Last September, at the dinner that the Diocese had to kick-off Fruitful Harvest, I was standing around with a bunch of folks before dinner.  And we were telling funny stories.  And everybody was laughing and having a good time.  And somebody brought up something about the bishop.  So I went on to tell a funny story about the Bishop’s mom, whom I loved, by the way.  Now, it wasn’t a bad story.  I wasn’t gossiping.  Mrs. Higi died back in the early nineties.  I certainly wasn’t speaking ill of her name or her memory.  It was just a funny story about a very funny lady.  Well, I as I’m telling it, out of the corner of my eye, I see someone walking up to join our little circle from behind me, and sure enough it was the Bishop.  And I was like, busted.   And of course, I had to start the story all over again, to make sure that the Bishop knew that I wasn’t speaking ill of his dead mother.  This has probably happened to all of us, at one time or another.  Maybe not with the Bishop, but it happens all the time with a whole lot of other people.  Sometimes, we just get lucky enough to have the person or persons that we are talking about, walk right up to us, while we are talking about them.  It’s then that we pray that we are saying something nice, and truthful, and something that we wouldn’t have a problem saying to their face or with them right there.  There’s a reason that we want to always be kind in our talk about others, and it is because sometimes what we say does get back to them, one way or another, and sometimes even right to their face.

       Today in our Gospel, the Apostles are together and they’re talking about Jesus, and they’re talking about the resurrection.  They’re talking specifically about recognizing Jesus in the breaking of the bread, and then, all of a sudden He appears.  Can you imagine how this whole resurrection appearances thing must have put the Apostles on edge?  Jesus just kept showing up.  Sometimes they recognized Him and sometimes they didn’t recognize.  But it certainly must have kept the Apostles on their guard.  They had to watch what they were saying, watch what they were doing, and they had to be ready.  Jesus wasn’t dead.  And He kept coming back into their lives with remarkable ease, no matter what.  He walked through locked doors.  He again invites them to touch His wounds from the crucifixion.  Today in our Gospel, He even eats with them.  Did you catch that?  He eats fish.  Why would you want to fish after you were dead?  I don’t know.  This is no ghost or vision.  Jesus has a real body.  And the Apostles must be ready to recognize Him, at any given moment.  He just shows up.  After enough of these surprises, the Apostles learn to expect Jesus, even to look for Him.  When your Lord and Master is risen from the dead, you learn to expect the unexpected.

        And that, my brothers and sisters, is the heart of this Gospel story today.  Jesus is not dead.  He is living and breathing and around us all the time!  And just like the Apostles, we’ve got to be prepared.  We’ve got to be able to recognize Him.  And I think that we as Catholic Christians have a distinct advantage at recognizing Jesus, because we have learned to recognize Him “in the breaking of the bread”.  If we can learn to see Jesus hiding in the disguise of bread and wine, then how much better are all of us going to be at recognizing Jesus hiding in our brothers and sisters?  Guys, this all works together.  Jesus Himself said, “When you do these things for the least of your brothers and sisters, you do these things for me!”.  We’ve got to get better at recognizing Jesus hiding in our brothers and sisters.  We get so many opportunities to encounter the Risen Lord Jesus Christ every day in those around us, and so many times we don’t see Him.  And it does start with the Eucharist.  The Eucharist helps us to see Him and experience Him today.  And we need to see that.

         Two thousand years ago, there were many who didn’t recognize Jesus as the Messiah.  He wasn’t rich enough.  He wasn’t powerful enough.  He didn’t have an army.  He was a carpenter from Nazareth.  Are we any better at recognizing Jesus today?  If the Risen Lord came back today and walked up to us, would we recognize Him?  What if He didn’t look like the pictures?  What if He didn’t have a beard?  What if He were Asian, or African-American, or from Kentucky?  What if He was a lawyer, or a truck driver, or what if He wasn’t a He?  Jesus comes to us in so many disguises every day.  How well do you do at recognizing Him?  And what would it take for you to see Him more in your life?

May God bless us during this Easter season,  Father, Son, and Holy Spirit…AMEN !!!

St. Maria Goretti…Pray for us !!!