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Third Sunday of Easter, April 19th

Thomas Edison’s laboratory was almost completely destroyed by a fire in December of 1914. Although the damage exceeded $2 million, the building was only insured for $250,000 because it was made of concrete and thought to be fireproof. Much of Edison’s work went up in terrible and undiscerning flames that night. At the height of the fire, Edison’s twenty-four-year-old son, Charles, commented, “My heart ached for him. He was sixty-seven – no longer a young man – and everything was going up in flames.” When he saw Charles, Edison asked him, “Where is your mother? Find her and bring her here for she will never see anything like this as long as she lives.” The next morning, as he looked at the ruins he declared, “There is great value in disaster. All of our mistakes are burned up. Thank God we can start anew.” Three weeks after the fire, Edison invented the first phonograph machine!

Thomas Edison’s great loss, and his philosophical attitude toward disaster, shows how disappointment and tragedy can be transformed into hope and optimism. The story in this weekend’s Gospel about the disciples encountering the Risen Jesus on the road to Emmaus, presents deep disappointment and doubt and concern all mixed in with loss. Lots of different kinds of emotions can easily “blind a people to what possibilities are before them. Cleopas and his companion did not recognize Jesus “in their midst,” because of all those mixed emotions. Jesus helps that blindness disappear by turning their attention to two very important gifts from God ….. His Word found in the holy scriptures, and His love found in the Eucharist. By turning to the sacred scriptures and being fed by the Holy Eucharist, those disciples’ hearts burned inside of them, resulting in hopeful joy.

Maybe we can learn from this story which we hear once again during this Easter Season, about these same two gifts that are available to us as well …. God’s Word and God’s Body and Blood. They can help us endure disappointment and disaster today as well. They can turn sadness into joy and hope. -Msgr. Greg