Daily Reflections - April 4,2013

THE PRESENCE OF THE UNSEEN LORD

Yesterday we read how Jesus suddenly joined the two disciples on the road and then disappeared from their sight. Today we read that, a few hours later, He suddenly appeared again in the room where the disciples were assembled. Once, a little boy hearing this story asked me, “How did Jesus enter? He must be a ghost.” It’s exactly what the Apostles thought first and the Lord had to convince them that He was not a ghost but that He was real.

The encounter with His doubting disciples stresses the reality of the resurrection. The Risen Lord was no ghost. He was real. The Jesus of Nazareth who had died on a cross and was buried was really the same Christ who rose from the dead. Our religion is not founded on the imagination of men, but on a person who, as a historical fact, faced and conquered death and rose again.

What was the intention of Jesus when He suddenly appeared and disappeared in different places? And where was He at other times when He was not seen? The only answer I can think of is that Jesus tried to make it clear to His followers that, wherever they may be, He is there; that even when they don’t see Him, He is present.

Matthew, the evangelist, ends his Gospel with the very last words of Jesus spoken on earth, “Behold, I am with you always….”

He is like the sun on a cloudy day: even though we cannot see the sun because it is covered by clouds, we know the sun is there.

That is Good News. Even when we do not see the Lord the way the disciples saw Him, we are assured that He is not absent or far away. He is really the Emmanuel, the “God with us,” who will never leave us alone in our misery and problems. And He is with us in many ways — of course, first and foremost in the Eucharist, then in the Scriptures. He is present when “two or three are assembled in His name,” and He is present in our poor, sick and marginalized brethren. Fr. Rudy Horst, SVD

REFLECTION QUESTION: Do you believe and feel the Lord is near you even when you don’t see Him with your physical eyes?

Lord, so often I have asked, “Where are You?” Too often did I forget that You are always near.  Thank You for the reassurance of Your “unseen presence.”