'The disciples recognised Jesus in the breaking of the bread, alleluia.' Sunday Reflections, 3rd Sunday of Easter, Year B

Kitchen Scene with the Supper in Emmaus

Diego Velázquez [Web Gallery of Art]

Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he was known to them in the breaking of the bread (Luke 24:35).

Readings (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland)

Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

Gospel Luke 24:35-48  (English Standard Version, Anglicised)

Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he was known to them in the breaking of the bread.

As they were talking about these things, Jesus himself stood among them, and said to them, “Peace to you!” But they were startled and frightened and thought they saw a spirit. And he said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. And while they still disbelieved for joy and were marvelling, he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate before them.

Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.

  

Léachtaí i nGaeilge

Christ in the House of Mary and Martha

Diego Velázquez [Web Gallery of Art]

It is clear from many gospel readings, most especially the accounts of the Last Supper, that God reveals himself to us in the intimacy of a meal. If the family meal or meals with close friends are not part of our lives, how can we understand the meal aspect of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass? In the Mass, in which we unite ourselves with the Sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross, he gives himself, the Risen Lord, body, blood, soul and divinity, as the Bread of Life, as so many of us learned when we were young. It is not a symbol of himself that he gives in Holy Communion, but his very self, carrying the scars of Calvary and giving us the strength to do the same.

But God also reveals himself to us in our ordinary meals, sometimes even over a cup of tea or coffee. I remember one person who was close to me who for many years had carried a resentment towards someone who had since died, a resentment that was the result of a painful experience. Over a cup of tea with a family member she recalled what her father, long since dead, had said to her many years before: Never carry a grudge against anyone. Over that cup of tea she finally let go of her self-inflicted pain, forgave, and moved on with a new lightness in her heart. I have no doubt whatever that it was Jesus the Risen Lord who spoke to her that day through the words of her father. It was a kind of Resurrection experience over a cup of tea.

The three readings both speak of God's mercy and the call to repentance, something the person in the story above experienced over that cup of tea. Acts 3:18-19 reads: But what God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ would suffer, he thus fulfilled. Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out. 1 John 2: 1-2, 5 tells us But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world . . . but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected.

Jesus tells us in the Gospel: Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things (Luke 24:46-48).

Velázquez in the two paintings above puts the central events in the background. In the kitchen scene in Emmaus it seems that the servant has a sense that her humble work is part of something extraordinary. And it is. In the kitchen scene in the house of Mary and Martha the servants are preparing a meal for our Saviour Himself, without being aware of it. 

Highlighted in this scene are fish. The fish was later to become a symbol of Christ and of the Holy Eucharist for Christians in times of persecution under the Greek name Ichthys. And in today's gospel we read: “Have you anything here to eat?” They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate before them.

Ichthys

[Wikipedia]

Two great deprivations at the moment because of the pandemic is that in many parts of the world Catholics have no access to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and to Holy Communion. And even more people cannot visit their families and friends, cannot meet up for a meal, for a drink, for a chat over a cup of coffee. However, though it is not the same as meeting others face-to-face, we can keep in contact by phone, by Skype, by Zoom and similar programmes. And while following Mass on the internet or on TV is not the same as being actually present, it is an occasion of grace, of meeting the Lord. And we can make a Spiritual Communion.

Even when we're not talking about profound things at a meal, when we see them as occasions when we most experience our humanity, when we see the link between the family or community meal, or a meal to which we invite someone living alone, and the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, we can more readily understand the implications of the closing words of today's gospel, You are witnesses of these things.

And a final word. If the two disciples who told how he was known to them in the breaking of the bread, had not invited Jesus to eat with them they would never have recognised him. So they drew near to the village to which they were going. He acted as if he were going farther, but they urged him strongly, saying, “Stay with us, for it is towards evening and the day is now far spent.” So he went in to stay with them (Luke 24:28-29). 

Peasants at the Table

Diego Velázquez [Web Gallery of Art]

Sung by the Choir of the Abbey of Saint-Pierre de Solesmes, France

Antiphona ad communionem  Communion Antiphon (Luke 24:35)

[Alleluia] Cognoverunt dicxipuli Dominum Iesum in fractione pahis, alleluia.

[Alleluia] The disciples recognised Jesus in the breaking of the bread, alleluia.

Extraordinary Form of the Mass

Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) 

Second Sunday after Easter 

The Complete Mass in Latin and English is here. (Adjust the date at the top of that page to 4-18-2021 if necessary).

