Posted on 04/14/2024 8:42:24 AM PDT by fidelis
“Why are you troubled? And why do questions arise in your hearts? Look at my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me and see, because a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you can see I have.” Luke 24:38–39
Imagine if Jesus appeared to you. What if He showed you the wounds in His hands and feet and invited you to touch Him so as to believe. Would you believe? Most likely you would, to a certain extent. It would be the beginning of an experience that could be life-changing, just as it was for these disciples. Our Lord’s appearance to the disciples led to their transformation from men who were confused and doubtful to men who were filled with joy and zeal. Eventually, they would go forth preaching about Jesus as witnesses to His death and Resurrection with courage and with a desire that all who heard them would turn to Jesus as their Savior.
In the first reading of today’s Mass, Saint Peter is recorded as doing this very thing. After healing a crippled man at the gate of the Temple, a crowd gathered in amazement and Peter preached to them about Jesus. He concluded His sermon by saying, “God has thus brought to fulfillment what he had announced beforehand through the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ would suffer. Repent, therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be wiped away.”
Today, we are entrusted with the same mission given to our Lord’s disciples, and we must preach with the same zeal, courage and conviction with which they preached. First, we must become as certain as they were about Jesus’ triumph over sin and death. We must turn from all sin and believe that the fullness of life is found only in Christ Jesus. But then we must commit ourselves to the proclamation of this faith with every fiber of our being.
Begin by considering how deeply you believe in Jesus as the Savior of the World. Though it might be tempting to think that having Jesus appear to you in person would help deepen your faith in Him, the truth is that the first disciples were not primarily convinced because of the physical appearances of Jesus. Rather, this gift came primarily through the spiritual touching of their minds. After appearing to the disciples physically, we read that Jesus “opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.” This was what convinced them more than anything—the spiritual gift of understanding. And that gift is offered to you today, just as it was to the first followers of Jesus.
Saint Thomas Aquinas explains that the spiritual gift of understanding is a gift that reveals to us the very essence of God. He explains that it is a much deeper form of knowledge than that which is obtained through our five senses. Thus, simply seeing something with our eyes, touching it or hearing it is not nearly as convincing as the knowledge obtained through the spiritual gift of understanding. The gift of understanding enables us to “read inwardly” and to penetrate the very essence of something...
Reflect, today, upon your own knowledge of Jesus and the transforming power of His Resurrection in your life. Has God spoken to you within the depths of your soul? Have you perceived this inward knowledge and had your mind opened? Listen attentively to our Lord—not just with your ears but primarily with your spirit. It is there, within you, that you, like the first disciples, will come to know and believe in the life, death and resurrection of Christ so that you can then go forth empowered to proclaim these truths to others.
My revealing Lord, You showed Yourself to Your disciples not only physically but spiritually, revealing Your very essence to them interiorly. Please bestow this gift upon me, dear Lord. May I come to know You and believe in You with all my heart. As I do, please use me as an instrument of Your mercy to others. Jesus, I trust in You.
Please keep in mind that this is a Catholic Caucus/Devotional thread for the purpose of prayerful reflection on the Sacred Scriptures and is closed to debate of any kind. Per FR policy on Religion Caucus threads, off-topic, argumentative, and abusive comments are not allowed and will be submitted to the Mods for deletion. Thanks, and God bless you.
Let us pray.
O Virgin Mother of God, we fly to your protection and beg your intercession against the darkness and sin which ever more envelop the world and menace the Church. Your Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, gave you to us as our mother as He died on the Cross for our salvation. So too, in 1531, when darkness and sin beset us, He sent you, as Our Lady of Guadalupe, on Tepeyac to lead us to Him Who alone is our light and our salvation.
Through your apparitions on Tepeyac and your abiding presence with us on the miraculous mantle of your messenger, Saint Juan Diego, millions of souls converted to faith in your Divine Son. Through this novena and our consecration to you, we humbly implore your intercession for our daily conversion of life to Him and the conversion of millions more who do not yet believe in Him. In our homes and in our nation, lead us to Him Who alone wins the victory over sin and darkness in us and in the world.
Unite our hearts to your Immaculate Heart so that they may find their true and lasting home in the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. Ever guide us along the pilgrimage of life to our eternal home with Him. So may our hearts, one with yours, always trust in God's promise of salvation, in His never-failing mercy toward all who turn to Him with a humble and contrite heart. Through this novena and our consecration to you, O Virgin of Guadalupe, lead all souls in America and throughout the world to your Divine Son in Whose name we pray. Amen.
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