Daily Gospel for April 26, 2020. Readings of the day. Luke 24:13-35

Readings of the day April 26. (III Sunday of Easter)

First Reading. Acts of the Apostles 2:14,22-33. 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 Nazorean 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 Messiah, 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 it forth, as you (both) see and hear.

Daily Psalm. Psalm 16(15):1-2,5,7-11.

(R). "Show us, Lord, the path of life".

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. (R).

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. (R).

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. (R).

You will show me the path to life, fullness of joys in your presence, the delights at your right hand forever. (R).

Second reading. First Letter of Peter 1,17-21.

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

Daily Gospel Acclamation. April 26.

Alleluia, alleluia! Lord Jesus, explain the Scriptures to us. Make our hearts burn within us as you talk to us. Alleluia! (Cfr. Luke 24:32)

Daily Gospel. Gospel of the day April 26, 2020. Luke 24:13-35

Reading for the Gospel of the day - (III Sunday of Easter - May your heart burn in your encounter with God) 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 Messiah 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

Daily Gospel Commentaries by Pope Francis.

In the Gospel of the day, two men walk around disappointed, sad, convinced they´re leaving behind the bitterness of an event that ended badly...

[...] The two pilgrims fed only one human hope, which was now shattered. That cross, erected on Calvary, was the most eloquent sign of a defeat, which they had not foreseen. If this Jesus truly agreed with God´s heart, they had to conclude that God was helpless, in the hands of the violent, unable to resist evil.

So, that Sunday morning, these two fled from Jerusalem. In their eyes they still had the events of the Passion, the death of Jesus; and in their minds the painful vexation of those events, during the obligatory Sabbath rest. That feast of Easter, which was to sing the song of liberation, became, instead, the most painful day of their lives. They left Jerusalem to go elsewhere, to a quiet village. They had all the appearance of people who try to eliminate a burning memory. So they´re on the road, and they´re walking, sad.

This scene, the road, was already important in the Gospel accounts; now it will be even more so, at the moment when the history of the Church begins to be told.

Jesus´ encounter with these two disciples of Emmaus seems to be totally fortuitous: it is like the many crossroads that happen in life.

The two disciples are walking in the depths of their thoughts and someone unknown approaches them. It is Jesus, but their eyes are unable to recognize him. And so Jesus begins his "therapy of hope". What happens on this journey is a therapy of hope. Who does it? Jesus.

First of all, ask and listen: our God is not an invading God. Although he already knows the reason for the disappointment of these two, he gives them time to understand the depth of the bitterness that has befallen them. From this comes a confession that is a refrain of human existence: "We had hope, but . We hoped but..." (v. 21) How much sadness, how many defeats, how many failures there are in each person´s life! Deep down we are all something like those two disciples. How many times in life have we waited, how many times have we felt one step away from happiness, and then found ourselves disappointed on earth. But Jesus walks with all the discouraged people who walk with their heads down. And, walking with them in a discreet way, he manages to give them hope again.

[...] Then Jesus repeats for the two disciples the cardinal gesture of every Eucharist: He took the bread, blessed it, broke it and gave it. Isn´t the whole story of Jesus in this series of gestures? And isn´t there, in every Eucharist, also the sign of what the Church must be? Jesus takes us, blesses us, "breaks" our life, because there is no love without sacrifice, and offers it to others, to everyone.

The meeting of Jesus with the two disciples of Emmaus is fleeting, but in it is the whole destiny of the Church?

[...] We have all had difficult and dark moments in our lives; moments in which we walk sadly, with deep thoughts, without horizons, with only a wall before us. And Jesus is always at our side to give us hope, to warm our hearts and to say: "Go ahead, I am with you. Go on".

The secret of the road that leads to Emmaus is all here: even through appearances to the contrary, we continue to be loved, and God will never stop loving us. God will always walk with us, always, even in the most painful moments, too (Homily of the Gospel of the day. General Audience, May 24, 2017)

Pope´s quotes.

"The Gospel of the day (Lk 24:13-35) teaches us that two opposite directions are set before us in life: The path of those who let themselves be paralysed by disappointments and trudge along sadly. Then there is the path of those who put Jesus and others before their own problems." (04.26.2020 - @pontifex)

Daily Gospel. Meditation in video for Gospel of the day April 26.