April 3, 2013

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Wednesday in the Octave of Easter 
Lectionary: 263

Reading 1ACTS 3:1-10

Peter and John were going up to the temple area
for the three o’clock hour of prayer.
And a man crippled from birth was carried
and placed at the gate of the temple called “the Beautiful Gate” every day
to beg for alms from the people who entered the temple.

Sts. Peter and John went to the Jewish Temple to pray around three o'clock.  I don't know if it is significant that today, we pray the Divine Mercy devotion at the three o'clock hour in order to remember the Crucifixion.

At that time, a man who had been crippled all his life, was brought to the Temple Gate to beg for alms from the people who were entering the Temple.

When he saw Peter and John about to go into the temple,
he asked for alms.
But Peter looked intently at him, as did John,
and said, “Look at us.”
He paid attention to them, expecting to receive something from them.
Peter said, “I have neither silver nor gold,
but what I do have I give you:
in the name of Jesus Christ the Nazorean, rise and walk.”

When he asked Sts. Peter and John for alms, St. Peter looked at him and healed him in the name of Jesus Christ.

Then Peter took him by the right hand and raised him up,
and immediately his feet and ankles grew strong.
He leaped up, stood, and walked around,
and went into the temple with them,
walking and jumping and praising God.

St. Peter walked tup to him, pulled him up and immediately he could walk.  So he joined Sts. Peter and John in the Temple, glorifying God.

When all the people saw him walking and praising God,
they recognized him as the one
who used to sit begging at the Beautiful Gate of the temple,
and they were filled with amazement and astonishment
at what had happened to him.

When the other people saw him, they were astonished. 

Responsorial PsalmPS 105:1-2, 3-4, 6-7, 8-9

R. (3b) Rejoice, O hearts that seek the Lord.or:
R. Alleluia.Give thanks to the LORD, invoke his name;
make known among the nations his deeds.
Sing to him, sing his praise,
proclaim all his wondrous deeds.
R. Rejoice, O hearts that seek the Lord. or:
R. Alleluia.Glory in his holy name;
rejoice, O hearts that seek the LORD!
Look to the LORD in his strength;
seek to serve him constantly.
R. Rejoice, O hearts that seek the Lord. or:
R. Alleluia.You descendants of Abraham, his servants,
sons of Jacob, his chosen ones!
He, the LORD, is our God;
throughout the earth his judgments prevail.
R. Rejoice, O hearts that seek the Lord. or:
R. Alleluia.He remembers forever his covenant
which he made binding for a thousand generationsB
Which he entered into with Abraham
and by his oath to Isaac.
R. Rejoice, O hearts that seek the Lord. or:
R. Alleluia.

We should rejoice and be glad that God has chosen us to be with Him in Paradise.  We are the descendants of Abraham with whom He will keep His Covenant:

Gal 4:

22 For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman.
23 But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise.
24 Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar.
25 For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children.
26 But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.
27 For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband.

28 Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise. 

GospelLK 24:13-35

That very day, the first day of the week,
two of Jesus’ disciples were going
to a village seven miles from Jerusalem called Emmaus,
and they were conversing about all the things that had occurred.

On the day that the women discovered the Empty Grave,  two of the Disciples were on the road to Emmaus.  They were talking about all that had occurred recently.

And it happened that while they were conversing and debating,
Jesus himself drew near and walked with them,
but their eyes were prevented from recognizing him.

While they were talking to each other, Jesus came to them but they did not recognize Him.

He asked them,
“What are you discussing as you walk along?”
They stopped, looking downcast.
One of them, named Cleopas, said to him in reply,
“Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem
who does not know of the things
that have taken place there in these days?”

One of them, Cleopas, said "Are you the only person in Jerusalem who doesn't know what all has happened these past few days?"

Cleophas is rarely mentioned, but might possibly be Jesus' uncle by marriage to His aunt, Our Lady's cousin.

John 19:25
Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene.

This same Cleopas is St. Joseph's brother.  And was therefore, Jesus' uncle on both sides of the family.  We know this from the early Church Father named Hegesippus.

And he replied to them, “What sort of things?”They said to him,
“The things that happened to Jesus the Nazarene,
who was a prophet mighty in deed and word
before God and all the people,
how our chief priests and rulers both handed him over
to a sentence of death and crucified him.

And Jesus asked, "what things?"  They replied, "All the things that happened to Jesus of Nazareth who was surely a prophet of God proven by all sorts of signs and wonders in front of all the people."

But we were hoping that he would be the one to redeem Israel;
and besides all this,
it is now the third day since this took place.
Some women from our group, however, have astounded us:
they were at the tomb early in the morning
and did not find his Body;
they came back and reported
that they had indeed seen a vision of angels
who announced that he was alive.
Then some of those with us went to the tomb
and found things just as the women had described,
but him they did not see.”

And now, it has been 3 days since He was put to death. And the women of our group have gone to the Tomb and found it empty. And some have seen Angels which have told them that He is alive. And some of the men went to the Tomb to verify what the women said and found it empty, but did not see Our Lord.

And he said to them, “Oh, how foolish you are!
How slow of heart to believe all that the prophets spoke!
Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things
and enter into his glory?”
Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets,
he interpreted to them what referred to him
in all the Scriptures.

And then Jesus revealed Himself and admonished them for not believing the Old Testament prophecies.  Then He went through the Old Testament Scriptures and showed them how they spoke of Him.

As they approached the village to which they were going,
he gave the impression that he was going on farther.
But they urged him, “Stay with us,
for it is nearly evening and the day is almost over.”
So he went in to stay with them.
And it happened that, while he was with them at table,
he took bread, said the blessing,
broke it, and gave it to them.
With that their eyes were opened and they recognized him,
but he vanished from their sight.

When they arrived at Emmaus, it was evening and they persuaded Jesus to remain with them.  As they sat for supper, Jesus took bread, said the blessing and broke it and gave it to them.  At that point, their eyes were opened and they could recognize Him.  But He vanished from their sight.

Then they said to each other,
“Were not our hearts burning within us
while he spoke to us on the way and opened the Scriptures to us?”
So they set out at once and returned to Jerusalem
where they found gathered together
the Eleven and those with them who were saying,
“The Lord has truly been raised and has appeared to Simon!”
Then the two recounted what had taken place on the way
and how he was made known to them in the breaking of the bread.

Then, the two went back to Jerusalem to tell the Apostles.  And they told everyone how Jesus had appeared to them when He broke the bread.  That is, when He gave them the Eucharist.

Interestingly, Cleopas is not mentioned here.  But it says, “The Lord has truly been raised and has appeared to Simon!”

Clopas had four children. James, Joses, Simon and Jude.  Three of them were Apostles.  James, Simon and Jude.  Perhaps it was Clopas and his son, Simon, who were walking to Emmaus.