Easter Thursday

In today’s gospel reading, when the disciples were talking about all that had happened to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, ‘Jesus himself stood among them’. They didn’t invite him to join their company. He simply took the initiative himself to join them. The risen Lord always stands among us, without waiting for our invitation. He stands among us, as he stood among those first disciples, with the wounds of his passion on his hands and feet. They are no longer simply the cruel wounds inflicted by brutal soldiers. They are the expressions of the extent of his love for us; they are the openings through which the love of God shines upon us. In the gospel reading, the risen Lord asked the disciples if they had anything to eat. He wanted to share table with them as he had done many times during his public ministry. Even though they had failed him in the hour of his passion and death, he wanted to enter into communion with them, to reveal the extent of his faithful love for them. The risen Lord stands among us today so as to enter into communion with us. He does that in a special way at every Eucharist. The Eucharist is the celebration of the Lord’s faithful love for us. The Lord can enter into communion with us in other ways as well, such as through his word and through those who journey with us in life. He also enters into communion with us through his sending of the Holy Spirit into our hearts. He lives within us through his Spirit. He then sends us out in the power of the Spirit to bring his presence to those we meet on the journey of life. The risen Lord wants to stand among people today in and through each one of us.