Go and Proclaim the Gospel

Under the heading of "Potlucks, Comfort Food and Faith," Sharon Blezard writes in her Stewardship of Life, "Come to Christ's table, come as you are, come helpless, come hopeful. Eat and live to go and tell."  This verse sort of sums up the Gospel for today.  The disciples of Emmaus meet up with the Apostles to tell them that they too have seen the Lord.  Then they begin to re-tell the story, of which we already know, about how they met Jesus 'on the way,' and recognized him in the breaking of the bread.  While these disciples are still speaking, Jesus stands in their midst.

This is not the first time something like this has happened.  At another time, a man comes to request that Jesus come to his home to heal his child.  While Jesus is speaking a woman with a deep bleeding wound comes up behind Jesus, and touching his outer garment finds herself healed.  There is this neat connection between the telling of the story of Jesus, proclaiming the Word of God, and listening to Jesus, that results in Jesus showing up with healing and peace.  Sharing the Word and the Bread is an occasion of revelation and new life.

At the beginning of Passover the youngest child will ask the father, "what makes this meal important."  The father then begins to tell the story of the Passover and of salvation.  But that sharing faith brings us to focus on our relationship with God and others in addition to leading to a deeper understanding of God and life.  More so we have all experienced how speaking about various moments of our life can bring about healing and even a sense of peace where there has been anxiety or hardships.  Certainly this was the case for the Emmaus disciples who poured out their grief to Jesus, who in turn showed them how these events fit into salvation history.

Part of the reason that we do the same ritual, using the same words, at Mass every day, is that we are different people each time we come to Liturgy.  Okay maybe not every day, but we have various joys and concerns we come to Mass with throughout our lives.  I only have to look at my eighth graders who were just beginning their grade-school journey when I came here.  Their big concern were these other strange children and whether they would get lunch.  Today it's high school and life beyond that.

When we tell our faith stories Jesus has a way of showing up.  And where there is Jesus people have a tendency of being fed, nurtured and nourished.  Anymore I invite people to the funeral luncheons to share their faith stories of the deceased.  As disciples it would seem necessary to tell about the moments which we had encountered Jesus 'on the way,' so as to encourage, heal, and forgive.  Our own sharing of faith stories allows us to grow closer to the mysteries which we celebrate.

Baptism and confirmation makes us bearers of Good News.  just as Peter's faith is no longer a private matter but a public obligation, we have to go out and share everything we have seen and heard.