April 8, 2026
Wednesday in the Octave of Easter
Lectionary: 263
Reading
1
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.
Responsorial
Psalm
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 generations--
Which he entered into with Abraham
and by his oath to Isaac.
R. Rejoice, O hearts that seek the Lord.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Sequence
-- optional
Victimae
paschali laudes
Christians, to the
Paschal Victim
Offer your
thankful praises!
A Lamb the sheep redeems;
Christ, who
only is sinless,
Reconciles
sinners to the Father.
Death and life have contended in that combat stupendous:
The Prince
of life, who died, reigns immortal.
Speak, Mary, declaring
What you
saw, wayfaring.
“The tomb of Christ, who is living,
The glory of
Jesus’ resurrection;
bright angels attesting,
The shroud
and napkin resting.
Yes, Christ my hope is arisen;
to Galilee
he goes before you.”
Christ indeed from death is risen, our new life obtaining.
Have mercy,
victor King, ever reigning!
Amen.
Alleluia.
Alleluia
R. Alleluia,
alleluia.
This is the day the LORD has made;
let us be glad and rejoice in it.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
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.
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/040826.cfm
Commentary on Acts
3:1-10
Today we see the first healing performed by Peter and John.
By this, they show that the work of Jesus is continuing in them. The fact that
two of them are involved in the healing also indicates that the work of Jesus
is being done, not so much by individuals (although that may happen), but by
the community which he left to carry on his mission.
Our reading is the beginning of a longer passage with a
dramatic public healing which results in a large group of people gathering to
hear Peter make a gospel proclamation. Some Sadducees, taking exception to what
is being said about the resurrection of Jesus (the Sadducees denied any life
after death), will have Peter and John (and apparently the cured man as well)
arrested and brought before the Sanhedrin. There is also the matter of Peter
and John teaching publicly in the Temple—something they had no authority to do.
When Peter refuses to back down on the basis that he was speaking in a prophetic
role, he and John should have been jailed. But because of healing the man who
was well-known as “lame from birth”—a healing witnessed by many—the authorities
retreated with just a warning.
We are told that Peter and John were on their way into the
Temple in Jerusalem for the afternoon prayers. The three stated times of prayer
for Judaism were midmorning (the third hour or 9 am), the time of the evening
sacrifice (the ninth hour, 3 pm), and sunset. At this early stage in the
Church’s life, the disciples maintained many of their former Jewish customs and
practices. They did not see themselves as breaking away from their past, still
less setting up a new religion.
Peter and John are among the most prominent of the Apostles.
Together with John’s brother, James, they formed an inner circle with Jesus
(attending the healing of the daughter of Jairus, witnessing the
Transfiguration, brought along to give support to Jesus during his agony in the
garden). Peter and John will be arrested together, and later we will see them
evangelising in Samaria.
For them, Jesus was the continuation and the fulfilment of
God’s promises to his people. Jesus was the Messiah long awaited by the Jewish
people. Later, we will see how they began to realise that Jesus had come, not
just for the Jews, but for people everywhere.
As Peter and John enter the Temple, they see this man who
was unable to walk being carried in by friends. It appears that they brought
him every day so that he could sit at the “Beautiful Gate” and beg for alms
from passers-by. This gate was the favourite entrance to the Temple court. It
was probably the bronze-sheathed gate elsewhere called the Nicanor Gate. It
seems to have led from the Court of the Gentiles (open to everyone) to the
Court of the Women, located on the east wall of the Temple building.
When the man saw Peter and John, he begged them for money.
Peter and John both fixed their gaze on the man (as Jesus used to do) and Peter
said:
I have no silver or gold, but what I have I give you; in
the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, stand up and walk.
And Peter raised him to his feet (a symbol of resurrection
and new life, also seen in Gospel healings). Again, we note that the healing is
done not by Peter himself, but in the name of Jesus. Jesus himself only healed
in his own name.
The man gingerly tries out his ‘new’ legs, and is next seen
bounding his way into the Temple, giving praise and thanks to God for his
healing. The onlookers, many of whom were familiar with the man, were struck
speechless by what they saw. The miracle has a dramatic impact: it symbolises
the saving power of Christ and leads the now healed man to enter the Temple,
where he hears Peter’s proclamation of salvation through Jesus.
The story clearly indicates that the power of Jesus has, as
promised, been transferred to his followers.
Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will
also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these,
because I am going to the Father. (John 14:12)
This man who was healed can also be viewed, as in similar
Gospel stories, as symbolic of each one of us. We are all permanently in need
of God’s help, and we stumble in our efforts to follow him. But once healed, we
immediately join him on his Way.
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Commentary on Luke
24:13-35
Today’s Gospel is one of the great passages of the New
Testament. It encapsulates, in a little over 20 verses, the whole Christian
life. It is still Easter Sunday as the passage opens. In Luke, all the
resurrection appearances take place in the vicinity of Jerusalem and on Easter
Sunday.
