THE SITES OF THE RISEN ONE

The Kingdom of God is within you.

Luke 17:21

He who is invisible to our eyes assures us of his presence in many places.
Scripture. If we ask ourselves: What is the word of God? Isaiah answers that it is a living, active, and effective reality (cf. Is 55:10–11). God speaks and creates the world; speaks and begins history; speaks, and his eternal Logos becomes flesh (cf. Jn 1:1-18). And just as there was a kenosis in the flesh, so too there was a kenosis in the letter, in the written words. Augustine will say that the Word humbled himself to the point of dispersing our sounds. A primary place of encounter with the Living One, therefore, is his Word proclaimed, meditated upon, and made the vital substance of the soul. In Luke we see how, to the disciples of Emmaus, he explains the Scriptures, opening their minds (cf. Lk 24:45) and their eyes (cf. Lk 24:31).
The Sacraments. Another eloquent sign is the Sacraments. Christ is the original sacrament, through whom we have received divine visibility itself—his incarnation in history. Leo the Great said: “Everything that was visible in our Lord Jesus has passed into the Sacraments of the Church.” In the sacraments, he is present and brings about salvation. The Eucharist is the synthesis of this, the space where everything converges and where the community is perpetually regenerated to new life. There, God, in the Son, humanly rebuilds humanity (G. Ungaretti).
The Church, the Body of Christ. On the road to Damascus, Paul realized that Christ and Christians are one (cf. Acts 9:4). Christ has a Body, and this Body, over time, is made up of all who believe in him. The very presence of the Lord dwells in this Body (cf. Matt. 2:20). Augustine also writes: “The head and the body constitute a single Christ, for Christ wished to be whole in us.” Whoever wishes to encounter Christ must encounter his Body; whoever wishes to know Christ must remain in the Church; whoever wishes to touch Christ must be in communion with the Christian community.
The Face. We encounter Christ on the road to Emmaus, in listening to the Word, and in the sign of the Bread. We also encounter him on the road that descends from Jerusalem to Jericho, on that road where the wounded of life lie (cf. Lk 10:29–37). For Jesus will say: “Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me” (Mt 25:31–46). The Lithuanian philosopher Emmanuel Levinas said that there is more transubstantiation in this expression of Jesus than in the bread and wine (Eucharist). Perhaps an extreme but effective way of expressing the reality of the Risen One’s sacramental presence in humanity.

Commentary by d. Sandro Carotta, osb
Abbazia di Praglia (Italia)