Daily Gospel Reflection

Unlock Your Limits

Welcome back to Radical and Relevant, where we are exploring the genius of the Gospels, looking for a word, a phrase, or an idea each day to anchor our lives in the life and teachings of Jesus. Today's reading is Luke 24:35-48. This is almost the very end of Luke's gospel, okay? The only piece that is not here is the last three verses of Luke's gospel, which is the ascension. "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 saying this, Jesus, Himself, stood among them and said to them, 'Peace be with you.' And they were startled and frightened and supposed that they saw a spirit. And he said to them, 'Why are you troubled? And why do questionings rise in your heart? See my hands and my feet? That it is I, myself. Place your hands here and see, for the Spirit has no 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 wondered, he said to them, 'Have you anything here to eat?' They gave him a piece of broiled fish. He took it and ate it before them. And then he said to them, 'These are my words which I spoke to you while I was 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 preached in His name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses to these things.'"

So at the very beginning-- and sometimes we have these verses that seem not to make sense. So it's right at the end of the road to Emmaus reading that the two that met Jesus on the road to Emmaus have come back to the others and they said, "Then they told what had happened on the road and how He was known to them in the breaking of the bread." Then Jesus appears to them again. But the phrase that jumps out at me today is, "Then He opened their minds to understand the scriptures." Wow, what a beautiful prayer for us today. Lord, open my mind. Open our minds so that we can understand the scriptures. We see such a narrow piece of the scriptures because of our limited understanding, maybe limited experience, maybe our limited knowledge, and because we place limits on our hearts and we place limits on our minds and on our spirits. So let's pray today these words of Jesus, these words of the scriptures. Open our minds, Lord, so that we can understand the scriptures.

Have an amazing day. Remember, be bold, be Catholic.