11 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
On the Third Sunday of Easter the Church sits us down in Jerusalem on the evening of the first Easter day. The two disciples have just run back from Emmaus and are telling “how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread.” Before St Luke shows us the risen Lord again, the first reading lets us hear what the apostles did with that experience. In Solomon's Portico, after the healing of the lame man, Peter speaks to the crowd: “The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our ancestors has glorified his servant Jesus.” He names the tragedy plainly: “you rejected the Holy and Righteous One and asked to have a murderer given to you, and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses.” Then his tone changes completely: “And now, friends, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers.” These are not words of condemnation but of a brother; they echo Jesus' own prayer from the cross, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” Peter, who denied the Lord three times, is in no position to accuse anyone. The Church has always taught that the sins of all of us brought Christ to the cross and that the Jewish people may not be held collectively responsible for his death (Nostra Aetate 4; Catechism 597–598). Peter's purpose is the same as ours today: “Repent therefore, and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out.” The Psalm is the prayer of one who has turned back: “Let the light of your face shine on us, O LORD!”
The second reading, from the First Letter of St John, is tender and strong. “My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin.” The Easter life is a life without sin, and John does not lower the standard. But he knows his children: “But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and he is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.” The Greek word for advocate is parakletos, the same word Jesus uses for the Holy Spirit. Jesus is our first advocate, standing before the Father with the wounds of his love; and the word for atoning sacrifice, hilasmos, recalls the mercy seat of the Ark, where the blood of atonement was sprinkled. He is not only the lawyer who pleads for us; he is himself the offering that reconciles. Then John gives a simple test for a living faith: “Now by this we may be sure that we know him, if we obey his commandments.” Knowing Christ is not a feeling but a life: “whoever obeys his word, truly in this person the love of God has reached perfection.”
Then the Gospel. “While they were talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, ‘Peace be with you.’” They are “startled and terrified,” thinking they see a ghost. Jesus' answer is one of the most important texts in the Bible for our faith in the bodily Resurrection: “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.” He shows them his wounds. And while “in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering,” he asks a homely question: “Have you anything here to eat?” They give him a piece of broiled fish, “and he took it and ate in their presence.” The risen Christ is not a memory, not an idea, not a spirit only: he is the same Jesus, body and soul, now glorified, never to die again. Then he opens their minds to understand the Scriptures: “everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.” The whole Old Testament, all three parts, points to him. And he gives them their mission: “repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.” This Sunday has the same shape as every Mass: the Lord stands among us and says Peace; he opens the Scriptures; he gives himself as food; and he sends us out as witnesses.
Theme: “Touch me and see; you are witnesses of these things.”
The Author of life raised, repentance offered, our Advocate with the Father, and the risen body that sends us out.
“The stone that the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.” Psalm 118:22
“and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses.” Acts 3:15
Apply: Spend five minutes before a crucifix this week and let the Lord show you how your sins are part of the story he has forgiven.
“Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, says the Lord GOD, and not rather that they should turn from their ways and live?” Ezekiel 18:23
“Repent therefore, and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out,” Acts 3:19
Apply: Name one habit you need to turn from, and take one concrete step away from it this week.
“There are many who say, “O that we might see some good! Let the light of your face shine on us, O LORD!”” Psalm 4:6
“My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous;” 1 John 2:1
Apply: Go to confession before Good Shepherd Sunday, and thank Jesus for standing beside you before the Father.
“For I know that my Redeemer lives, and that at the last he will stand upon the earth; and after my skin has been thus destroyed, then in my flesh I shall see God,” Job 19:25–26
“You are witnesses of these things.” Luke 24:48
Apply: Honour the bodily Resurrection this week: visit someone who is sick, care for your own body, and share a meal with someone alone.
God raised the Author of life and offers forgiveness to all who turn to him.
Jesus is our Advocate and our sacrifice; he rose in his real body, opens the Scriptures and sends us as witnesses.
Take-home resolution: Each day this week, read one Old Testament passage that points to Christ and ask him to open your mind.
Dear brothers and sisters, the disciples are gathered in Jerusalem on the evening of Easter. The two from Emmaus are telling their story. And suddenly Jesus himself stands among them and says: Peace be with you. They are terrified. They think they are seeing a ghost.
Jesus does not scold them. He says: 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). And then he asks: have you anything here to eat? He eats a piece of fish in front of them. Our faith is not in a ghost or a memory. Jesus rose in his real body, the same body that was crucified, now glorified for ever.
Why does this matter for us? Because our bodies matter. The body that works in the field, the body that is sick in the hospital, the body that grows old, is not thrown away. We believe in the resurrection of the body. And because the risen Lord has a body, he can give it to us. At this altar he gives us not a symbol but his own risen Body and Blood.
In the first reading Peter speaks to the crowd in Jerusalem: you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. But then he says: I know that you acted in ignorance. Repent, and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out (Acts 3:17, 19). Peter had denied Jesus three times. He knows what forgiveness is. He does not preach blame; he preaches mercy. And the Church teaches that all of us, by our sins, share in the Passion.
St John says the same in the second reading: if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous (1 John 2:1). When we fall, we are not alone before the Father. Jesus stands beside us, showing his wounds, pleading for us. That is why the sacrament of confession is an Easter sacrament: the risen Lord breathes peace on our sins.
Finally Jesus opens their minds to understand the Scriptures and says: you are witnesses of these things (Luke 24:48). We too have been with him today. We have heard his word, we will receive his Body. Let us go out as witnesses: with peace in our hearts, mercy on our lips, and a table open to those who eat alone. Alleluia. Amen.
Children, when Jesus came to his friends after Easter, they thought he was a ghost! But Jesus said: touch my hands and my feet. Ghosts don't have bodies! And then he ate some fish in front of them. Yum! Jesus is really, really alive.
Today at Mass, Jesus comes to us in Holy Communion. We cannot see his hands, but he is really there. Let us say thank you, Jesus, because you are alive!
May your people exult for ever, O God, in renewed youthfulness of spirit, so that, rejoicing now in the restored glory of our adoption, we may look forward in confident hope to the rejoicing of the day of resurrection. 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; open our minds to understand the Scriptures; feed us with your Body; and make us witnesses of repentance and forgiveness to all nations, beginning from our own homes. Alleluia. Amen.