<div dir="ltr">
<b style="margin:0px;outline:medium none currentcolor;padding:0px;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";font-weight:normal"><b style="margin:0px;outline:medium none currentcolor;padding:0px;font-size:18px;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";color:rgb(0,0,0);font-weight:normal;font-style:normal"><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:18px;font-weight:400;line-height:inherit;text-decoration:inherit;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";font-style:normal"><b style="margin:0px;outline:medium none currentcolor;padding:0px;font-weight:normal"><b style="margin:0px;outline:medium none currentcolor;padding:0px;font-size:18px;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";color:rgb(0,0,0);font-weight:normal;font-style:normal"><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:18px;font-weight:400;line-height:inherit;text-decoration:inherit;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";font-style:normal">Friends,
<span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b> in today’s Gospel, the risen Jesus appears to his eleven disciples.
They were understandably terrified and thought they were seeing a ghost.
But Jesus is quick to disabuse them of this notion: "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."</b></span></span><br><br><span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:18px;line-height:inherit;text-decoration:inherit;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";font-style:normal">While
they were still amazed and incredulous for joy, he stunned them
further, saying, "Have you anything here to eat?" With that, they gave
him a piece of baked fish, which he ate in the<span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)">ir presence. </span></span></b></span><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b><br><br></b></span><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:18px;font-weight:400;line-height:inherit;text-decoration:inherit;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";font-style:normal"><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b>The
bodily resurrection of Jesus</b></span>—as the first fruits of those who have
fallen asleep—<span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b>is the great sign that heaven and earth are coming
together. A body that can be touched and that can consume baked fish has
found its way into the realm of heaven.</b></span></span><br><br><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:18px;font-weight:400;line-height:inherit;text-decoration:inherit;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";font-style:normal">What
does this mean? It means that <span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b>bodies are not finally alien to God. We
have indeed an Advocate in the heavenly places.</b></span> Were the Resurrection a
convenient story or a clever myth, the two realms of heaven and earth
would be as separate as ever.</span></b></b></span></b></b>
<br></div>