Daily Catholic Lectio
Thu, 4 April 2024
Thursday in the Easter Octave
Acts 3:11-26. Luke 24:35-48
Keep moving!
One of the qualities of children that we have lost as we grow is ‘to keep moving.’ The children can never be constrained to a particular place. They keep running, even when held by force. This type of movement is necessary for our lives.
To the apostles who thought, ‘Jesus is dead. Everything is finished’, Jesus appears, announces his resurrection, and sends them on mission. Jesus poses to them questions for reflection and analysis: ‘Why are you troubled? And why do questions arise in your hearts?’ Then, he takes a piece of fried fish and eats it in front of them – the attitude of the disciples is awesome. Even though their Master is dead, they keep frying fish! – Eating, in the Bible, signifies movement. Things began to move after our first parents ate the forbidden fruit. If they had not eaten it, we would still be lingering in the garden! The Lord God, who feeds the depressed Elijah, tells him, ‘Get up. Eat. The journey will be long for you’ (cf. 1 Kgs 19:7).
Jesus opens the eyes of his disciples in order that they might understand the Scriptures. He makes them stand on their feet and move: “Thus it is written that the Christ would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day and that repentance, for the forgiveness of sins, would be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses to these things.”
He makes them begin from the place where they met their wall, which they considered their end. Jerusalem, which was considered an end for Jesus, becomes the starting point for Jesus’ disciples.
The first reading brings before us the occasion of Simon Peter, the head of the apostles, bearing witness to Jesus’ words. The healing of the crippled man in Jerusalem induces wonder among the inhabitants. Peter, who sees their wonder as readiness, takes this occasion as an opportunity to preach.
He makes them realise their fault: “You killed the author of life; you denied the Holy and Righteous one.” He makes them move towards faith: “You acted out of ignorance … repent and be converted.”
In today’s responsorial psalm (cf. Ps 8), the psalmist, who reflects on the greatness of human persons, says that humans are greater than the created beings. The created beings are controlled and animated by their instincts. But human persons, using their freedom and by changing their disposition and attitude, can change the environment, and alter their response to what happens to them.
When we are frozen in life due to death, loss, illness, indifference of others, frustration, or ageing, let us remember the fried fish that Jesus ate. Let us get up and eat. And keep moving. Remember cycling. We will not fall when we keep moving. Life is … till we keep moving!
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“And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.” (1 Corinthians 13:13). (Jubilee A. D. 2025, bite 65)
Fr. Yesu Karunanidhi
Archdiocese of Madurai
Missionary of Mercy
Yesu Karunanidhi 
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