The Emmaus Experience!
The Emmaus Experience!
"Were not our hearts burning within us while he spoke to us on the way and opened the scriptures to us?" The two disciples are leaving Jerusalem for a village named Emmaus. When they recognized the Risen Lord, at the breaking of the bread, they asked each other this question. I am sure we all may have a spark of an idea, but sometimes we ignore it. I can share one of my experiences with you. Last time I visited my family, my dad, brother, and I went to see some of my relatives, and on the way we stopped at my mom’s home parish where a Eucharistic miracle took place. In 2013, during the celebration of the Eucharist, the face of Jesus was made visible on the host. While we were in the presence of the miraculous Eucharist, I felt something deeper, but I didn’t know what it was at the time. When I came back, I expressed the view that we need to hold a Eucharistic procession. Everyone was excited, and we had a Eucharist procession.
Two parts of the Emmaus experience are interpreting the scripture and breaking the bread. These are the two main parts of the Eucharistic celebration: Liturgy of the Word and Liturgy of the Eucharist. Let us take a moment to walk with those two disciples on the way to Emmaus. One of them was Cleopas. In the Gospel of John 19:25, we see Cleopas at the foot of the cross. While they were leaving, they talked about everything that had happened: Jesus’ passion and death, the crucifixion of Jesus. Jesus, like a stranger who knew nothing, drew closer to them. Jesus is the only person in Jerusalem who knows exactly what has happened. But he asked what sorts of things they were debating. They were surprised that he didn’t know everything that happened to Jesus of Nazareth three days ago. They also told him about the announcement of women, which surprised them. Jesus told them while he was with them that he had to go through passion and death, and on the third day he would be raised. Even though Cleopas knew about the empty tomb and the vision of angels, he decided to turn his back on the city and leave. Jesus addressed them, "O foolish men, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken!” Then he reminded them that His suffering, death, and resurrection from the dead are the fulfillment of the scripture.
They might have felt comfortable with this stranger upon reaching their destination, so they invited him to stay with them. At the breaking of the bread, they recognized Jesus. And he vanished from their sight. Our God walks with us always, even in the moments we do not recognize him. Jesus vanished from the sight of Cleopas and the other disciples; he revealed himself in the Eucharist. After recognizing Jesus in the breaking of the bread, they recalled their experience while Jesus was interpreting the scripture: their hearts were burning.
Last weekend, I told our First Communion children to pay attention and when they receive Holy Communion to go back to the pew and spend one-on-one time with Jesus. This Sunday's Gospel reading reminds us to pay deeper attention when we receive Holy Communion.
Jesus instituted the Eucharistic Sacrifice of His Body and Blood. He did this to perpetuate the sacrifice of the cross throughout the ages until He comes again. In this Sacrament, Jesus entrusts to His Church a memorial of His death and Resurrection, the sacrament of love, a sign of unity and a bond of charity, in which Christ is consumed, and our minds and souls are filled with grace, and a pledge of future glory. At the end of the Mass, we are sent out to share His love with others.
Pope Francis, in his Apostolic Letter Desiderio Desideravi (“I have earnestly desired”) writes, “The content of the bread broken is the cross of Jesus, his sacrifice of obedience out of love for the Father. If we had not had the Last Supper, that is to say, if we had not had the ritual anticipation of his death, we would have never been able to grasp how the carrying out of his being condemned to death could have been in fact the act of perfect worship, pleasing to the Father, the only true act of worship, the only true liturgy. Only a few hours after the Supper, the apostles could have seen the cross of Jesus, if they could have borne the weight of it, what it meant for Jesus to say, “body offered,” “blood poured out.” It is this of which we make a memorial in every Eucharist. When the Risen One returns from the dead to break the bread for the disciples at Emmaus, and for his disciples who had gone back to fishing for fish and not for people on the Sea of Galilee, that gesture of breaking the bread opens their eyes. It heals them from the blindness inflicted by the horror of the cross, and it renders them capable of “seeing” the Risen One, of believing in the Resurrection.”