The Supper at Emmaus by Caravaggio 1601
Sunday, April 14
Third Sunday of Easter
Roman Ordinary calendar
Acts of the Apostles 3,13-15.17-19.
Peter said to the people: “The God of Abraham, (the God) of Isaac, and (the God) of Jacob, the God of our ancestors, has glorified his servant Jesus whom you handed over and denied in Pilate’s presence, when he had decided to release him.
You denied the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you.
The author of life you put to death, but God raised him from the dead; of this we are witnesses.
Now I know, brothers, that you acted out of ignorance, just as your leaders did;
but God has thus brought to fulfillment what he had announced beforehand through the mouth of all the prophets, that his Messiah would suffer.
Repent, therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be wiped away.”
Psalms 4,2.4.7.9.
When I call, answer me, O my just God,
you who relieve me when I am in distress;
have pity on me, and hear my prayer!
Know that the LORD does wonders for his faithful one;
the LORD will hear me when I call upon him.
O LORD, let the light of your countenance shine upon us!
As soon as I lie down, I fall peacefully asleep,
for you alone, O LORD,
bring security to my dwelling.
First Letter of John 2,1-5a.
My children, I am writing this to you so that you may not commit sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous one.
He is expiation for our sins, and not for our sins only but for those of the whole world.
The way we may be sure that we know him is to keep his command ments.
Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
But whoever keeps his word, the love of God is truly perfected in him. This is the way we may know that we are in union with him:
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 24,35-48.
The disciples of Jesus recounted what had taken place along the way, and how Jesus was made known to them in the breaking of bread.
While they were still speaking about this, he stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.”
But they were startled and terrified and thought that they were seeing a ghost.
Then he said to them, “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.”
And as he said this, he showed them his hands and his feet.
While they were still incredulous for joy and were amazed, he asked them, “Have you anything here to eat?”
They gave him a piece of baked fish;
he took it and ate it in front of them.
He said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses and in the prophets and psalms must be fulfilled.”
Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures.
And he said to them, “Thus it is written that the Messiah would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day
and that repentance, for the forgiveness of sins, would be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.
You are witnesses of these things.”
Saint Peter Chrysologus (c.406-450)
Bishop of Ravenna, Doctor of the Church
Sermon 31, 8th on the Resurrection of the Lord; PL 52, 427
“Touch me and see”
After the resurrection, as the Lord had entered when all the doors were shut (Jn 20,19), the disciples did not believe he had regained his body in reality but imagined that only his soul had returned under a bodily appearance, like the images that appear to people dreaming in their sleep. «They thought it was a ghost» (Lk 24,37)…
«Why are you troubled? And why do questions arise in your hearts? Look at my hands and my feet.» Look – that is to say, consider attentively. Why? Because what you are beholding is not a dream. Look at my hands and my feet since, as yet, you cannot look at my face with your bewildered eyes. Look at the wounds in my flesh since, as yet, you cannot see the works of God. Behold the marks made by my enemies since, as yet, you cannot perceive the signs of God. Touch me so that your hand will give you proof since, so far, your eyes are blinded… Feel the holes in my hands, probe my side, reopen my wounds, for I cannot refuse to the faith of my disciples what I did not refuse to my enemies for my agony. Feel, feel…, seek even to my bones, that you may confirm the reality of my flesh and that these still open wounds may attest that it is truly I myself…
Why don’t you believe that I am risen who called several dead persons back to life before your eyes?… When I was hung on the cross, they taunted me, saying: «He saved others, he cannot save himself… Let him come down from the cross now and we will believe in him» (Mt 27,42). Which is more difficult? To come down from the cross, tearing out the nails, or to come up from hell, treading death underfoot? Look, I have saved myself and, breaking the chains of hell, have come back up to the world above.
Catholicism Pure & Simple 
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