Easter a time of joy and a time for good news: (March 2007)

As we move from the sombre season of Lent into the joy of Eastertide we pick up the rhythm of Spring with all the signs of new life. Easter is the time of new life and rebirth. It is the time when we remember the joy that filled the Apostles and the women as they discovered the presence of the risen Christ.

All the Easter ceremonies remind us that we too share in the Easter life of Christ – his risen life. It is a time when we are asked to think how do we recognise the risen Christ present among us?

Remember the two downcast disciples trudging away from Jerusalem, dreams shattered. They are accompanied along the road by the risen Christ. First of all he shows them how the scriptures, with which they were familiar, are clues to

understanding the wonders of God’s way. Then finally they recognise him as he blesses and breaks the bread.

Fr Perry Gildea - Vincentian Fathers

Cliftonville Road, Belfast 15

The breaking of bread was the first name the early Church gave to what we now call the of Eucharist. That encounter on the road to Emmaus was Christ’s way of showing us that we can all encounter him in the scriptures and the Eucharist.

One of the scriptural keys to further understanding the role the Eucharist must play in our lives is the stories of the miracle of the loaves and fishes. Here we see the Bread of Life, as he calls himself, also being real bread giving sustenance and life to the hungry.

Our participation in the Eucharist has many purposes, as encounter with the risen Christ, as a way of giving praise and thanks to God for all the gifts with which we have been graced, as a nourishment for the life of the spirit, but also as formation as true disciples of Christ.

There is a specific hallmark of such a disciple –“by this shall all men know that you are my disciples, that you have love for one another.” Practical love then is the mark of the true disciple. When the two disciples realised they had encountered the risen Christ they immediately rushed back to Jerusalem to share their good news with others.

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Our encounters with the risen Christ in the Eucharist encourage us to “go out” and share that good news too. The unique way in which the Society of St. Vincent de Paul is called to share the Easter good news is in being good news to the poor.

At the very beginning of his ‘public ministry’ Jesus says that one of the signs of the presence of God’s life in our world is that the poor have good news brought to them. Brought not only in word but also in deed.

Fr Perry (March 2007)

The Eucharist