Acts 2:14.22 – 33/Ps. 15:1 – 2, 5 -11/1Pt. 1:17 – 21/ Lk. 24:13 – 35

The First reading concerns bearing witness to the “name” of Jesus, and the implications which this witnessing necessarily brings with it. Peter and the apostles answered their inquisitors by stating firmly their faith in Christ, and the lesson ends with reference to their joy at having been found worthy to endure trials for the name of Christ.

The Gospel is from St. Luke 24:13-35. It is the first day of the week after the great Jewish feast of the Passover and Jerusalem is trying to return to its normal routine. The Temple priests congratulate themselves because they were able to kill the ‘Galilean’. For the disciples and those who were ‘foreigners’ in Jerusalem, it is time to start to return to their own homes and their normal lives.

Curtains were closed and lights were dimmed not only due to the celebration of Jerusalem’s solemn festival but also because everyone had hope that the man Jesus ‘would be the One to redeem Israel’ (Lk 24:21). The two disciples from Emmaus are to be found, along their journey, talking to ‘Jesus in person’, ‘but their eyes were prevented from recognizing Him’ (Lk 24:16).

This is the situation of the two disciples in today’s gospel reading. They were walking away from Jerusalem, when they really should have been staying put there, because it was in Jerusalem that the risen Lord intended giving them the Holy Spirit, and it was from Jerusalem that he would send them out to the ends of the earth. It was grief and disappointment and disillusionment that caused them to head in the wrong direction. They wanted to get out of the city where Jesus had been crucified as quickly as possible. They had forgotten that Jesus had told them that, having been crucified by his enemies, God would raise him from the dead. Sometimes our own grief, or anger, or deep disappointment, can cause us to head off in wrong directions too. Our emotions can dull our memories and cloud our reasoning. We can find ourselves walking away from the very place or person that has the potential to give us life.

 The way the Lord related to those two disciples is how he relates to all of us. He walks with us, even when we are walking in the wrong direction. He invites us to tell him our story, and he listens carefully to it, even though it is often not the full story. In his own way, he tries to give us the fuller picture, he helps us to see the crucial bit of the story we may be missing, and, in that way, he prompts us to take a different direction, to take a different road, one that will be more life-giving for us and for others.

Again, it tells us of the ability of Jesus to make sense of things.  The whole situation seemed to these two men to have no explanation.  Their hopes and dreams were shattered.  There is all the poignant, wistful, bewildered regret in the world in their sorrowing words, “We were hoping that he was the one who was going to rescue Israel”. They were the words of men whose hopes were dead and buried. Then Jesus came and talked with them, and the meaning of life became clear and the darkness became light. It is only in Jesus that, even in the bewildering times, we learn what life means.

It was while he was at table with the two disciples and broke bread with them that they finally came to recognize fully the stranger who had shared their journey. It tells how he was known to them in the breaking of bread. It was at an ordinary meal in an ordinary house, when an ordinary loaf was being divided, that these men recognized Jesus.  It has been beautifully suggested that perhaps they were present at the feeding of the five thousand, and, as he broke the bread in their cottage home, they recognized his hands again.  It is not only at the communion table we can be with Christ; we can be with him at the dinner table too.  He is not only the host in his Church; he is the guest in every home.

Dear friends in Christ, we may not be physically present at the Eucharist these days, but we are spiritually present and we continue to recognize the Lord in the breaking of bread. As we allow the Lord to touch our lives through others, through his word, through the Eucharist, we will be strengthened to continue on our pilgrim way with fresh hope in our hearts, just as the two disciples returned joyfully to Jerusalem after meeting the Lord. Sometimes, we too may sometimes meet with discouragement and lack of hope because of defects that we cannot manage to root out, or of difficulties in the apostolate, life, marriage or in our workplace that seem to be insurmountable. On these occasions provided, let us allow ourselves to be helped by Jesus, for he will not allow us to be parted from him. This Easter season is a good time for us all to pray… “Stay with us Lord”.

Rosary Prayer: Glorious Mysteries.

Read… Meditate… Pray…