Hands, Feet, Flesh, Bones & Baked Fish

Today is the Third Sunday of Easter. The events of the morning brought me to the Financial District so I went to the 12:15 p.m. Mass at Our Lady of Victory, the small red brick church at the corner of William and Pine streets.

It was a solid Mass with a respectable turn-out for what is a less-densely populated part of Manhattan. I'd say about 65 percent of those in the pews were in their 20s and 30s.

In his fine homily, Monsignor Filacchione looked at the word "witness" in the day's readings -- particularly its use in the last line of the Gospel passage.

From Luke Chapter 24 (just after the account on the road to Emmaus):

The two disciples recounted what had taken place on the way, and how Jesus was made known to them in the breaking of bread.

While they were still speaking about this, he stood in their midst and said to them, "Peace be with you."

But they were startled and terrified and thought that they were seeing a ghost. Then he said to them, "Why are you troubled? And why do questions arise in your hearts? Look at my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me and see, because a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you can see I have."

And as he said this, he showed them his hands and his feet.

While they were still incredulous for joy and were amazed, he asked them, "Have you anything here to eat?"

They gave him a piece of baked fish; he took it and ate it in front of them.

He said to them, "These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses and in the prophets and psalms must be fulfilled."

Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.

And he 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."

A Concord Pastor, in his homily on today's readings, explains why that baked fish is important.

The image above is from here.