Pope Leo XIV reflected Oct. 8 on Christ’s humility, love, and quiet patience toward those who do not recognize Him right away after His Resurrection but then are filled with hope and joy upon realizing it is Him. The Pope said that Christ walks similarly alongside all persons today, capable amid their sufferings and trials of turning their “resignation into hope” through an encounter with Him.
After His Resurrection, Christ does not appear surrounded by angels or “perform spectacular feats” in reuniting with His disciples, Pope Leo said in the General Audience. Mary Magdalene thinks at first that He is the gardner, the disciples of Emmaus think he is a stranger, and Peter thinks “He is just a passer-by.”
“We would have expected special effects, signs of power, overwhelming evidence,” Pope Leo said. “But the Lord does not seek this: he prefers the language of proximity, of normality, of sharing a meal.”
That Jesus asks for something to eat with His disciples is no small note and underscores a rich teaching about how transformative the Resurrection is, according to the Pope.
“The risen Jesus eats a piece of fish in front of his disciples: this is not a marginal detail, it is confirmation that our body, our history, our relationships are not a shell to be thrown away,” he said. “They are destined for the fullness of life. Resurrection does not mean becoming evanescent spirits, but entering into a deeper communion with God and with our brothers and sisters, in a humanity transfigured by love.”
Through the Resurrection, “even the most ordinary things” such as eating, working, cleaning a house, or being there for a friend can become an opportunity for grace, the Pope emphasized.
“However, there is an obstacle that often prevents us from recognizing Christ’s presence in our daily lives: the assumption that joy must be free from suffering,” he said. “The disciples of Emmaus walk sadly because they hoped for a different ending, for a Messiah who did not know the cross. Although they have heard that the tomb is empty, they cannot smile. But Jesus walks alongside them and patiently helps them understand that pain is not the denial of the promise, but the way through which God has manifested the measure of his love.”
The disciples’ eyes open when they sit at the table with Christ and He breaks the bread; they even reflect on how they felt their hearts burning when Christ spoke to them, Pope Leo noted.
“This is the greatest surprise: to discover that beneath the ashes of disenchantment and weariness there is always a living ember, waiting only to be rekindled,” he said. “Brothers and sisters, Christ’s resurrection teaches us that no history is so marked by disappointment or sin that it cannot be visited by hope.
“No fall is definitive, no night is eternal, no wound is destined to remain open forever. However distant, lost or unworthy we may feel, there is no distance that can extinguish the unfailing power of God’s love.”
It is incorrect to think Jesus will only visit the faithful when one is in deep contemplation, when one feels “worthy” or that his or her life seems “orderly and bright,” according to the Pope. Rather, it is precisely in the darkest places — failures, doubts, daily struggles, and “frayed relationships” — that Christ comes to people.
Pope Leo said: “Nothing that we are, no fragment of our existence, is foreign to him.”
“Today, the risen Lord walks alongside each of us, as we travel our paths — those of work and commitment, but also those of suffering and loneliness — and with infinite delicacy asks us to let him warm our hearts,” he said. “He does not impose himself loudly; he does not demand to be recognized immediately. He waits patiently for the moment when our eyes will open to see his friendly face, capable of transforming disappointment into hopeful expectation, sadness into gratitude, resignation into hope.”
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