OXYGEN

19 Apr – Easter Wednesday

THE CHANGELING EAGLE

An American Indian legend tells about a brave who found an eagle's egg and put it into the nest of a prairie chicken. The eaglet hatched with the brood of chicks and grew up with them.

All his life, the changeling eagle, thinking he was a prairie chicken, did what the prairie chickens did. He scratched in the dirt for seed and insects to eat. he clucked and cackled. And he flew in a brief thrashing of wings and flurry of feathers no more than a few feet off the ground. After all, that's how prairie chickens were supposed to fly.

Years passed. And the eagle grew old. One day he saw a magnificent bird far above him in the cloudless sky. Hanging with graceful majesty on the powerful wind currents, it soared with scarcely a beat of its strong wings.

"What a beautiful bird," said the changeling bird to his neighbour. "What is it?"

"That's an eagle, the chief of birds… but don't give it a second thought. You could never be like him."

- Christopher Notes (1000 Stories You Can Use, Volume One by Frank Mihalic, SVD)

Are you a changeling (a child substituted for another), brought up to be something you're not?
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Acts of the Apostles 3:1-10

Once, when Peter and John were going up to the Temple for the prayers at the ninth hour, it happened that there was a man being carried past. he was a cripple from birth; and they used to put him down every day near the Temple entrance called the Beautiful Gate so that he could beg from the people going in. When this man saw Peter and John on their way into the Temple he begged from them. Both Peter and John looked straight at him and said, "Look at us." He turned to them expectantly, hoping to get something from them, but Peter said, "I have neither silver nor gold, but I will give you what I have: in the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, walk!" Peter then took him by the hand and helped him to stand up. Instantly his feet and ankles became firm, he jumped up, stood, and began to walk, and he went with them into the Temple, walking and jumping and praising God. Everyone could see him walking and praising God, and they recognised him as the man who used to sit begging at the Beautiful Gate of the Temple. They were all astonished and unable to explain what had happened to him.
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Luke 24:13-35

Two of the disciples of Jesus were on their way to a village called Emmaus, seven miles from Jerusalem, and they were talking together about all that had happened. Now as they talked this over, Jesus himself came up and walked by their side; but something prevented them from recognising him. He said to them, "What matters are you discussing as you walk along?" They stopped short, their faces downcast.

Then one of them, called Cleopas, answered him, "You must be the only person staying in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have been happening there these last few days." "What things?" he asked. "All about Jesus of Nazareth," they answered, "who proved he was a great prophet by the things he said and did in the sight of God and of the whole people; and how our chief priests and our leaders handed him over to be sentenced to death, and had him crucified. Our own hope had been that he would be the one to set Israel free. And this is not all: two whole days have gone by since it all happened; and some women from our group have astounded us; they went to the tomb in the early morning, and when they did not find the body, they came back to tell us they had seen a vision of angels who declared he was alive. Some of our friends went to the tomb and found everything exactly as the women had reported, but of him they saw nothing."

Then he said to them, "You foolish men! So slow to believe the full message of the prophets! Was it not ordained that the Christ should suffer and so enter into his glory?" Then, starting with Moses and going through all the prophets, he explained to them the passages throughout the scriptures that were about himself.

When they drew near to the village to which they were going, he made as if to go on; but they pressed him to stay with them. "It is nearly evening," they said, "and the day is almost over." So he went in to stay with them. Now while he was with them at table, he took the bread and said the blessing; then he broke it and handed it to them. And their eyes were opened and they recognised him; but he had vanished from their sight. Then they said to each other, "Did not our hearts burn within us as he talked to us on the road and explained the scriptures to us?"

They set out that instant and returned to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven assembled together with their companions, who said to them, "Yes, it is true. The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon." Then they told their story of what had happened on the road and how they had recognised him at the breaking of bread.
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In today's first reading, we read of the man crippled from birth, believing that he was destined to live his life as a cripple. When he saw two men walk into the Temple, he did what he always did – he begged from them. But these two men turned to him saying that they had neither silver nor gold. The cripple probably lost interest in them the moment they said that, but they went on to say that they would give him what they had. What they had was far more precious than silver and gold; they had the gift of healing which they gave to the cripple.

