Homily given by Bishop Anthony Randazzo
Bishop of Broken Bay
Third Sunday of Easter; Year A
Our Lady of the Rosary Cathedral – 26 April 2020
Life as we know it is not as we knew it. At least that is what some are saying. To be sure, our circumstances of life have been altered dramatically in recent months; however, I would suggest that we are being asked to re-evaluate our lives in a new context.
This year throughout the Diocese and beyond, we have endured bushfires, floods, and a global health crisis. People within our communities have borne the heartache of the destruction and loss of property, the challenge of economic hardship, the stress and anxiety of illness, the loneliness of isolation, and in some instances, loss of life.
One of the grace moments in all of this can only be seen with the eyes of faith. There are indeed many moments in our lives when we are pressed to transform our way of living because of new information, new circumstances, a new context. That new context might mean that suffering is made meaningful, perhaps by the support and deepened bonds between the infirmed person and the carer. The combined efforts of hard work are made meaningful by a successful outcome, where the common good is the objective.
These are moments of grace where God leads us to understand not only the mystery of our life, but also the mystery of divine life.
In the Gospel today, Jesus was talking to two very disappointed people on the road to Emmaus. (Luke 24:13-35) They were trying to understand their lives in a new context. They were disciples of Jesus, who had been crucified. They were now filled with disappointment and disbelief as all their hopes faded away.
As we have heard, recounted by the Evangelist Luke, Jesus appeared to them and started talking to them about what had happened. He opened the Scriptures for them and then He broke bread with them. Jesus revealed to them the truth about his death on the Cross. He gave it new meaning as He showed it to be the crowning achievement of His life and not the failure that they had believed it to be. In the mystery of this moment, they began to see things in a different light. Their hearts burned with the power of His Spirit. They ran to tell the others.
This wonderful grace given when Jesus appeared to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus is not simply an historical moment in time. In the passage from our Second Reading today, Saint Peter reminds us that the reason Christ appeared was “for your sake.” (1Peter 1:20) This should blow us away. Not merely because Jesus revealed himself to His disciples, but because He continues to do so today.
In the same way that He opened their eyes to the new context of their lives, so He does for us today. Likewise, as He broke open the Word for them, He reveals himself as the living Word to us. In the breaking of the bread, they recognised Him, as we do in the Eucharist, where we believe and know Him really to be.
What was certain to the two disciples, as their hearts burned within them, was that following the life and death of Jesus would lead them to the glory of His resurrection. Believing the truth and joy of the Good News, gave meaning to their own lives. This was the new context in which they found themselves.
When we read our own lives in terms of the life of faith in Jesus, it gives us meaning and hope beyond the challenges of the situation surrounding us.
Life with Christ allows us to see that He is our help in times of trouble. Jesus is our light in the darkness because He alone is the Saviour of the world. Amen.