Last night I accompanied Mum to a wedding anniversary celebration. Old friends of my parents who have attained what is increasingly rare as time goes by - 50 years of marriage and still going strong.
It was great to see them surrounded by children, grand-children and friends, celebrating the cumulation of their lives together as husband and wife. What a special evening!
Biblically, 50 is the number of jubilee or celebration, a time of deliverance and rest, and, of grace as it is the perfect consummation of time.
Fifty days after Jesus was resurrected, the Holy Spirit descended on the disciples in the upper room and thus the gift of the Spirit was given to humankind on Pentecost.
So which ever way you slice it, 50 is a powerful number and cause for celebration.
While I thoroughly enjoyed the feast last night (and paying today for over-indulging), there was much to digest from last Sunday's gospel reading of the apostles' meeting of Jesus on the road to Emmaus.
As Fr. Renckens explained, we do not have the readings from the Bible before the Eucharist just to make mass longer, rather it is by listening to the word of God and by opening our hearts and minds to receive Him that we may truly be transformed by our faith during the Eucharistic celebration.
Through this transformation, we are then better able to emulate Christ and reflect His love in our actions in our daily lives.
Just as our bodies require food every day to function well, so do our minds and hearts require the bread of life a.k.a. Jesus, through prayer, especially through meditating on Scripture, to maintain healthy spiritual lives.
In Matthew's gospel. Jesus responded to temptation brought on by hunger resulting from 40 days of fasting with this: "One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God."
I hope to spend these 50 days of the Easter season feasting on God's words and arriving at Pentecost in a suitable mood of jubilation.
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