Third Sunday after New Sunday (Malayalam)

Third Sunday after New Sunday. – Road to Emmaus (St. Luke 24 : 13 – 35)
There are several things for us to note in this encounter between Jesus and today’s saint, Luke, along with Cleopas. One was that they did not recognize Him when they saw Him. Both had seen Him before, of course, before the passion. The Scriptures say that “their eyes were kept from recognizing Him.” Was it because Jesus hid His identity in some way? Was it because they were focused on their own sadness and not on their love for God? The text does not say, but we do know that they were overcome with this feeling of calamity and that they were in a sense separated from true oneness with Jesus.

And this is an experience that we ourselves often have. We can be in the presence of Jesus, perhaps here in Church or somewhere else, and yet remain disconnected. It could be because God has decided to withdraw our sense of His presence so that we might reach more earnestly toward Him. Or it could be that we are so self-focused that we do not see Who is in front of us.

We also often fail to make the connection between what is going on in our lives and the redemption that Christ brings for us, and it is often because of our ignorance of the Scriptures and the teaching of the Church. We do not understand, because we have not prepared ourselves to understand. And so Jesus might say to us as He does to them: “O foolish men, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken!”

But see how Jesus is still merciful and loving to them. He journeys with them. He stays with them.

This revelation of the risen Jesus Christ that St. Luke received centuries ago and which he recorded for us himself is the same revelation available to us now, if we will open our hearts, see and believe.

We also can walk with the risen Jesus Christ. We also can hear from Him all the things in the Scriptures concerning Him. We also can know Him for Who He is in the Eucharistic blessing and breaking and eating of the bread. Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, has made Himself available to us. God is not “out there” somewhere. We do not have to walk and be sad and self-focused like Luke and Cleopas, giving up all hope for happiness, for love, for goodness to win and evil to be defeated, for an end to suffering and pain—we can instead see Him and know Him and experience His warmth and closeness to us, as it was witnessed to us by the Apostle Luke.

And we have the beautiful blessing of being reminded of that wonderful encounter every time we remember the name of the place where we are right now.

To our Lord Jesus Christ be all glory, honor and worship, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen.

 

Feast of St. George the Martyr and Patron Saint
– Pictures of St. George usually show him killing a dragon to save a beautiful lady. The dragon stands for wickedness.
– The lady stands for God’s holy truth. St. George kills the dragon because he won the battle against the devil.
– He was a Roman officer of Greek descent who was martyred in one of the pre-Constantinian persecutions.
-The story goes like this … A dragon lived in a lake near Silena, Libya. Whole armies had gone up against this fierce creature, but had died. The monster ate two sheep a day and when he had eaten all the sheep, lots were drawn in local villages, and young women were given as food for the dragon instead of sheep.
– Into this country came Saint George. Hearing the story on a day when a princess was to be eaten, he made the sign of the cross, rode to battle and killed the dragon with a single blow of his lance.