4 April 2024 - Only By Grace Reflections

TOPIC: IS JESUS OUR COMPANION IN OUR JOURNEY OF LIFE?

First Reading: Acts 3: 11-26
Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 8: 2ab and 5, 6-7, 8-9
Alleluia: Psalms 118: 24
Gospel: Luke 24: 35-48

Last Holy Thursday, I served as a facilitator in an online Holy Triduum Retreat where Bishop Ambo David gave the talks for reflection. The theme of the retreat was A Journey Through Life to Death and New Life. As the good Bishop of Kalookan said, “The destination is eternal life but the itinerary is passion, suffering, death and grief.”

One reflection I wish to share with you today is when we were asked, “Where am I in my journey?”

Today's Gospel talks about an event in the evening of the day of Easter. The disciples were suddenly faced with the presence of Jesus standing in their midst, and they are terrified. Our Lord greeted them with peace but the disciples do not experience peace. Their hearts were not yet open to His living presence. They think that Jesus is dead; thus they concluded that what they see must be a ghost. Then Jesus said to them, “Why are you troubled? Why do questions arise in your hearts? Look at my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch and see, because a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you can see I have.” (Luke 24:38-39)

On this Thursday in the Octave of Easter, the Lord is asking us the same question? “Why are you troubled? And why do questions arise in your heart?” Whatever fears and problems we may have, Jesus wants us to know that He is with us, real and alive. He wants us to encounter Him personally, to touch Him with faith and love. In whatever stage of our journey we are in right now, in the sunrise, in the noontime or in the sunset, Jesus is our travelling companion.

This is the