Epistle: 1 Peter 2:21-25.  Gospel: John 10:11-16.

 

Authentic Beauty

Authentic beauty, however, unlocks the yearning of the human heart, the profound desire to know, to love, to go towards the Other, to reach for the Beyond.

Pope Benedict XVI meeting with artists in the Sistine Chapel, 21 November 2009.

The Arrival of the Queen of Sheba

George Frideric Handel

Played by the English Baroque Soloists

Conducted by Sir John Eliot Gardiner

This must be one of the most delightful pieces of music ever written and has been arranged for all sorts of instruments and combinations thereof. I chose this recording because Tuesday 20 April is the 78th birthday of the conductor, Sir John Eliot Gardiner. 

We were born on the same day, he in Dorset, England, and I in Dublin, Ireland, where Handel's Messiah was first performed on 13 April 1742.

'Our life is changed; his coming our beginning.' Sunday Reflections, 3rd Sunday of Easter, Year A

The Road to Emmaus

Fritz von Uhde [Wikipedia]

The April issue of Magnificat features this painting on its cover. You will find Pierre-Marie Dumont's commentary on it here.

Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

       

Readings (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa)

Gospel Luke 24:13-25 (New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised Catholic Edition, Canada)

Now on that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and talking with each other about all these things that had happened. While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and went with them, but their eyes were kept from recognizing him. And he said to them, ‘What are you discussing with each other while you walk along?’ They stood still, looking sad. Then one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answered him, ‘Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have taken place there in these days?’ He asked them, ‘What things?’ They replied, ‘The things about Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and leaders handed him over to be condemned to death and crucified him. But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things took place. Moreover, some women of our group astounded us. They were at the tomb early this morning, and when they did not find his body there, they came back and told us that they had indeed seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive. Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said; but they did not see him.’ Then he said to them, ‘Oh, how foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared! Was it not necessary that the Messiah^[e] should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?’ Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures.

As they came near the village to which they were going, he walked ahead as if he were going on. But they urged him strongly, saying, ‘Stay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over.’ So he went in to stay with them. When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight. They said to each other, ‘Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?’ That same hour they got up and returned to Jerusalem; and they found the eleven and their companions gathered together. They were saying, ‘The Lord has risen indeed, and he has appeared to Simon!’ Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread.

Léachtaí i nGaeilge

The Horses  by Edwin Muir

In my Reflections for Good Friday and Easter Sunday I used poems by Scottish poet Edwin Muir that were explicitly Christian. Even though his poem above, The Horses, is not overtly Christian, I read it in the light of the Resurrection. It is set in a world after a seven-day nuclear war but with a powerful message of hope. The words of the poem are here.

They remind me of Psalm 103 [104], the Grail translation of which you'll find here. This is used in the Office of Readings on the second Sunday of the four-week Psalter in The Divine Office (Breviary). It is a marvellous song of praise to God for his creation and how He takes care of every creature: 

You make springs gush forth in the valleys;

they flow in between the hills.

They give drink to all the beasts of the field;

the wild asses quench their thirst.

On their banks dwell the birds of heaven;

from the branches they sing their song.

The psalm reflects the first account of creation in Genesis 1:

And God said, ‘Let the earth bring forth living creatures of every kind: cattle and creeping things and wild animals of the earth of every kind.’ And it was so. God made the wild animals of the earth of every kind, and the cattle of every kind, and everything that creeps upon the ground of every kind. And God saw that it was good.

A Ploughman

Francis Wheatley [Web Gallery of Art]

Edwin Muir shows the relationship that God intended between us and some of his other creatures: 

Since then they have pulled our ploughs and borne our loads, 
But that free servitude still can pierce our hearts. 
Our life is changed; their coming our beginning.

Our life is changed because of the pandemic; the life of the whole world is changed. There is evidence that our skies are clearer because so many smoke-producing buildings such as factories are closed for the time being, so few planes are flying and roads are almost empty of cars. As I write, some oil-producers cannot sell their product.

We wonder when things will return to normal. Should they return to the previous 'normal'? 

We had sold our horses in our fathers' time 
To buy new tractors . . . Yet they waited, 
Stubborn and shy, as if they had been sent 
By an old command to find our whereabouts
And that long-lost archaic companionship. 

