"The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us" (Jn 1:14). God became a human being so that we could have a flesh-and-blood, deeply personal relationship with Him. After Jesus' death, His Incarnation seemed finished. When Jesus bodily rose from the dead, His Incarnation was restored.

However, the apostles still lost touch with the incarnate Jesus because they found it hard to believe in His resurrection. "In their panic and fright they thought they were seeing a ghost. He said to them, 'Why are you disturbed? Why do such ideas cross your mind? Look at My hands and My feet; it is really I. Touch Me, and see that a ghost does not have flesh and bones as I do' " (Lk 24:37-39). Jesus even ate a piece of fish to prove He was still incarnate (Lk 24:42-43). Finally, "He opened their minds to the understanding of the Scriptures" (Lk 24:45).

Jesus obviously wants us to relate to Him as incarnate and risen. Yet even the presence of His physical body does not guarantee we will. We need faith, and "faith comes through hearing, and hearing by God's word" (Rm 10:17, our transl.). Therefore, the incarnate, risen Jesus spent the first afternoon (Lk 24:27) and evening of His risen life by opening His disciples' and apostles' "minds to the understanding of the Scriptures" (Lk 24:45).

What Christ's resurrection didn't do, His word can do (see Lk 16:31). Love, learn, and live in God's word (Jn 15:7; 8:31). Then you will relate to Jesus as a Man, not as a ghost.

Nihil Obstat:  Reverend Robert L. Hagedorn, November 9, 1996

Imprimatur:  †Most Reverend Carl K. Moeddel, Vicar General and Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, November 15, 1996