The Gospel reading last Sunday told us about the two disciples, who talked with the Risen Lord on their way to Emmaus, returned to Jerusalem, and talked with the apostles about their experience. They related to them how they recognized Jesus in the breaking of the bread. All the apostles were sad and hopeless. They were feeling lost and abandoned because, when Jesus died, all their positive thoughts died with him. It was made even more painful for them when they heard the news that the tomb where they buried the body of Jesus was empty.
This clearly indicates that they forgot the Lord’s promise to them. He told them that the Son of Man must suffer and die, and on the third day, he will rise again from the dead. Just like the apostles, we also tend to forget that Jesus is alive, that he is always here with us day and night. Problems and other negative feelings that we encounter every day in our lives can put us down and make us feel sad and afraid. Like the disciples, we may also feel that we are abandoned and left behind by people whom we trust and people to whom we depend on. This feeling can come to us without warning and, oftentimes, we surrender and lose our faith and trust in Jesus.
It is not always easy to have faith and trust in someone, especially in our times when there are millions of people out there who only think about their own good, even if it means deceiving and abusing others. I cannot blame anybody in our world today who always fail to trust other people. Just look around and you will understand that faith, trust, and confidence in a person are now slowly becoming “things of the past”!
It is even hard to trust our government leaders nowadays because we do not know who is telling the truth and who is really working for, at least, the common good. The “gentlemen’s agreement” issue is dubitable especially if it is coming from crooked persons. Well, there are other situations in our society which can contribute to the fall of our faith and confidence in other people, and sometimes even God is included in this skepticism.
Many people continue to be like the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. Even though they have the Lord in sight, they do not recognize Him, or they do not want to recognize Him. And this is because even though the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ continue to be of the utmost importance for us today, as they were for His first disciples, we should always remember that the Risen Christ continues to be present among us. If we still find it hard to believe, it is not because we lack information about His Paschal Mystery, it is because of our lack of faith in Jesus.
Most of us are Catholics, and we were taught and encouraged to attend the Sunday Mass and to receive Jesus in the Holy Communion. Our churches are filled up past the seating capacity because so many people want to thank God, ask for His blessings, or simply would want to be with the Lord. These are positive signs that we are maturing in our faith, but we are being challenged to do a lot more things.
On the other hand, there are people who would also go to church regularly because they just want to be known within the community as “religious” and because they simply want to impress people because of some ulterior motives. Some of them can be so generous to the needy, even if the money that they are giving away is supposed to be “cash-outs” from the government. These are also positive signs but of a negative religiosity and charity.
It is our faith that makes us recognize that the Lord is present under the appearance of bread and wine in the Holy Eucharist. Every day that we attend the Sacrifice of the Mass, our faith makes us witnesses before the world of his victory. That is why we can say, “We announce your death, we proclaim your resurrection. Come, Lord Jesus!”
Witnessing our faith is making our faith bear fruit. The challenge for all of us is to express through our actions the beauty of our faith in the Risen Lord. The Body of Christ which we receive in every Eucharistic celebration must inspire us to be charitable towards our lowly brothers and sisters. It must inspire us to do what Christ had done and this is the real calling for all Christians around the world.
The tomb was empty. It was empty because Christ is alive and has truly risen from the dead. It was the good news of Christ’s victory over sin and death. Let us therefore take on the challenge to live up to our Christian calling to imitate Him by loving one another with the same measure that Christ has loved us. This is the only way for us to really achieve and enjoy the peace that Christ wants us to possess and embrace forever.