This is an edited version of an article I wrote for the first issue of the University of Western Australia Catholic Society's biannual magazine The Road to Emmaus. The digital version of the semester one 2013 magazine can be viewed at the bottom of this post.
The twenty fourth chapter of St. Luke's Gospel gives an account of two of Jesus’ disciples who were making their way to the village of Emmaus on the third day after Jesus’ Passion. The disciples were disillusioned. With the death of their Saviour their hope had been shattered. Jesus Himself drew near them and started walking with them, but they did not recognise Him. Jesus asked them in verse 17: “What are these discourses that you hold one with another as you walk, and are sad?” The disciples, surprised that this apparent stranger did not know about Jesus of Nazareth, told Him that a Prophet, mighty in work and word had been handed over to the chief priests to be crucified. The disciples lamented because they thought that this Jesus was the one who would redeem Israel, but now He was dead and their hope had died with Him.
Before the Disciples set out on the road the women found the tomb empty with its stone rolled back, and they saw a vision of angels in "shining apparel" (verse 4). The angels told them that Jesus was alive, but the other disciples had not seen Him and they doubted Christ’s Resurrection. They told these things to Jesus and He said to them, “O foolish, and slow of heart to believe in all things which the prophets have spoken” (verse 25). And, starting from Moses, He interpreted to them the things about Himself in the scriptures. Their hearts were burning within them as He opened the scriptures to them. They finally understood that the Messiah had to suffer, die and rise on the third day. As they drew near to Emmaus, they urged their travelling companion to rest with them, saying “stay with us, because it is towards evening, and the day is now far spent” (verse 29). When He was at the table with them, He took bread, blessed it and broke it. Now there eyes were opened and they finally recognised Jesus: “they knew Him in the breaking of the bread” (verse 35).
Before the Disciples set out on the road the women found the tomb empty with its stone rolled back, and they saw a vision of angels in "shining apparel" (verse 4). The angels told them that Jesus was alive, but the other disciples had not seen Him and they doubted Christ’s Resurrection. They told these things to Jesus and He said to them, “O foolish, and slow of heart to believe in all things which the prophets have spoken” (verse 25). And, starting from Moses, He interpreted to them the things about Himself in the scriptures. Their hearts were burning within them as He opened the scriptures to them. They finally understood that the Messiah had to suffer, die and rise on the third day. As they drew near to Emmaus, they urged their travelling companion to rest with them, saying “stay with us, because it is towards evening, and the day is now far spent” (verse 29). When He was at the table with them, He took bread, blessed it and broke it. Now there eyes were opened and they finally recognised Jesus: “they knew Him in the breaking of the bread” (verse 35).
This chapter of scripture is a reflection of our journey of faith. The Road to Emmaus is a road we are all walking. Some of us have just set out on this journey, others are nearing its end. Most of us are somewhere in the middle. The road began with Christ’s sacrifice on the Cross, our redemption from sin, and its destination is the risen Jesus: the promise of eternal salvation. Like the two disciples, it is easy for us to become disillusioned on this road. There are times in this journey when the burden becomes too heavy and our only wish is to cast it off. Let us not cast it off, but cast it upon the Lord, for "He hath care for us" (1 Peter 5:7). We may feel overwhelmed and confused by what is happening around us, but Jesus’ presence with the two disciples on the Road to Emmaus is a reminder that He is always with us, to the end of the age (Matthew 28:20). We may not always recognise Him or His ways, but we know that He has plans for us; plans to give us a future and a hope (Jeremiah 29:11).
We are not simply wanderers on this road, however. There are times when we despair, but as Jesus was known to the disciples in the breaking of the bread, so too is Christ made known to us in the most intimate way at every Holy Mass. Jesus says to the crowds in John 6:30 “I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if any one eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh." Christ’s Body and Blood is “food and drink indeed” (John 6:55). This is the bread which will sustain us on the road. It is not simply bread that nourishes us physically, like the manna that the Israelites ate in the desert and died: those who eat this bread will live forever (John 6:58). The Catechism of the Catholic Church calls the Sacrament of the Eucharist “the source and summit of the Christian life” (CCC 1324). It is the “sum and summary of our faith” (CCC 1327).
The Eucharist is the new and everlasting covenant prophesied in Jeremiah 31:31 and fulfilled by Christ at the Last Supper (the first Mass) in Luke 22:11-20. Our Lord longed to be united with His disciples in this pasch (Luke 22:15) and He continues in His longing to be united with us from the tabernacle. What is the significance of the Holy Mass in the economy of salvation? In the Mass, through the mystery of transubstantiation and by virtue of Our Lord's command "do this for a commemoration of me" (Luke 22:19), the sacrifice of Calvary is made present upon the altar. "From the rising of the sun to the going down", the priest offers to the Father the pure sacrifice, "the clean oblation": the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Christ (Malachai 1:11). It is not as though Christ is being sacrificed over and over! Rather, the Mass makes substantially present the supreme moment in history when Our Lord shed His Precious Blood for us on the Cross. God gave us the means of salvation through the sacrifice of His son. When we attend Holy Mass, we are kneeling with Our Blessed Mother and St. John at the foot of the Cross. The separate consecration of the Body and Blood of Christ makes present in an unbloody manner Our Lord's Crucifixion and the infinite merits and graces of His redemptive action.
We are not simply wanderers on this road, however. There are times when we despair, but as Jesus was known to the disciples in the breaking of the bread, so too is Christ made known to us in the most intimate way at every Holy Mass. Jesus says to the crowds in John 6:30 “I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if any one eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh." Christ’s Body and Blood is “food and drink indeed” (John 6:55). This is the bread which will sustain us on the road. It is not simply bread that nourishes us physically, like the manna that the Israelites ate in the desert and died: those who eat this bread will live forever (John 6:58). The Catechism of the Catholic Church calls the Sacrament of the Eucharist “the source and summit of the Christian life” (CCC 1324). It is the “sum and summary of our faith” (CCC 1327).
The Eucharist is the new and everlasting covenant prophesied in Jeremiah 31:31 and fulfilled by Christ at the Last Supper (the first Mass) in Luke 22:11-20. Our Lord longed to be united with His disciples in this pasch (Luke 22:15) and He continues in His longing to be united with us from the tabernacle. What is the significance of the Holy Mass in the economy of salvation? In the Mass, through the mystery of transubstantiation and by virtue of Our Lord's command "do this for a commemoration of me" (Luke 22:19), the sacrifice of Calvary is made present upon the altar. "From the rising of the sun to the going down", the priest offers to the Father the pure sacrifice, "the clean oblation": the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Christ (Malachai 1:11). It is not as though Christ is being sacrificed over and over! Rather, the Mass makes substantially present the supreme moment in history when Our Lord shed His Precious Blood for us on the Cross. God gave us the means of salvation through the sacrifice of His son. When we attend Holy Mass, we are kneeling with Our Blessed Mother and St. John at the foot of the Cross. The separate consecration of the Body and Blood of Christ makes present in an unbloody manner Our Lord's Crucifixion and the infinite merits and graces of His redemptive action.