The cripple was, however, probably not stupid. In his lifetime, he had probably already given up hope that he would one day be cured. He had learned to live with his disability. And here were these two Jews offering him a cure, a seemingly miracle cure that involved them only saying a few words. He had probably already turned his attention elsewhere when Peter reached out, took him by the hand and helped him to his feet. He probably struggled with Peter a bit, before giving it a shot. And lo and behold! He really could stand! He really could walk! He was no longer limited by his birth-given disability! With that little faith he was able to put into the name of Jesus the Nazarene, God was able to use that faith to cure him.

On Peter and John's part, they too must have had some doubt as to what they were about to say to the cripple. They had, in the past, tried to drive demons out of people and failed because of lack of faith. How did they actually prove their faith this time? They could very well have just said to the cripple, "In the name of Jesus the Nazarene, walk!" and then entered the Temple. But, no. Not only did they say the words, they proved their faith in Jesus by reaching out to take the man by the hand and helping him to his feet. Their faith in Jesus went beyond mere words and translated into action. They did not limit the works of their faith to past experiences, but became all that God made them to be. They claimed the faith that was rightfully theirs, the faith given them by the Holy Spirit.

In the gospel reading too, we read of the two disciples of Jesus. We see how they had hoped that Jesus would be the one to free them from the slavery of the Romans. They had placed expectations on Jesus and when he didn't meet them but was seemingly defeated at the hands of the enemy, they left Jerusalem disappointed and downcast. We also read of how Jesus himself came up to them and walked with them on the road, but 'something' prevented them from recognising him. What was that 'something'?

It was the limitation, the fixed expectation that they placed on Jesus. He was more than what they expected him to be, but all they could see was Jesus' failure, and their own hopes dashed. What they failed to see that Jesus' seeming failure was, in fact, part of the greatest victory for mankind – not freedom from the slavery of the Romans, but freedom from the slavery of sin itself!

Very often, we too place expectations on Jesus. We want Jesus to be our hero, the God who saves us from pain and suffering, the God who makes all things right, the God who helps us to find our vocation in life, the God who only wants what is best for us. But when things don't go our way, we blame God for our failings in life; we blame God for the bad things that happen to us and we ask ourselves where God has gone to. Our expectations of who God is, how he works, and why he does certain things, are that 'something' that prevents us from recognising who God really is, how he really works and why he really does certain things.

Where is our faith at times like this? Is our faith in the God that we imagine him to be, in that false image of God limited by the capacity of our human mind? Or is our faith solely in the God who conquers sin and death, forgetting that it is the same God who became flesh and carried his cross to the grave, who laughed and cried with us, who feasted and fasted with us, who suffered and died with us, who was angry, who was sad, who was betrayed, who was worried?

Can we recognise Jesus when we see him in our lives? Can we also recognise that this is the Jesus who has conquered sin, suffering, and death, and has given us the grace to go through them just as he did? Or will we limit ourselves, and God, to what we have always seen and believed?
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Prayer: We pray for the grace to always be able to recognise Jesus in our lives, when he appears to us in our failings, in our weaknesses, and in our shame. We also pray for the grace to claim our rightful faith, to be the children of God, rather than sons of the devil.

Give Thanks to the Lord for: The God with us.

Upcoming Readings:
Thu, 20 Apr – Acts 3:11-26; Luke 24:35-48; Easter Thursday
Fri, 21 Apr – Acts 4:1-12; John 21:1-14; Easter Friday
Sat, 22 Apr – Acts 4:13-21; Mark 16:9-15; Easter Saturday
Sun, 23 Apr – Acts 4:32-35; 1 John 5:1-6; John 20:19-31; Divine Mercy Sunday

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Disclaimer: The reflections expressed in this e-mail are the writer's own. They may not necessarily reflect the teachings of the Catholic Church. Nonetheless we should all be able to learn something from it.