But we had hoped, said the two disciples to Jesus. When news of Covid-15 in China came out in January I filed it away in my mind with SARS and Ebola, which had affected a limited number of countries. I didn't even hope that it would not affect Ireland or any other part of Europe. I simply presumed it wouldn't. Now it has reached almost every part of the globe and has affected every one of us to some degree or other. The other night I spoke to a retired religious sister in the USA who lives in her congregation's retirement home. All the Sisters are confined to their rooms, even for meals. I heard the same from a retired religious priest in Dublin who recently decided to go into a nursing home there. Neither of my friends was complaining. But their lives, along with those of countless others, have been restricted, as has my own, though I am not confined to my room and can walk in our extensive grounds which are normally open to the public, though not right now..

The two disciples on the road to Emmaus could not see beyond the Crucifixion and the end of their hopes. But the stranger whom they invited into their company led them gradually to see the reality of his Resurrection. When the two reached their destination, the inn in Emmaus, they extended their hospitality to the stranger: Stay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over. They invited him to their table where they recognised him as he broke bread with them and vanished from their sight.

But Jesus was far more powerfully present to them now. Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us? They immediately became missionaries.

The Capuchin Day Centre for the Homeless is situated behind St Mary of the Angels Church in Dublin, run by the Capuchin friars, about 15 minutes' walk from where I grew up. Pope Francis visited the Centre in August 2018. Because of social distancing regulations people can no longer eat in the Centre. So the friars have made the church available as a dining room. I experienced something akin to that in the late 1980s when I was asked to be part of a group investigating human rights violations in a remote mountain area of Cebu Province in the Philippines. We slept the two nights we were there on pews in the parish church. I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me (Matthew 25:35).

At one level nothing changed when the two disciples recognised the Risen Lord Jesus. Life still went on as usual in Jerusalem, in Judea, in Galilee, in the rest of the world. But their understanding of everything had changed radically and they began to share that understanding with their companions, setting off for Jerusalem immediately, even though it was night. That sharing continues to this day.

Where is the Risen Lord in all of this? He shows himself in those taking care of the sick at this time. Many front-line medics have given their lives in order to save others. And to the medics he shows himself in the sick. He is present in the staff of the Capuchin Day Centre in Dublin. He is present in the Blessed Sacrament in the church next door where now homeless people can eat breakfast and lunch because there is nowhere else to go. To the Capuchin friars and the staff of the Centre he shows himself in the poor and the hungry.

In my post-Resurrection understanding of Edwin Muir's poem I see the Risen Lord as showing himself through the horses as he showed himself to the two disciples in Emmaus through the breaking of bread: Our life is changed; their coming our beginning. Cleopas and his companion could say almost exactly the same thing: Our life is changed; his coming our beginning.

What will our beginning, my beginning, be right now and post-Covid-19?

Ploughing

Giovanni Segantini [Web Gallery of Art]

Easter Music


Hallelujah Chorus from Handel's Messiah
Royal Choral Society

Handel's Messiah  is performed in many places during Advent. But it's first performance was in my native Dublin on 13 April 1742, during the Easter Season. Easter Sunday that year fell on 25 March. During Lent we never sing or say Alleluia, which means 'Praise the Lord'. It is sung again during the Easter Vigil. So the Hallelujah Chorus from Messiah - Hallelujah is a variant spelling of Alleluia - is above all an Easter hymn. And it is worth nothing that in this 'Covid-19' recording each singer dressed formally at home as they would have done had they been singing in the Royal Albert Hall in London.

Sinfonia from Easter Oratorio by JS Bach

Easter Sunday 1725 fell on 1 April when Bach's Easter Oratorio was first performed in St Thomas Church, Leipzig, Germany. Therecording of the full Oratorio from which this extract is taken is on YouTube here. The conductor, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, is my 'twin' as we were both born on the same day. The instrumental Sinfonia is such a joyful piece of music! It has been said that when the angels are on duty they Bach when 'on duty' and Mozart when 'off duty'. Both were gifted by God and have revealed to us something of the beauty of God.

Below are some 'off duty' angels I found in Jerusalem playing the first movement of Mozart's Eine Kleine Nachtmusik - A Little Night Music. 

'Mozart in Quarantine'

Jerusalem Street Orchestra

A little self-indulgence on my pandemic birthday

Arrival of the Queen of Sheba

by George Frideric Handel, conducted by Sir John Eliot Gardiner

Handel's Arrival of the Queen of Sheba is a favourite of mine, one of the most exuberant pieces of music I know. Here it is conducted by Sir John Eliot Gardiner who, as it happens, is a 'twin' of mine. We both turned 77 today, having been born on Tuesday of Holy Week, 20 April 1943, when Easter fell on the latest day possible, 25 April. It had not fallen on that date since 1886, has not since and will occur again in 2038. After that not till 2190. It happens only once in a century.

