liturgy tells us the story of an encounter that Peter and John had with a man who had been crippled from birth. They had been walking to the temple to practice their usual ritual of worship. The crippled man is also practicing his usual routine. He is begging alms from those who are going into the temple. After Peter has healed the man in the name of Jesus, we are told that the man accompanies Peter and John into the temple where he praises God by jumping for joy. Everyone gathered at the temple is amazed because they recognize him from the gate where he sat and begged every day.

Today’s Gospel reading is, perhaps, the most favorite of the appearance stories in the Christian Scriptures. Jesus meets two disciples as they make their way home from Jerusalem. They are despondent because of the death of Jesus whom they had come to consider the Messiah. We are told that their hearts burned within them as Jesus explained how the Scriptures were fulfilled through his suffering and death and resurrection. They come to recognize Jesus in the breaking of the bread. When Jesus has disappeared from their sight, they set out at once to return to Jerusalem where they tell the apostles what has happened.

Jesus is still present among us in the Scriptures and in the breaking of the bread. May our hearts burn within us as the power of the risen Lord transforms our lives, just as it transforms the life of a man crippled from birth as well as the lives of two despondent disciples. The risen Jesus gives us a reason to go about our routine with faith in the resurrection.