Homily

The risen Lord does not appear one time for all: he continues to show himself. He finds his disciples incredulous, astonished, full of doubts, easily getting into the same daily routine. They mistake him for a ghost. Jesus knows the weakness of our life, how easily we are upset in the face of evil, of uncertainty, of feeling we are at the end, of difficulties. Turmoil and narrow-mindedness; fear and aggressiveness; fright and closed doors. The disciples show themselves to be realistic men, who know how things go: they have seen, they have been disillusioned in their hopes, they no longer want to abandon themselves to trust, they feel entitled to live just as they are, no longer listening, not changing. It is our habitual attitude towards everything and everyone. How easily we slide, prisoners of the logic of things, hardened by disillusionment, at bottom conditioned by the evil which wants to hinder hope, which counsels against trust! All disciples are agitated by doubts, by uncertainty. How can one still believe that love conquers in a world where shrewdness, weapons, power, resolving for oneself, aggressiveness, all assert themselves? Evil hardens the heart, counsels against having any passion for others, preserving only that which one is and possesses. One is not wicked, but one does not know how to love; one judges without love, because love is no more, it is finished, it has been lost, it has been taken away. For some of the disciples, perhaps, the doubts they always had, the hardness, the lack of understanding towards a teacher so different from their mind-set, re-emerge after his death, without being resisted. Perhaps they begin to argue among themselves, as when they wanted to determine who was the greatest!
The two disciples on their way to Emmaus had returned in haste to Jerusalem and were telling the others what had occurred: a pilgrim had joined them, had inflamed their hearts and they had finally recognized him. It was Jesus, the one who had broken the bread for them, who had heeded the plea addressed to him to remain with them because the day was almost over. And he had remained. Easter day cannot be over; the darkness of night does not prevail, sadness can find true joy and hope.
They were speaking about these things when Jesus himself showed up amidst the disciples and greeted them anew saying, "Peace be with you." Jesus does not seem to be scandalized by their unbelief. He gives peace to the one who is confused, uncertain, doubtful, incredulous, stubbornly attached to his own convictions, slow of heart. How much we need this peace! Peace is communion, joy of living; peace is a new heart which renews that which is old; peace is the energy which gives life back and hope to everyday life; peace is someone who understands me down deep, even that which I do not know how to explain, who does not humiliate me in my weakness and in my sin but who continues to want me with him and to speak to me; peace is someone on whom I can count; peace is not the small individual success, satisfaction of one’s pride. Jesus says, "Peace to you, uncertain people, inconsistent, doubtful, stubborn." Jesus is the peace which overcomes all division; the peace of the heart, which frees the heart from so many burdens which make it closed up and sad. Peace between heaven and earth.
The disciples are astonished and dismayed. They were speaking about him and yet don’t know how to recognize him. They are attached to their doubts. Doubt has a subtle way to tempt, which becomes the way not to ever choose, in order to keep an inner reservation. Doubt comes by itself; but by cultivating it, caressing it, it ends up making us think we are shrewd, smart; it saddens. Jesus becomes a ghost. And a ghost causes fear; it is a distant presence, unreal, intangible. Jesus had already appeared, yet they are at pains to recognize him as alive and present in their midst: he remains a ghost, unreal, virtual, all sensations and not a body.
Jesus "opened their minds to understand the scriptures." Only by listening can the heart understand; accepting, encountering Jesus’ body, the intelligence of the mind is opened. Jesus does not only want to free his own from fear and fright; he does not only want to show concretely the power of his resurrection: he asks that we be witnesses, that we become people who hope and believe that every wound can be healed. Jesus wants us to be witnesses, not uncertain and prudent bureaucrats; witnesses, not fearful disciples shut in; witnesses who live that which they communicate and who communicating it learn how to live it; witnesses in order to oppose the law of the impossible of those who know everything but have no hope. We are invited to become witnesses who believe in the power of love which renews that which is old and which brings back from death to life.