It begins with two disciples on the road leaving Jerusalem.
For Luke, the focal point of Jesus’ mission is Jerusalem. It was the goal to
which all Jesus’ public life was headed, and from there the new community would
bring his Message to the rest of the world.
They are on their way to a place called Emmaus, about 7
miles (11 km) from Jerusalem. Although the exact location is not now known, it
does not really matter—and that is the point. They were on the ‘road’—they are
pilgrims on the road of life. Jesus is the Way, the Road. The problem is that
at this moment, they are going in the wrong direction.
The Risen Jesus joins them as a fellow traveller:
…but their eyes were kept from recognizing him.
Why was that? Was it their presumption that he was dead? Was
it their pre-conceived idea of what Jesus should look like?
Seeing their obvious despondency and disillusionment, Jesus
asks what they are talking about. With deliciously unconscious irony they say,
Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who does not know
the things that have taken place there in these days?
Jesus plays them out a little more with a totally
innocent-sounding, “What things?” He wants to hear their version of what
happened. To them, the death was the failure of Jesus’ mission. They refer to
him as a “prophet” as if, after the debacle of his death, they could not see in
Jesus, the Messiah they had earlier acknowledged.
…we had hoped [Greek, elpizomen, sperabamus] that
he was the one to redeem Israel.
Again, the delicious irony of their own words is lost on
them. To them, “redeem Israel” meant liberation from the tyranny of foreign
domination, and perhaps the inauguration of the Kingdom of God as they
understood it.
They are puzzled also by the stories of the women describing
an empty tomb and angels—but there is still no sign of Jesus. More irony—they
are addressing these very words to Jesus!
Jesus then gives them a lesson in reading the Scriptures,
and shows them that all that happened to him—including his suffering and
death—far from being a tragedy, was all foreordained. Luke is the only writer
to speak clearly of a suffering Messiah. The idea of a suffering Messiah is not
found as such in the Old Testament. Later, the Church will see a foreshadowing
of the suffering Messiah in the texts on the Suffering Servant in Isaiah.
This story emphasises that all that happened to Jesus was
the fulfilment of Old Testament promises and of Jewish hopes. All through Acts,
Luke will argue that Christianity is the fulfilment of the hopes of Pharisaic
Judaism and its logical development. In many respects, Matthew’s Gospel has a
similar theme.
As they reach their destination, Jesus makes as if to
continue his journey. However, they extend their hospitality to the stranger.
They say:
Stay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is
now nearly over.
This echoes in Matthew’s Gospel:
…I was a stranger and you welcomed me… (Matt
25:35)
So Jesus goes in to stay with them—wonderful words. But it
would not have happened if they had not opened their home to him.
As they sat down to the meal, Jesus, the visitor
unexpectedly acting as host, took the bread, said the blessing over it, broke
it and gave it to them. And in that very act, they recognised him. This is the
Eucharist, where we recognise the presence of Jesus among us in the breaking of
bread. Not just in the bread, but in the breaking and sharing of the bread, and
in those who share the broken bread.
Then Jesus disappears, but they are still basking in the
afterglow.
Were not our hearts burning within us while he was
talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?
In the light of these experiences, they turn around
(conversion!) and go back along the road to Jerusalem from which they had been
fleeing. There they discover their fellow-disciples, excited that the Lord is
risen and has appeared to Simon. And they tell their marvellous story and:
…how he had been made known to them in the breaking of
the bread.
All the ingredients of the Christian life are here:
- Running
away from where Christ is to be found—we do it all the time.
- Meeting
Jesus in the unexpected place, or person, or situation. How many times
does this happen and we do not recognise him, or worse, mistreat him?
- Finding
the real meaning and identity of Jesus and his mission in having the
Scriptures fully explained. Without the Scriptures we cannot claim to know
Jesus. Yet, how many Catholics go through life hardly ever opening a
Bible?
- Recognising
Jesus in the breaking of bread, in our celebration of the Eucharist. The
breaking and sharing of the bread indicates the essential community
dimension of that celebration, making it a real ‘comm-union’ with all
present.
- Responding
to the central experience of Scripture and Liturgy by participating in the
work of proclaiming the message of Christ and sharing our experience of it
with others, that they may also share it.
- Recognizing
the importance of hospitality and kindness to the stranger. “I was hungry…
and you did/did not feed me…” Jesus is especially present and to be found
and loved in the very least of my brothers and sisters.
The scene is also a model of the Mass:
Those walking together on the Road gather together and meet
Jesus. First, they meet him in the Liturgy of the Word as the Scriptures are
broken open and explained. Second, he is present in the Liturgy of the
Eucharist, where what Jesus did for us through his suffering, death and
resurrection is remembered with thanksgiving. The bread that is now his Body, and
the wine that is now his Blood, are shared among those who are the Members of
that Body to strengthen their union and their commitment to continuing the work
of Jesus.
