SERMON/HOMILY FOR WEDNESDAY OF THE OCTAVE OF EASTER 3RD APRIL 2024

SERMON/HOMILY FOR WEDNESDAY OF THE OCTAVE OF EASTER 3RD APRIL 2024

Acts 3:1-10; Ps.105; Luke 24:13-35

The Ever-abiding Presence of God

Man is hardly ever without one problem or the other. There is never a time we are dry of petitions to bring before God in prayer. In as much as we cannot but continually make effort to solve life’s problems, we need to be cautious not to loose our vision of Jesus. Certain events surrounding the resurrection of Jesus say to us that when we are overly concerned about our problems, we may fail to recognize the presence and power of God in our midst. What we must do with our challenges is to unite them to the power of the risen Lord.

In the gospel reading of yesterday, Mary Magdalene was so concerned about who might have stolen the body of Jesus to the extent that she could not recognize Jesus in her midst. Even when she saw him, she supposed him to be a gardener and begged him to release to her the body of her Lord. In the gospel reading of today, the two disciples on their way to Emmaus found themselves in the same condition as Mary Magdalene.

They recalled sorrowfully the recent happenings in Jerusalem. They felt like orphans for the one whom they thought will redeem Israel, “could not redeem himself” from the hands of his murderers. They narrated these events to Jesus himself without knowing it was Jesus. In the first reading of today, the lame man looked upon Peter and John for financial assistance, not knowing that they could offer him the power of the risen Christ, which is greater than the largest of money.

Beloved, it is very easy for us to find ourselves in the conditions of these persons who could not recognized the Lord even when he was in their midst. The fact is that, God never allows his own to suffer alone. In all our difficulties, let us learn to seek the Lord; not because he was hitherto missing, No! Seeking the Lord means asking for the spiritual insight to recognize the presence and the workings of the Lord in our present situations.

The psalmist assures us that those who seek the Lord will rejoice. This means that like Mary Magdalene, the two disciples on the way to Emmaus and the Lame man, God will always manifest himself to those who truly seek him. For those times that we thought or are thinking that God has abandoned us or has refused to answer our prayers, let us pause awhile and consider if it was us who were not patience and lacking the spiritual insightful to recognize his ever abiding presence.