Sunday Reflection with Fr Robin Gibbon 26 April 2020

Third Sunday of Easter

As we continue on with lockdown, there are voices raised in anger and perturbation about the need to have churches open not shut, voices raised in criticism of Bishops and others who will not relax regulations to allow some vestige of public worship. There have been some sensible comments made, mostly advising caution and care with Covid-19, but also other more wild and exaggerated remarks about the 'holiness' of a sacramental system, especially for the Eucharist. that places it all outside of the Pandemic, in some supra-untouchable reality of spiritual power. Listening to these voices fills me with dread, for they place on others burdens that none of us can follow, what comes across is some older darker form of Manichaeism, though perhaps it is more like Jansenism, in which the world of God and our world of humanity are pushed asunder, to fit a dark , stark pattern of moral and ascetic rigourism.

This sort of talk, and appeal to our fundamental religious rights (such as worshipping freely) cannot be the measuring rod of this moment. Instead the Easter message and the commandment of love seen through the lens of the Mandatum, the foot washing of the last supper, tells us plainly that in the resurrection, all of earth is bound up with heaven, and that it is in the here and now with all its joys and privations that we will see salvation! The Common Good, the love of our neighbour calls us to make a sacrifice at this moment, for if we break fellowship with those who advise us, with those who work to solve the malady of this virus, but above all with those who are laying down their life in caring for the sick, and do what we want, then we sin against others both by omission:'I will not stay in lockdown, I will put my spiritual needs above others,' and by commission; 'I shall show others up by making a plea for the faithful to be allowed to go to mass, celebrate large funeral gatherings 'and so on. I'm not making this up, you can trawl through the internet, Facebook, anywhere where people are allowed to make comments and this sort of thing springs forth, but this is NOT the Easter proclamation at all, Jesus never equates big public gathering with love of him alone, two or three maybe!

In our Sunday readings, three particular phrases leapt out at me, each different yet each making the same kind of point. Here is Peter speaking a verse which we inexplicably leave out in the first reading, but which holds it all together. Faced with this Pandemic and the radical call to new discipleship and trust in God, but never the God of our own imaginations, Peter offers a hope beyond hope, calls us to deeper intimacy through prayer with God, wherever we are, no barriers exist where this promise is made: "…it shall be that everyone shall be saved who calls on the name of the Lord." (Acts 2:21)

Peter calls us to know the real 'name' of the Most High, to let go of what we think is holy and rediscover it anew, so first point, a call to trust!

In the letter of Peter the name of God, the 'reality of our own love of God is seen through a particular lens, that of the action of Christ who comes to us, lives, dies and ransoms us not in heaven but here on earth, again it points to a meaning of love and covenant symbolised by our Eucharist, but pushes us beyond one level where, yes we receive the lord in Holy Communion, but too often forget what it is all based on, covenant, sacrifice, gift, love, remembering the Kingdom. We need to rediscover the meanings of Eucharist too! So a second point, made abundantly clear by this quote:

"…realizing that you were ransomed from your futile conduct, handed on by your ancestors, not with perishable things like silver or gold but with the precious blood of Christ as of a spotless unblemished lamb." (I Pt 1:18,19)

But we cannot forget we are frail beings, capable of great love but also great sin, where then do we find forgiveness and salvation? The Emmaus story may be a catechesis on the preparation of catechumens by the hearing the Word and being taught its meaning, which then leads to that Eucharistic encounter where the Risen Christ is seen not in flesh, but whenever we gather to break the bread.

That is what we should be doing, 'breaking bread' and doing this in our homes, and when we have partial lockdown or some form of integrating into the community, finding new ways to break bread with each other. So a third point: the Lord has not abandoned any of us, we have to find him in a very new situation. May the experience of the Emmaus encounter be ours now and always: "Then the two recounted what had taken place on the way and how he was made known to them in the breaking of bread." (Lk 24:35)

Lectio Divina

Emmaus part 2
by Malcolm Guite

Luke 24:25-26 Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?

We thought that everything was lost and gone,
Disaster on disaster overtook us
The night we left our Jesus all alone
And we were scattered, and our faith forsook us.
But oh that foul Friday proved far worse,
For we had hoped that he had been the one,
Till crucifixion proved he was a curse,
And on the cross our hopes were all undone.

Oh foolish foolish heart why do you grieve?
Here is good news and comfort to your soul:
Open your mind to scripture and believe
He bore the curse for you to make you whole
The living God was numbered with the dead
That He might bring you Life in broken bread.

Brief Rule of St Romuald

Sit in your cell as in paradise;
put the whole world behind you and forget it;
like a skilled angler on the lookout for a catch
keep a careful eye on your thoughts.
The path you follow is in the psalms -- don't leave it.
If you've come with a novice's enthusiasm and can't
accomplish what you want, take every chance you can find
to sing the psalms in your heart and to understand them
with your head; if your mind wanders as you read
don't give up but hurry back and try again.
Above all realize that you are in God's presence;
hold your heart there in wonder as if before your sovereign.
Empty yourself completely;
sit waiting, content with God's gift,
like a little chick tasting and eating nothing
but what its mother brings.

Fr Robin is an Eastern Rite Catholic Chaplain for Melkites in the UK. He is also an Ecumenical Canon of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford. You can follow him on Twitter: @RobinGibbons2