Lk 24:13-35

That very day, the first day of the week,
two of Jesus’ disciples were going
to a village seven miles from Jerusalem called Emmaus,
and they were conversing about all the things that had occurred.
And it happened that while they were conversing and debating,
Jesus himself drew near and walked with them,
but their eyes were prevented from recognizing him.
He asked them,
“What are you discussing as you walk along?”
They stopped, looking downcast.
One of them, named Cleopas, said to him in reply,
“Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem
who does not know of the things
that have taken place there in these days?”
And he replied to them, “What sort of things?”
They said to him,
“The things that happened to Jesus the Nazarene,
who was a prophet mighty in deed and word
before God and all the people,
how our chief priests and rulers both handed him over
to a sentence of death and crucified him.
But we were hoping that he would be the one to redeem Israel;
and besides all this,
it is now the third day since this took place.
Some women from our group, however, have astounded us:
they were at the tomb early in the morning
and did not find his body;
they came back and reported
that they had indeed seen a vision of angels
who announced that he was alive.
Then some of those with us went to the tomb
and found things just as the women had described,
but him they did not see.”
And he said to them, “Oh, how foolish you are!
How slow of heart to believe all that the prophets spoke!
Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things
and enter into his glory?”
Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets,
he interpreted to them what referred to him
in all the Scriptures.
As they approached the village to which they were going,
he gave the impression that he was going on farther.
But they urged him, “Stay with us,
for it is nearly evening and the day is almost over.”
So he went in to stay with them.
And it happened that, while he was with them at table,
he took bread, said the blessing,
broke it, and gave it to them.
With that their eyes were opened and they recognized him,
but he vanished from their sight.
Then they said to each other,
“Were not our hearts burning within us
while he spoke to us on the way and opened the Scriptures to us?”
So they set out at once and returned to Jerusalem
where they found gathered together
the eleven and those with them who were saying,
“The Lord has truly been raised and has appeared to Simon!”
Then the two recounted
what had taken place on the way
and how he was made known to them in the breaking of bread.

Reflection

One of the church's earliest memories is the story of the two disciples who fled from Jerusalem after the crucifixion. Jesus was the one person who had meant most to them. With his death their whole world had collapsed and an end was put to their dreams for the future. Struggling to make sense of their disappointment, they felt that there was nothing else for it but to leave the other apostles and to depart from the place where their hopes were severely shattered. On the way out of the city, the two forlorn disciples were joined by a stranger who listened sympathetically to their sorry tale and helped them to see meaning in all that had happened. At every step of their troubled journey Jesus was in their midst but they did not recognise his presence until the breaking of bread at Emmaus. Their faith was restored and they returned to Jerusalem with new-found enthusiasm.

The story of Jesus and the disciples on the road to Emmaus points the finger at us and sheds light on our own situation in times of trial. Their distress is ours in many ways and their sadness sounds familiar to our ears. How many times have we walked the road to Emmaus with downcast face occasioned by quarrels in the home, difficulties at work or the loneliness of being rejected? The troubles and worries of life can so crowd our minds that we lose our sense of direction and are brought to the point of despair. All the time we forget that Jesus is walking with us, at our side ready and anxious to help us if only we would turn to him for guidance, in these moments of quiet desperation. This is an opportunity to reflect on the importance of recognising the Lord's presence in our lives. One way we do this is by growing closer to him through daily prayer and scripture reading.

We encounter the Lord amidst the ordinariness of human life, in the relationships we establish as we work and share together. At Sunday Mass, Jesus invites us to relive the Emmaus experience as we share the eucharist with him. We bring to Mass the joys and sorrows of the week that has gone and Christ speaks to us as he spoke to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. He will throw light on every moment of joy and show that every bit of suffering has a purpose, giving us a motive for living a deeply As we share in the breaking of bread at this Mass, we can pray to have our eyes open so that we can see beyond the sufferings of human living, to the joy that is all around us and ahead of us. Then we are in a position to set out and proclaim the good news to those we will meet in the coming week.

from Homilies and Prayers of the Faithful for the Three-Year Cycle
by Desmond Knowles
Paulines Publication