1 April 2027 · Latin Rite
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“Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself. Touch me and see; for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” Luke 24:39
The lame man who was healed at the Beautiful Gate will not let go of Peter and John. He clings to them, and the whole crowd comes running to Solomon's Portico, “utterly astonished.” Peter sees the faces turned towards him and refuses the glory at once: “why do you stare at us, as though by our own power or piety we had made him walk?” The power is not theirs. “The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our ancestors has glorified his servant Jesus.” Then Peter tells the story of Good Friday in a few sharp words: the Holy and Righteous One was rejected, a murderer was preferred, “and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses.” What a title for the crucified Lord: the Author of life, the one from whom all life begins, put to death, and death could not hold him.
Peter does not speak as an accuser who wants to crush his hearers. He is himself a man who denied the Lord three times only a few weeks before. So his next words are full of tenderness: “And now, friends, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers.” They echo the prayer of Jesus on the cross: Father, forgive them. The Church has always refused to lay the death of Christ on the Jewish people as a whole; the Second Vatican Council taught this plainly (Nostra Aetate 4), and the Catechism adds that all sinners were the authors of his Passion, we Christians most of all (CCC 597–598). Peter's call is to everyone, then and now: “Repent therefore, and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord.” He reminds them that they are heirs of the promise made to Abraham: “in your descendants all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” The Risen One was sent “first to you, to bless you.” The Psalm marvels at the dignity God gives to frail human beings: “what are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them?” The Letter to the Hebrews reads this psalm of Jesus, crowned with glory after the suffering of death.
In the Gospel the two disciples from Emmaus are still telling their story when Jesus himself stands among them and says, “Peace be with you.” Instead of joy there is terror: “They were startled and terrified, and thought that they were seeing a ghost.” The Lord answers their fear with his body: “Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself. Touch me and see; for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” Luke adds one of the most human lines in the Gospels: “in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering.” The news is too good to believe. So Jesus asks, “Have you anything here to eat?” They give him a piece of broiled fish, and he eats it in their presence. The Risen Lord is not a memory, not a vision, not a spirit floating above the earth. He is the same Jesus, with the same body that was nailed to the cross, now raised to a glory that will never die.
Then he does what he did on the road to Emmaus: “he opened their minds to understand the scriptures.” Everything written about him “in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms” had to be fulfilled: the Messiah was to suffer and to rise on the third day, “and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.” Notice how today's two readings answer each other. In the Gospel Jesus says, “You are witnesses”; in Acts Peter stands in the Temple and says, “To this we are witnesses.” The Church is born as a community of witnesses to a real, bodily Resurrection. The Collect of the day prays for the newly baptized, that the many nations united in confessing his name may be one in faith and in deeds. That is the Easter mission: to carry repentance and forgiveness to every nation, beginning from our own Jerusalem, our home and our parish.
Theme: “You are witnesses of these things.”
Not by our own power, the Risen Lord who can be touched, and the mission of forgiveness to all nations.
“and by your offspring shall all the nations of the earth gain blessing for themselves, because you have obeyed my voice.” Genesis 22:18
“Repent therefore, and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out,” Acts 3:19
Apply: Each time you are praised today, say inwardly: “Glory to you, Lord Jesus,” and mean it.
“what are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them?” Psalm 8:4
“Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself. Touch me and see; for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” Luke 24:39
Apply: Before Communion this week, look at the crucifix and say: “It is you, Lord, truly risen, truly here.”
“The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people; you shall heed such a prophet.” Deuteronomy 18:15
“You are witnesses of these things.” Luke 24:48
Apply: Share with one person this week, simply and gladly, why you believe that Jesus is risen.
The power that heals belongs to the Risen Lord, who forgives even those who rejected him.
He is truly risen in his body, and he sends us as witnesses of repentance and forgiveness.
Take-home resolution: Say each morning of this Octave: “Lord, make me a witness of your Resurrection today.”
Dear friends, a man who could not walk for forty years now clings to Peter and John, and a whole crowd runs together to see. Peter could have enjoyed the attention. Instead he says: why do you stare at us, as though by our own power or piety we had made him walk? (Acts 3:12). The healing belongs to Jesus.
This is a good test for all of us. When God does something good through us, do we keep the credit, or do we pass it on to him? A humble witness points away from himself, to the Risen Lord.
Then Peter says hard words: you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. But at once he adds: I know that you acted in ignorance (Acts 3:17). He does not condemn; he invites. Repent, and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out. Peter, who had denied the Lord, knows how good it is to be forgiven.
In the Gospel Jesus stands among his disciples and they think he is a ghost. So he says: look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself. Touch me and see (Luke 24:39). And he eats a piece of broiled fish in front of them. Our faith is not in a ghost or an idea. Jesus is truly risen in his body, the same body that was wounded for us.
Luke tells us that in their joy they were disbelieving. Sometimes the good news is so big we are afraid to believe it. Our sins forgiven? Death defeated? Heaven open? Yes. The Lord shows us his wounds so that we may dare to believe.
Then he opens the Scriptures and says: you are witnesses of these things (Luke 24:48). That word is for us too. At this Mass the Risen Lord will stand among us and give us his Body. Let us go home and be his witnesses, beginning in our own Jerusalem, our own family. Alleluia. Amen.
Children, the friends of Jesus thought they were seeing a ghost. Jesus said: touch me! And he ate a piece of fish. Jesus is really alive!
Jesus is alive with a real body, and he loves us. When you are afraid, say: Jesus, give me your peace.
O God, who have united the many nations in confessing your name, grant that those reborn in the font of Baptism may be one in the faith of their hearts and the homage of their deeds. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen. Let us also pray: Risen Lord Jesus, you stood among your frightened disciples and said, Peace be with you. Show us your hands and your feet when we doubt, open our minds to understand the Scriptures, and send us out as witnesses of repentance and forgiveness, beginning in our own homes. Alleluia. Amen.