Friday, March 14, 2025
Feast of Saint Matilda
"Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid."
Matthew 14:27
Dear Friend,
Welcome to week eleven of BMW, Be My Witnesses. Let us continue this week with some more instruction. Not only do we learn from the teachings of the Apostles, but we also are formed every time the Eucharist is celebrated. This is not just a matter of being fed with the Bread of Life. We actually come to know Jesus through this worship every Sunday.
Learn: Know Him in the Breaking of the Bread (Luke 24:35)
Cleopas and his Emmaus walking companion, who I like to think was probably his wife, had not participated in the Last Supper. No doubt they had been part of the crowd which had been miraculously fed by Jesus. In fact, perhaps they helped with the distribution of the bread and fish. They knew Jesus as someone who cared about people being hungry and wanted to feed them.
This is the import of the parable Jesus told in Luke’s Gospel (12:35-37). Jesus urged us to be vigilant servants awaiting their master; if we are, “Amen, I say to you, he will gird himself, have them recline at table, and proceed to wait on them.” In this way, we also are able to know Jesus as someone who cares about our hunger and wants to satisfy and fill us. This is who he is. He wants to be the host.
It was in the midst of the breaking of the bread that Jesus became very well known to those two Emmaus pilgrims. It is no different for us today. What was it that they came to know? In Genesis (3:7), after Adam and Eve had eaten the forbidden fruit, we are told, “Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked.” They hid themselves from God because they were afraid. They came to see God as a cause of fear. This fear continued even to the time of Jesus, and Cleopas and his companion themselves were “downcast” at all that had happened.
When their eyes were opened at the breaking of the bread, they knew instead that God is not a God of fear but of burning hearts. Jesus opened their eyes in a new way to a new reality to life itself and the joy of the resurrection. Not only was there no need to hide from God, Jesus had shown that God seeks us out to pour love into our hearts so as to make them burn.
We also know that Mary Magdalene as she wept outside the empty tomb did not recognize Jesus but thought him a gardener. Only when he lovingly called her name did she come to see and know him. What is it that keeps us from seeing Jesus and thus from really knowing him? It is not as though God has ever abandoned us or ceased to love us. Perhaps, it takes our gaze on the broken bread, the Holy Eucharist, to see the face of Jesus, the face of God, looking at us and loving us. Then we finally see. Then we finally know.
The Challenge
Sisters and brothers, this week’s challenge is to read Genesis, chapter 3, and then Luke, chapter 24, and pray that our eyes may be open to the God who deeply loves us in Jesus Christ.
Until next week, may God Bless you.
I am sincerely yours in Christ,
+ Earl Boyea
Bishop of Lansing
P.S. Below is a video version of this week's Be My Witnesses. Please do share with family and friends. Thank you. God bless you.