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https://livingspace.sacredspace.ie/e1014g/
Wednesday,
April 8, 2026
Easter Time
Opening Prayer
God our Father,
You are a God not of
the dead nor of those paralyzed by their fears and limitations but the God of
the living.
Raise us up and make
us walk forward in joy and hope as companions on the road of Him whom you raised
from the dead, Jesus Christ, our Risen Lord for ever.
Gospel Reading - Luke 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. 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.
Reflection
Today’s Gospel speaks
to us of a very well know episode, of the apparition of Jesus to the disciples at
Emmaus. Luke writes in the year 80 AD for the communities of Greece, which for
the most part were made up of converted Gentiles. The years 60’s and 70’s had been
most difficult ones. There had been the great persecution of Nero in the year 64
AD. Six years later, in the year 70, Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans. In the
year 72, in Masada, in the desert of Judah, there was the massacre of the last rebellious
Jews. In those years, the Apostles, witnesses of the Resurrection, disappeared gradually.
People began to feel tired on the journey. From where could they draw the strength
so as not to get discouraged? How to discover the presence
of Jesus in such a difficult situation? The story of the apparition of Jesus to
the disciples at Emmaus tries to give a response to all these anguishing
questions. Luke wants to teach the communities how to interpret Scripture to be
able to rediscover the presence of Jesus in life.
•
Luke 24:13-24:
1st Step: to get away from reality. Jesus meets the two friends in a situation of
fear and lack of faith. The force of death, the cross, had killed the hope in them.
This was the situation of many people at the time of Luke, and is also the
predicament of many people today. Jesus gets close to them and walks by their side.
He listens to their conversation and asks, “What are all these things that you
are discussing as you walk along?” The dominant ideology of the government and
of the official religion of the time prevent them from seeing. “Our hope had been
that He would be the one to set Israel free.” What is the conversation of
people who suffer today? The first step is this one: get close to the people, listen
to their reality, feel their problems: be capable of asking questions which will
help the people to look at reality from a more critical perspective.
•
Luke 24:25-27:
2nd step: use the Bible to enlighten life. Jesus uses the Bible and the history
of people to illuminate the problem which made the two friends suffer, and to clarify
the situation in which they are living. He also uses it to place them in the
whole plan of God which came from Moses and the prophets. Thus, He indicates that
history had not escaped from God’s hand. Jesus uses the Bible not as a doctor who
knows everything, but rather like a companion who comes to help friends and to remind
them of what they had forgotten. Jesus tries to awaken their memory: “Foolish and
slow to believe all that the prophets have said! Was it not necessary that the Christ
should suffer before entering into His glory?”
This is the second
step: With the Bible, help people to discover the wisdom which already exists in
them, and transform the cross, a sign of death, into a sign of life and of hope.
What prevented them from walking now becomes for them strength and light on the
journey. How can we do this today?
•
Luke 24:
28-32: 3rd step: to share in community. The Bible in itself does not open their
eyes. It only makes their heart burn. What opens the eyes and makes them see is
the breaking of the bread, the communal gesture of sharing, and the celebration
of the Supper. At the moment in which both recognize Jesus, they are born anew,
and Jesus disappears. Jesus does not take possession of his friends’ road. He is
not paternalistic. Risen, the disciples are capable of walking alone.
The third step is the
following: to know how to create a fraternal environment of faith, of celebration
and of sharing, where the Holy Spirit can act. It is He who makes us discover
and experience the Word of God in life, which leads us to understand the meaning
of the words of Jesus (Jn 14: 26; 16: 13).
•
Luke 24:
33-35: 4th step: The result: To resurrect means to go back to Jerusalem. The two
of them, courageously, get back on the road to go to Jerusalem,
where the same forces of death, which had killed Jesus and had killed their
hope, continue to be active. But now everything has changed. If Jesus is alive,
then there is in Him and with Him a stronger power than that which killed Him. This
experience makes them resurrect! Truly, everything has changed. There is return
and not flight! Faith and not unbelief! Hope and not despair! Critical conscience
and not fatalism in the face of power! Liberty and not oppression! In one word:
life and not death! Instead of the bad news of the death of Jesus, the Good News
of his Resurrection! Both of them experience life and life in abundance! (Jn 10:
10). This is a sign that the Spirit of Jesus is acting in them!
Personal Questions
•
Both of
them say, “We were hoping, but…!” Have you ever been in a situation of discouragement
which led you to say, “I was hoping, but…!”?
•
How do
you read, use and interpret the Bible? Have you ever felt your heart burning
when reading and meditating on the Word of God? Do you read the Bible alone or
are you part of a Bible group?
•
Considering
these steps, and the way Jesus enlightened these disciples, how would you help
a friend who was losing hope or faith?
Concluding Prayer
Give thanks to Yahweh,
call on His name, proclaim His deeds to the peoples! Sing to Him, make music for
Him, recount all His wonders! (Ps 105: 1-2)
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