Monday in the Octave of Easter Lk 24,13-35

We can also witness such inconspicuous scenes in our cemeteries. People have already built tombs in their lifetime and go to look at them. There is nothing wrong with devoting at least as much time to their soul as they spend time and money to their temporary abode here on earth – their grave. I saw a woman crying over her grave. She is alive; she has sweet words carved in stone there; it is a pity that those who know her know about the state of her life, especially her soul, and that the words on the monument do not match reality. When I saw this woman, I remembered the largest desert in the world – the Sahara. Some scientists claim that there should be a large sea under the Sahara. When people manage to get to it, the water rises from the depths and the fertile sand of the desert. This picture is characteristic of the situation of many people.
Many people live on the surface; they lack nothing. They also think about when they will die, but they do not go deep; they even convince themselves that life is only the world in which we find ourselves that we consume. They will not allow a new life; they will not admit that a new time, eternal life, could occur in their lives. They are afraid and afraid to leave the old life and start a new one. For us, gathered here today on Easter Monday, the gospel is a reinforcement, and we draw great strength from it. Jesus is known to women who wanted to show him their love when they wanted to anoint his dead body with fragrant ointments.

Women are to mediate the meeting of Jesus’ disciples. Jesus wants to meet his brothers, the apostles. The place of meeting is well known to the apostles. It is a place where you have called them apostles. For the apostles, the Lake of Gennesaret is not only a place of vocation, but they also ate bread here, which, after the blessing of Jesus, they distributed to the crowds, and many were fed. It was here that they marveled at the power of Jesus because he acted as one who has power. Here they marveled at the teachings of Jesus, which won not only their hearts and lives but also many others. Jesus invites them back to the lake through the women. To which he calls them, this meeting is to strengthen their faith, which was shaken by the events of three days before he was captured in the Garden of Gethsemane until his body was placed in the tomb. The apostles are beginning to realize that much had changed since the incident when he called them to be disciples. The most recent event that Christ rose from the dead shook them more than the death of Christ. They begin to understand things they did not understand. They realize that they can regain faith so that they will never lose it again, complete their mission, which Christ has called them to so that they will be willing to die for it.

After the Second Vatican Council, much is said about faith in today’s world. In the last twenty years, the Church has not survived her death, as predicted by the false prophets, that the Church will not survive the year 2000; on the contrary, we see that the Church is entering its second youth. This raises the question: What is our role, our mission in the world, to engage properly in the Church’s mission in modern times? The resurrection of Christ gives us strong motives. We strive to remain faithful Christians. Being a Christian in the 20th century is not a reason to be ashamed of one’s faith, even at a time of discovery, of progress in all science areas. Let us remember that everything we admire today grew out of Christianity. Christianity brought development, ignited culture, enriched civilization. Who built the first schools, hospitals, orphanages, and old houses? Not Christianity? Let’s look at the list of scientists, writers, discoverers and find out that they were church figures.

Let us remember that Christianity’s hallmark is not backwardness, but on the contrary, development and culture, even today. Many would like to change Christianity. However, Christianity must not be understood as a matter of taste, of opinion, how it would suit us best, liked it … Christianity is based on a truth that cannot change according to who is in power, whether political, economic, or cultural. That is why the Church says this morning that Christ has risen from the dead, even though millions will cry that it is a lie because history says that they are deceiving themselves.

The Church and Christianity are aware that it is not at the whim of the people. Faith does not depend on the power of lords. History convinces us that even though Christianity was trampled on, persecuted even when it was bleeding, it always fulfilled its mission as determined by the risen Christ. Indeed, the more his resurrection was ridiculed, the more sacrifices Christ’s followers had to make, the purer and more valuable Christians’ lives were. That is why we have to talk about Christianity’s role because there are many of them, and each of us can participate in them for our enrichment here on earth, but also for the reward in eternity.

At the end of the 20th century, believers face two serious challenges. Namely, lest we be seduced by the mammon who has already seduced many from Christ, we know that the broad path has always led from God. To those who want to make the slogan: “Carpe diem!” – “Have a good day!” remind me how much sadness, unhappiness, and disappointment is in the end. Money, fame, power, position, sex, drugs, it’s all field grass that withers quickly, dries up. Today’s Christians should realize that they must not become slaves. They must not be enslaved; they must not succumb to the modern slave of our day – mammon. This does not mean that a Christian must not live within the limits of comfort, glory … In the first place, however, the believer must be the Risen One, who says that one day we too will be called to resurrect body and soul.

An example is Nelli Cooman, who won a gold medal at the second indoor World Championships in Budapest Athletics. In teleshopping, her editor asked what she had in the first place in her life: “Is it a sport?” “No,” the winner replies. “Then the husband?” “Not even a husband.” Astonished and curious and the reporter asked the same thing again, and the winner replies: “In the first place, I have God, in the second husband, in the third sport.” The surprised editor asks again, “And does the husband know about this?” “Yes, he knows. He also has God in the first place, and I hope,” and he smiles mischievously, “that he also has me in the second place.” “I don’t know if you believe, but try talking to him” while pointing up, “and he’ll always help you.” At the same time, she was full of joy, youth, and strength.

So we can say that she did our first task very well. From the screen, it was an extraordinary profession of faith. Our second task is not to be frightened by the victims. Jesus says, “Whoever wants to follow me, let him deny himself, takes his cross every day and follows me” (Lk 9:23). For us, this means that we remain faithful in preaching the truth of Christ. A well-known scientist and discoverer of medicine Against rabies, the Frenchman Pasteur, rebuking him for his directness in faith, said: “It is a pity that I do not believe as a Breton peasant, but that I believe as a Breton peasant.” It is known that Breton peasants had a profound faith.