Word in the Hand

Gospel Luke 24:13-35  Two of the disciples of Jesus were on their way to a village called Emmaus, seven miles from Jerusalem, and they were talking together about all that had happened. Now as they talked this over, Jesus himself came up and walked by their side; but something prevented them from recognising him. He said to them, ‘What matters are you discussing as you walk along?’ They stopped short, their faces downcast.   Then one of them, called Cleopas, answered him, ‘You must be the only person staying in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have been happening there these last few days.’ ‘What things?’ he asked. ‘All about Jesus of Nazareth’ they answered ‘who proved he was a great prophet by the things he said and did in the sight of God and of the whole people; and how our chief priests and our leaders handed him over to be sentenced to death, and had him crucified. Our own hope had been that he would be the one to set Israel free. And this is ...

Gospel John 6:51-58  Jesus said to the Jews: ‘I am the living bread which has come down from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will live for ever; and the bread that I shall give is my flesh, for the life of the world.’ Then the Jews started arguing with one another: ‘How can this man give us his flesh to eat?’ they said. Jesus replied: ‘I tell you most solemnly, if you do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you will not have life in you. Anyone who does eat my flesh and drink my blood has eternal life, and I shall raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood lives in me and I live in him. As I, who am sent by the living Father, myself draw life from the Father, so whoever eats me will draw life from me. This is the bread come down from heaven; not like the bread our ancestors ate: they are dead, but anyone who eats this bread will live for ever.’ Ju liana of Liège, an Aug...

Gospel Luke 24:13-35 The Hermitage - Assisi Two of the disciples of Jesus were on their way to a village called Emmaus, seven miles from Jerusalem, and they were talking together about all that had happened. Now as they talked this over, Jesus himself came up and walked by their side; but something prevented them from recognising him. He said to them, ‘What matters are you discussing as you walk along?’ They stopped short, their faces downcast.   Then one of them, called Cleopas, answered him, ‘You must be the only person staying in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have been happening there these last few days.’ ‘What things?’ he asked. ‘All about Jesus of Nazareth’ they answered ‘who proved he was a great prophet by the things he said and did in the sight of God and of the whole people; and how our chief priests and our leaders handed him over to be sentenced to death, and had him crucified. Our own hope had been that he would be the one to set Israel free...

Corpus Christi Possibly the greatest gift, if we choose to believe it, is the Real Presence, the gift of the Eucharist. That who we receive is not a symbol, retelling, or celebration of ‘what Jesus meant’ but is the reality of what Jesus says; ‘this is my body; this is my blood’. It struck me today, for the first time, that Jesus gave us this gift before the Resurrection and I wondered why. We know that after the Resurrection Jesus meets with the disciples many times; eats with them; cooks for them; sits around tables and campfires teaching them to understand what had come before. We know that it is in the breaking of bread; the giving of hospitality that he is recognised by his friends. But wouldn’t it have been easier to believe the gift coming from a Risen Lord, one who has become super-human; has revealed his divinity; for whom nothing is impossible. But then nothing is impossible to God - except us. The free will that we all have, make each and every one of us a loose cannon in Go...