Welcome Back to Banquet of the Word!
Our mission is simple:
We want to help everyone in “pew-land” get more out of mass.
Because it’s fun to feel smart about scripture.
Fun fact:
The section we hear in the first reading is from Acts chapter 2. Some scholars suggest it is the first time the gospel is publicly proclaimed after the resurrection. That’s pretty cool. We see Peter in a more mature state then during the Passion when he rejected Jesus.
1st Reading – ACTS 2:14, 22-33
(The 1st Reading always links to the Gospel.
During the Easter season it comes from Acts of the Apostles.)
Just a few verses prior to this reading, the apostles received the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. Now, a more mature and courageous Peter addresses the crowd before him. We start in verse 14 and skip to verse 22.
(In the missing verses, Peter recounts how God “will pour out his Spirit upon all of his sons and daughters” and that “they shall prophesy” on his behalf. Peter reminds the crowd what happened during the crucifixion and that Jesus was “killed at the hands of lawless men.”)
Then Peter does something interesting.
He speaks of King David and quotes Psalm 16, which David penned. In this hymn, David rejoices and praise for preservation from death. Peter here tells the crowds that though David died, his prayer is fulfilled in the Messiah – the only one to have risen from the dead untouched by sin.
Essentially, Peter draws a clear comparison for his audience that Jesus the Christ has fulfilled the Old Testament promise of David. He is connecting the dots for them, whilst calling them to be sons and daughters and help spread the good news.
Then Peter stood up with the Eleven,
raised his voice, and proclaimed:
“You who are Jews, indeed all of you staying in Jerusalem.
Let this be known to you, and listen to my words.
You who are Israelites, hear these words.
Jesus the Nazarene was a man commended to you by God
with mighty deeds, wonders, and signs,
which God worked through him in your midst, as you yourselves know.
This man, delivered up by the set plan and foreknowledge of God,
you killed, using lawless men to crucify him.
But God raised him up, releasing him from the throes of death,
because it was impossible for him to be held by it.
For David says of him:
I saw the Lord ever before me,
with him at my right hand I shall not be disturbed.
Therefore my heart has been glad and my tongue has exulted;
my flesh, too, will dwell in hope,
because you will not abandon my soul to the netherworld,
nor will you suffer your holy one to see corruption.
You have made known to me the paths of life;
you will fill me with joy in your presence.“My brothers, one can confidently say to you
about the patriarch David that he died and was buried,
and his tomb is in our midst to this day.
But since he was a prophet and knew that God had sworn an oath to him
that he would set one of his descendants upon his throne,
he foresaw and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ,
that neither was he abandoned to the netherworld
nor did his flesh see corruption.
God raised this Jesus;
of this we are all witnesses.
Exalted at the right hand of God,
he received the promise of the Holy Spirit from the Father
and poured him forth, as you see and hear.”
Reflect:
1. How are we like Peter? Where in our lives have we been spiritually immature and, perhaps by calling on the gifts of the Holy Spirit, how did we then mature?
2. Which gifts of the Holy Spirit will help us most in the week ahead?
Responsorial Psalm 16: “you will show me the path of life”
(The Psalm is a “response” to what we heard in the 1st Reading)
This psalm is a slam dunk on two accounts.
First, it is the same psalm Peter quoted in the first reading from David. Secondly, the response verse speaks about “the path of life.”
This foreshadows the Gospel reading, the road to Emmaus, which serves an the archetype of the path of our faith lives as we journey to the gates of Heaven.
Keep me, O God, for in you I take refuge;
I say to the LORD, “My Lord are you.”
O LORD, my allotted portion and my cup,
you it is who hold fast my lot.I bless the LORD who counsels me;
even in the night my heart exhorts me.
I set the LORD ever before me;
with him at my right hand I shall not be disturbed.Therefore my heart is glad and my soul rejoices,
my body, too, abides in confidence;
because you will not abandon my soul to the netherworld,
nor will you suffer your faithful one to undergo corruption.You will show me the path to life,
abounding joy in your presence,
the delights at your right hand forever.
Reflect:
1. Read the psalm all the way through. Which resonates most with you?
2ND READING: 1 PT 1:17-21
(The 2nd reading is usually one of Paul’s letters. Today it’s from Peter. It speaks to how the early church spread the Word of Christ after his passion, death and resurrection).
Hearing again from Peter and his first letter, the audience – both then and now – is being called to holiness. Immediately before the first verse we here at mass, Peter said, “you shall be holy for I am holy.” He’s not referring to himself. This is a quote from the book of Leviticus which was repeated multiple times to the Israelites (due to their stubborn hearts of stone).
Beloved:
If you invoke as Father him who judges impartially
according to each one’s works,
conduct yourselves with reverence during the time of your sojourning,
realizing that you were ransomed from your futile conduct,
handed on by your ancestors,
not with perishable things like silver or gold
but with the precious blood of Christ
as of a spotless unblemished lamb.He was known before the foundation of the world
but revealed in the final time for you,
who through him believe in God
who raised him from the dead and gave him glory,
so that your faith and hope are in God.
Reflect:
1. Where in our lives can we become more holy? What leads us into temptation, and how can we become more aware?
2. When in our lives have we exhibited hearts of stone like the Israelites, and what was the outcome? When in our lives have we exhibited compassionate hearts of flesh, and what was the outcome?
Gospel: LK 24:13-35
(The Gospel is the highest point of the Liturgy of the Word. That’s why we stand.
We are about to hear from and be instructed by Christ Himself.)
Today we have the road to Emmaus, one of my all-time favorite stories. There is so much meaning it is difficult to unpack it all here. I hope your homilist cracks it open for you. Key pieces:
- It’s Easter morning. The two who walk with Jesus do not recognize Him.
- The irony: They ask, “Are you the only one who doesn’t know what happened this weekend?” Reality: Jesus is the only one who DOES know what happened!
- We see here The First Mass. How?
- Jesus preached the Word “beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.” He did this for the 7 mile walk – talk about an in-depth bible study! This corresponds to the Liturgy of the Word. We hear from the Old Testament, often the prophets, and a priest interprets the gospel, which concerns Jesus’s teachings.
- Then the two said, “Stay with us!” Jesus did. He then took bread and blessed it, broke it and gave it to them. This corresponds to the Liturgy of the Eucharist. Jesus feeds us with his body and blood, in the form of bread and wine.
The key here is that the eyes of the two travelers were only opened once they were fed Jesus’s body and blood at table. Before that, they did not fully recognize Him. What did they say after receiving Eucharist?
“Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road?”
This speaks so clearly to the Church’s position that it is the Eucharist that is the source and summit of our lives. It is what makes the Catholic faith the fullness of Christ’s Church. Without it, we cannot see nor recognize Him fully.
Reflect:
1. Do we truly believe the Eucharist is the source and summit of our lives? How can we increase our devotion to this sacrament?
2. How does this story change if we assume the two on the road with Jesus are husband and wife, bride and groom? Where else is there marital language in the scriptures?
3. Where am I on my “road to Emmaus?” Do I allow God to walk with me for miles and miles, speaking and preaching to me all that He is? How and when can I invite Him to walk with me more this week?
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 bread.
Banquet of the Word 