How to be or become a follower of Jesus Christ in the world and in your situation«The Lord has truly been raised and has appeared to Simon!»
Even after all that his own had seen and heard, they still did not believe that Jesus was the divine person that He Himself had claimed to be.
After all the trials, the miraculous signs, and the prodigious events they had seen, they still weren't convinced.
They had been scandalized by the fact that their Master had voluntarily submitted himself to the atrocious torture of the crucifixion, and with this they had fallen into the same error as those who had condemned Jesus.
Gesù incontra i discepoli a Emmaus
And how about us? Are we not the ones who, when we let ourselves be taken by doubt, perhaps resemble those disciples who still did not believe?
Who among us, during the consecration, never came to ask himself if that bread is really the body of Christ and really that wine is His blood?
Also because we do not have direct testimony of the events of that time, we must then count on the firmness of our faith in Him. For this reason Paul says: "If Christ had not risen, our faith would be in vain, our preaching foolish" (1 Cor 15 , 14).
The resurrection is certainty: insofar as you believe, you feel the presence of Him, who is life.
How many times in the troubles and pains that are invariably present in the life of all of us, those who are on the face of this earth, has despair assailed us, sadness has fallen upon us?
How many times in these cases has the temptation assaulted us so to think that our faith is all an illusion?
It is especially in these particular moments that we must think of the Cross: if he wanted to be crucified, he also let it happen to give us an example, so that we too would endure what bad things can happen to us.
With this Jesus has left us and leaves us free, also free not to believe. This is why he lets us too, like him on the Cross when he utters the last cry of pain, are subjected to the torment of doubt.
This is why we must strive to live in his presence, to think as if he were always next to us.
In the morning when we wake up, when we work, when we feed, in the manifestations of our life, especially in moments of joy, we must strive to never forget it.
In my case, helping myself with the sacred images that I have discreetly present in every room of the house, I try to observe during the day a plan of actions - Mass and possibly also Communion for example - of thoughts and readings - the Gospel for example - that they always let me do not forget. Help yourself that God helps you, the saying goes. I know that He will always forgive me even when I fail and fall, as long as I ask Him.
No fear! the Mercy of Jesus
is INFINITE
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 24,13-35.
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.
