We follow Jesus’ Resurrection in soul and body

Third Sunday in Easter, May 8, 2011
Fr. Joseph Eddy, O. de M.
Gospel: Luke 24:13-35 He became known to them in the breaking of the bread
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Full  homily text: In today’s Gospel we have the spiritual image of walking along “the Way.” We travel on many journeys during our life. We go from dependant infants to children experiencing the world. Then, we go from adolescence to young adults. The journeys go on throughout our life, until we go on the ultimate journey that leads from this life to the next. At each stage, there is a danger of being lost. Of losing our bearings along “the Way.” We need guides. We need figures to walk with us. Parents, relatives, and friends often act as these guides.  They walk with us on “the Way” helping us to understand what life is all about and how to make it through safely.

Fr. Joseph Eddy is the vocation director of the Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mercy, founded to redeem Christians whose faith is in danger. The Order’s student house in the U.S. is in Philadelphia.

Is God calling you to become a Mercedarian friar? Visit Fr. Joseph’s Facebook page, or the website of the .

But, it is Jesus who is the hidden guide that instructs us through the Scriptures and tradition of the Church. But he is not just present with us in an obscure way; the Risen Lord walks with us tangibly. His Holy Spirit dwells within us at Baptism and is strengthened within us through the gifts at Confirmation.

Ultimately, though, the greatest way the Risen Lord is present is in the Eucharist. Here we receive not Jesus in his crucified body, but Jesus as he is now in his glorified body.  As the Gospel says, Jesus had to suffer and so “enter into his glory.” When Jesus died on the Cross he went into the abode of the dead, but it was impossible for the God Man to be held by death. God the Father raised him up soul and body. There is no way that the Father would allow the Son to experience corruption in his body.  The Easter mystery is about an “Empty Tomb.” Jesus is risen from the dead body and soul.

He raised the human condition to great heights

The human condition is our experience of life as a person who is both body and soul.  When Jesus took upon himself our human nature at the incarnation he became truly human, body and soul.  Christ our guide was destined to take on the human condition and raise it up to heights unheard of. In Jesus Christ, the Father takes our nature from death to resurrection. This resurrection must be understood as both body and soul (for this is the human condition).  So, when the disciples come to the tomb they find nothing. The tomb is empty. It is inconceivable that the body would be raised up. As good Jews, the disciples believe that Jesus’ soul has gone to the abode of the dead (for the soul cannot die), but the body should remain on earth.

We can imagine the shock, when the two men on “the Way” hear from the stranger that Jesus is raised from the dead body and soul. They cannot conceive of it. But, little do they know that the Risen Lord is walking with them. His ability to be present to them is because he was raised body and soul. Their faith is weak and they cannot see the Lord who is walking with them and guiding them along “the Way.” Jesus is hidden from their sight, but slowly teaches them that he is not just a prophet, but the Risen Lord. Yet, their eyes are still closed.

Jesus is revealed in the Eucharist

The moment of conversion for them is in “the breaking of the bread.” In the Eucharist, Jesus is revealed as the Risen Lord. When we receive Communion, we receive Jesus’ body and soul and divinity. We receive the Risen Lord who is glorified, seated at the right hand of the Father. Heaven and Earth unite in a special way as we receive the glorified Lord. Easter Faith is believing in the Resurrection of Jesus body and soul.  He is present with us in his glorified body through the Eucharist.

This is why the Eucharist is the foretaste of heaven. Those who eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood will be glorified at the last day. Easter Faith also tells us that our journey along “the Way” leads to us receiving a glorified body as well. We, like the risen, Lord are destined to go body and soul into eternity at the second coming. Those who have lived a life of sincere faith in the Risen Lord will go body and soul into heaven. But, those who have rejected Jesus and his message are destined to experience all the pain of separation from God in both their soul and body.

Do we wish Him to guide us?

So as we walk along this journey of life, we recognize that the Glorified Lord walks with us. He is instructing us to live with a true Easter faith, which recognizes his presence among us.  But, it is our choice if we wish him to continue to guide us. We must respond with the two disciples “stay with us!” We walk with Jesus by believing what he says and putting it into action in our lives. We acknowledge that both our soul and body are sacred. Jesus has taken our human nature to new heights. To follow him we must receive him worthily in the Sacraments, avoid immorality which tarnishes the body destined for glorification, and realize that our true destiny is to dwell with the risen Lord in heaven.  There our journey ends, but the experience of happiness only begins as we are in communion with the Risen Lord for all eternity.