HOMILY FOR THURSDAY WITHIN THE OCTAVE OF EASTER YEAR B (1)

HOMILY FOR THURSDAY WITHIN THE OCTAVE OF EASTER YEAR B

HOMILY THEME: TRUE PEACE COMES FROM GOD, SHALOM!

BY: Fr. Benny Tuazon

HOMILY:

(Lk. 24:35-48) Thursday in the Octave of Easter.

In the day’s Gospel Jesus greets His disciples.”Peace be with you.” It is “Shalom” in Hebrew. It is more than the absence of conflict. It also means completeness, soundness, and welfare. True peace is believed to come only from God. Before the Lord we are wanting. He gives us completeness. Rising from the dead, Jesus is bringing the gift of forgiveness and completeness. His apostles could not believe His resurrection. He was mistaken for a ghost. He contended that ghosts have no flesh and bones. To further reveal Himself, He asked for something to eat. He ate the baked fish they gave and finally, they believed.

So far, the risen Jesus, when He appears before His disciples, is not recognisable to them at first. Mary recognised Jesus when she was addressed as “Mary.” The two disciples on their way to Emmaus recognised Jesus at the breaking of the bread but not before He told them all about Himself from Scriptures. Now, He presented Himself as eating fish thus testifying that He was not a ghost.

The message of the risen Jesus, just like the baby Jesus, is peace. Peace, in the sense that we are forgiven and are invited to a union with God. That union will complete our lives. Such is the peace the world needs but could not give, The world wants peace but it cannot draw peace from itself. Only God can give it.

We are thankful that God had extended to us His peace through His Son Jesus. But we must make our gratitude concrete and true. Let us turn away from sin and run back to Him like the prodigal son to His father. We were lost and found wanting. Let God find us and complete us.

Shalom!