Acts 3:1-10 / Luke 24:13-35
The novel "A Tale of Two Cities" was written in 1859 by Charles Dickens. It is about a story of two cities, Paris and London, and the drama of the people in between.
In a way, it was a comparative study put in fiction form of what was happening in one city against what was happening in another city and the consequences.
Well, we also can use the phrase "a tale of two cities" to compare two individuals or two groups of people with differing fortunes.
And maybe we can also use it for the comparison between the characters in the two readings of today.
There is Peter and John in the 1st reading and Cleopas and his companion in the gospel. It was like a tale of two cities: one group was full of faith, the other was losing faith; one group was confident, the other was despondent.
But still, there are similarities between these two groups: they had Jesus with them, although the latter group did not recognize Him until later on.
Peter and John also went through the darkness of despondency when they lost faith and couldn't see Jesus. That was what Cleopas and his companion went through in the gospel.
But eventually, they recognized Jesus in their midst, and it was Peter who expressed the conviction in this way: I have neither silver nor gold, but I will give you what I have: in the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, walk!
So in whichever state or whatever fortune we may be in, let us know that Jesus is with us. May our eyes be opened in the Eucharist so that we can receive Jesus in our hearts, and of what we receive may we also give totally to others.