“WITH THAT THEIR EYES WERE OPENED AND THEY RECOGNIZED HIM, BUT HE VANISHED FROM THEIR SIGHT.” LK 24:13-35

Humbly submit your will to God (Thy Will be done) and consecrate yourself to the Sacred Heart of Jesus through Mary and Joseph.

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.
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.”
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.
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. Acts 3:1-10

As Christians we are called to help others, the greatest in need. We are to take care of those who nobody else will even come close to. Today, Peter must have felt something inside of him, maybe compassion for the cripple. Do you have the urge inside of you to help the least of God’s people? It is interesting to me who Peter is so interested in helping after Christ’s resurrection. How does Peter know what to say to heal the man, “in the name of Jesus Christ the Nazorean, rise and walk.” This reminds me of, “Every knee shall bend in the heavens, on the earth, and under the earth to the name Jesus Christ.”

I am crippled in many ways, I think we all are in some way. Matthew Kelly, in his book “Rediscover Jesus” reminds us that we all have blind spots. Things others recognize in us that we don’t see in ourselves. Things our pride and ego have pushed away for so long we totally miss them about ourselves. The things people never say to us but talk to others about because they don’t want to hurt our feelings. We all need Jesus Christ the Nazorean to heal us. When we recognize our brokenness and come to Jesus for healing we will be “walking and jumping and praising God.”

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.
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.
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?”
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.
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 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.
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.
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. Lk 24:13-35

Does Jesus need to come back for us to know everything we need to know about how we are saved? Jesus said to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, “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, Jesus proceeds to talk about all of the prophecies He fulfilled. When asked, “How are you saved or why did you need a Savior, can you answer it? Most Catholics can’t. This might be “put in your mirror” material, so get ready to write it down.
1. Jesus Christ had to die and rise. (God redeeming His people after the fall of Adam and Eve; Jesus is the new Adam, Mary is the second Eve) There in the Garden Adam and Eve sinned, there in the Garden lies the tomb Jesus resurrected from.
2. You must repent and be baptized. (Repent means to change the way you think about everything, ugghhh! This is our response to God’s love and mercy for His people; allow God to transform you with His grace) We have to eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood; receive the Eucharist to have eternal life.
3. We must live our Baptismal promises out daily. I reject Satan. I believe Jesus is the Son of God (Creed)… (Are you rejecting Satan and fighting sin with a resolute heart? When falling are you going to confession often? We have amnesia (forget a lot) so we need to remind ourselves of what we believe daily through reading the Scriptures and the catechism (Youcat-did you ask for one for Easter?) We cannot worship something we do not know and you will live what you believe. Is the Word of God forming you or Youtube, Netflix, and video games? So, what do you believe? Your eternal state which cannot be changed depends on it. Live with the end in mind.

Last, Jesus uses the breaking of the bread to reveal Himself to the disciples. On Passover, Holy Thursday, He gives us Himself in the bread and wine until He returns. Do you believe the Eucharist is Jesus Christ? Think about it next time you go to Mass. Jesus says we must eat His flesh and drink His blood to have eternal life. This is serious and a requirement! Buy a book about the Eucharist and read it before Mass. The Youcat says the origin of the liturgy/Mass is God. It is when He gives Himself to us, He cannot give any more than Himself! We must get to Mass more often. Honestly, what do we really believe in? We can’t worship or build a relationship with someone we don’t know.

Today’s challenge: Recognize we are crippled and we need Jesus the Nazorean to help us leap for joy into heaven. Be able to answer how we are saved as Christians (this is your Christian identity-we can’t live out something we can’t identify with) and most importantly live it-become a saint!

#Christian YOLO

Be a believer, become a saint!

​Jesus Christ, I believe, help my unbelief!