Handel, who was German, lived in England for many years but has a significant connection with my native city, Dublin, since his Messiah  was first performed there, on 13 April 1742.

There were no fireworks in Dublin on the day I was born. But below is Handel's Music for the Royal Fireworks, conducted by Sir John.

Please remember in your prayers my parents John and Mary (née Collins) without whose love I would not be posting this. My mother's 50th death anniversary occurs on 29 April and my father's 33rd on 11 August. They both stimulated my interest in music. Solas na bhFlaitheas orthu - The Light of Heaven upon them.

'Our span is seventy years . . .' Turning 70 today

On this date in 1943 my mother, born Mary Collins, delivered me to her husband and my father, John Coyle. It was Tuesday of Holy Week the last time Easter fell on its latest possible date, 25 April.  A few days later - it must have been Holy Saturday - I was baptised in St Joseph's Church, Berkeley Road, Dublin, just across the road from the small nursing home where I was born. Though my parents were living at the time on the south side of the River Liffey that runs through Dublin they had the good sense to let me be born north of the river and we moved to the north side three years later. So, like my father, and my mother for most of her life, I am a genuinely certified Northsider!

St Joseph's Church, Berkeley Road, Dublin

The next time that Eastert will fall on 25 April is 2038. If God spares me, I will then be 95 + five days. 

And if God spares him, so too will noted conductor, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, born in Dorset, England, on the same day. So I 'invited' him to do a 'gig' on our joint 70th Birthday. Handel's delightful Arrival of the Queen of Sheba is a great favourite of mine and quite suitable for a birthday celebration. And Handel has connections with my native city, Dublin, as hisMessiah was first performed there.

The Bells of St Paul's Cathedral, London

I remember reading that on 20 April 1943 Prime Minister Winston Churchill of the United Kingdom announced in the House of Commons in London that church bells could be rung again in the UK. Their ringing had been forbidden for security reasons earlier in World War II. However, there was no such ban in the part of Ireland that I'm from as we were no longer in the United Kingdom. 

Main studio of EWTN, Irondale, Alabama, USA

Turning 90 today is Mother Angelica, Mother Mary Angelica of the Annunciation PCPA, born  Rita Antoinette Rizzo, who founded EWTN, which now broadcasts around the world. May God continue to bless her and the work she began, with great vision and trust in God.

Servant of God, Fr Emil Kapaun (20 April 1916 - 23 May 1951

I've posted a number of times about Fr Emil Kapaun, who was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor on 11 April by President Obama. I featured this great priest most recently inSunday Reflections for last Sunday. Easter was very late the year he was born and he arrived in the world on Holy Thursday.

St Rose of Lima Before the Madonna, José Antolinez [Web Gallery of Art]

I am also blessed to share my birthday with St Rose of Lima, who was born in 1586 and died on 24 August 1617.

The year my father was born, 1913, Easter was very early, 23 March. He was born on Thursday of Easter Week. He loved a 'good tune', especially from Italian Grand Opera. I grew up with the radio and the only station in the Republic of Ireland during my childhood was Radio Éireann. Every Wednesday at lunch time I used to listen to the first part of Hospitals' Requests before going back to school. Very often there was a request for Va' pensiero, from Giuseppe Verdi's opera Nabucco. The announcers usually used an English title for it, Go thoughts on Golden Wings or The Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves. Though my Dad was never home for lunch on working days he was very familiar with it and it certainly came into his 'good tune' category.

So my co-70th Birthday celebrant Sir John Eliot Gardiner agreed to conduct it for the occasion.

Please join me in praying with gratitude to God for my parents, John Coyle and Mary Collins, and for the repose of their souls. Without their cooperation with our loving Father this blog would not have been possible. And remember too their parents, Nicholas Coyle and Jane Hoare, both from Rush, County Dublin, a village by the sea north of the city where my paternal ancestors first arrived before 1800, and William Patrick Collins, from Dublin city, and Annie Dowd, born in Navan, County Meath, down the road from the Columban seminary where I spent seven happy years.

Collect from the Mass for Giving Thanks to God (B)

O God, the Father of every gift, 
we confess that all we have and are comes down from you; 
teach us to recognise the effects of your boundless care 
and to love you with a sincere heart and with all our strength.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, 
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, 
one God, for ever and ever.

Our life is over like a sigh.

Our span is seventy years 

or eighty for those who are strong (Psalm 89[90], Grail translation, used in the Breviary).