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Arch Bishop Micheal Ralph Vendegna S.O.S.M.A.

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  • Posted by Arch Bishop Micheal Ralph Vendegna S.O.S.M.A. May 25, 2022 - 251 views

    Thursday of the Sixth Week of Easter

     

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    Gospel text (Jn 16:16-20): Jesus said to his disciples: “A little while and you will no longer see me, and again a little while later and you will see me.” So some of his disciples said to one another, “What does this mean that he is saying to us, ‘A little while and you will not see me, and again a little while and you will see me,’ and ‘Because I am going to the Father’?” So they said, “What is this ‘little while’ of which he speaks? We do not know what he means.” Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him, so he said to them, “Are you discussing with one another what I said, ‘A little while and you will not see me, and again a little while and you will see me’? Amen, amen, I say to you, you will weep and mourn, while the world rejoices; you will grieve, but your grief will become joy.”

    “You will grieve, but your grief will become joy”

    Today, we again contemplate the Word of God with the help of Evangelist John. In these final days of Easter we feel an especial uneasiness to make God's Word ours and be able to understand it. The very uneasiness shared by the first disciples. Which is profoundly expressed in Jesus' words —“A little while and you will no longer see me, and again a little while later and you will see me.” (Jn 16:16). These words concentrate our tension and concern about our faith and our research of God in our daily life.

    We, Christians of the 21st century, feel the same urge than those of the 1st century. We also want to see Jesus, to experiment his presence amidst us, to reinforce the virtues of faith, hope and charity. This is why we feel sad if we think He is not among us, or if we may not feel and detect his presence, or hear and listen to his words. But this sadness becomes deep joy when we experiment his definite presence among us.

    As Saint John Paul II reminded us in his last encyclical letter Ecclesia de Eucharistia, this presence is concrete —specifically— in the Eucharist: “The Church draws her life from the Eucharist. This truth does not simply express a daily experience of faith, but recapitulates the heart of the mystery of the Church. In a variety of ways she joyfully experiences the constant fulfillment of the promise: ‘I am with you always, until the end of the age.’ (Mt 28:20) ... The Eucharist is both a mystery of faith and a “mystery of light”. Whenever the Church celebrates the Eucharist, the faithful can in some way relive the experience of the two disciples on the road to Emmaus: ‘Their eyes were opened and they recognized him’ (Lk 24:31).”

    Let us turn to God and beg for a deep faith, a constant uneasiness to quench our thirst in the Eucharist Source, while listening to and understanding God's Word; by eating and satiating our spiritual hunger with the Body of Christ. Let the Holy Spirit fill out with light our research of God.