Joke: Three friends die in a car crash, and they find themselves at the gates of heaven. Before entering, Saint Peter asks each of them a question: “When you are in your casket, and your friends and family are standing there mourning you, what would you like to hear them say about you?” asks Saint Peter. The first guy says, “I would like to hear them say that I was a great doctor and a great family man.” The second guy says, “I would like to hear that I was a wonderful husband and a teacher who made a huge difference in our children.” The last guy replies, “I would like to hear them say: ‘Look! His fingers are still moving!”

Unlike these three friends, Jesus had died. And to make sure that he was already dead, instead of breaking his leg, they pierced him on his side. He had died, and on the third day, he was raised from the dead back to life. Not only did his fingers move, but he also ate in front of his disciples as we heard in today’s Gospel. Not as a ghost as it’s defined by the Lord Jesus written down in today’s Gospel saying, “a ghost does not have flesh and bones.” In the Gospel of last weekend, Thomas believed in the resurrection of the Lord Jesus because he saw him, Jesus reminded Thomas and perhaps every one of us saying, “Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.” If Thomas could see and touch or experience with his senses the risen Lord Jesus, there would be no need for belief. It was a fact, and there would be no need for faith. Just close your eyes, for example, and walk and see how uncomfortable it is for us to walk when we cannot see. If we cannot experience with one of our five senses, the eyesight for example, how difficult it is to believe in what we cannot even see nor experience with our five senses. By showing his hands and his wounds, he increased the faith of his disciples. Not only showed them his wounds and his hands in the flesh, but he also ate with them in front of their eyes. Why did Jesus appear to his disciples after his resurrection from the dead and eat with them in front of their eyes?

First, who is Jesus if he is not Christ, the Son of the living God as we learn from reading the Bible and the Church’s teaching? Particularly, in today’s first reading, taken from the Acts of the Apostles, Peter testifies to the people about Jesus that he is “The author of life you put to death, but God raised him from the dead; of this we are witnesses.” Jesus, the Son of God, the author of life, has risen from the dead. His death is not the end, but his death is the beginning of salvation not only for the Jews, for Christians, but for the whole world which is reported in today’s second reading, taken from the first letter of Saint John saying, “Jesus Christ the righteous one. He is expiation for our sins, and not for our sins only but those of the whole world.” Some of our brothers and sisters from other denominations use this phrase and claim that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, died once to save the whole human race, therefore, there is no need for Mass. There is no need for confession but belief, “Sola Scriptura,” Scripture alone simply means that all truth necessary for our salvation and spiritual life is taught either explicitly or implicitly in Scripture. Scripture is the supreme authority over the Church.

In the Scripture or the Holy Bible, we find the Old Testament and the New Testament. The Old must come before the New. The Old was written by the prophets and others before the time of Jesus, and the New was written by those inspired by the teaching of the Lord Jesus after his death and resurrection. When did the Church begin if it’s not from the moment of the descending of the Holy Spirit, Pentecost, before he was taken up into heaven? He breathed on his disciples the gifts of the Holy Spirit and gave them the authority before sending them out to establish the Church.

On the Holy Thursday that we just celebrated two weeks ago. At the last supper with his disciples, Jesus did not only wash his disciples’ feet, but he also instituted the Eucharist and the priesthood. Taking up the bread and the wine, he offered prayer and said, “Do this in remembering of me.” That is why we repeat this action at every Mass repeating the words of Jesus saying, “Take this, all of you, and eat of it. For this is my Body which will be given up for you.” (Not for God, nor himself, but you, for me, for all of us.) In the same manner as the cup, the priest in persona Christi, in the person of Christ, says, “Take this, all of you, and drink from it, for this is the chalice of my blood, the blood of the new and eternal covenant, which will be poured out for you and many for the forgiveness of sins. Do this in memory of me.” So, the Mass is not the show, but rather, we come to celebrate Mass together to remember what Jesus used to do with his disciples, and the most important is that we come to partake in the Body and the Blood of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of our sins and the resurrection of our body on the last day. The moment that we don’t need Mass, the moment that we say we do not have sins, we are perfect, and we are all good. Really?

Jesus’ disciples didn’t understand him at the last supper that they scattered when he was caught. However, at the supper after his resurrection from death that we heard in today’s Gospel, Jesus said to them, “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 of these things.” Repentance and the forgiveness of sins are the messages that we need to preach to all nations. How can we repent when we cannot even see that we sin? When we cannot even recognize that we fail to love one another? How can we repent for the forgiveness of sins when we cannot sacrifice time to come to the Church to receive His Body and Blood for the forgiveness of our sins? When we cannot sacrifice time to be with our loved ones in the family just as Jesus spent time with his parents in growing up with them? What is repentance if it’s not to change, to fix, to repair, and to make anew of what is bad, what is crooked, what is sinful, what is not love? Jesus appears at the supper table to feed them with food for physical and spiritual strength and only at the supper table where words are shared, brothers and sisters, have we spent time to eat together at least once a day in our family? Just as Jesus’ disciples recognized the resurrection of the Lord Jesus and firmly believed in his resurrection, try to eat together in the family at least once a day to experience the risen Lord and his presence in our lives. The decision is yours.