Reading 1
Acts 3:1-10
Peter and John were going up to the temple area
for the three o’clock hour of prayer.
And a man crippled from birth was carried
and placed at the gate of the temple called “the Beautiful Gate” every day
to beg for alms from the people who entered the temple.
When he saw Peter and John about to go into the temple,
he asked for alms.
But Peter looked intently at him, as did John,
and said, “Look at us.”
He paid attention to them, expecting to receive something from them.
Peter said, “I have neither silver nor gold,
but what I do have I give you:
in the name of Jesus Christ the Nazorean, rise and walk.”
Then Peter took him by the right hand and raised him up,
and immediately his feet and ankles grew strong.
He leaped up, stood, and walked around,
and went into the temple with them,
walking and jumping and praising God.
When all the people saw him walking and praising God,
they recognized him as the one
who used to sit begging at the Beautiful Gate of the temple,
and they were filled with amazement and astonishment
at what had happened to him.
Gospel
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 the bread.
Meditation: Luke 24:13-35
Their eyes were opened and they recognized him. (Luke 24:31)
The two disciples were disappointed and confused. Did Jesus really rise from the dead, or were the rumors just wishful thinking from women in mourning? Was Jesus the Messiah, or were his followers just gullible and eagerly misled? And so the men walked away, downcast and dejected, returning to their former life in Emmaus.
But then Jesus showed up—albeit in disguise—to reassure them. He taught them using the Scriptures, and their hearts blazed within them. Then when he broke the bread, they finally recognized him. It was the Lord! He really had risen!
The Emmaus story is a beautiful blueprint for the Mass. It follows the steps of two disciples who hear the word of God and then meet Jesus in the breaking of the bread. But it all sounds so idealistic, doesn’t it? Who really walks into Mass and sees Jesus? Who really has their eyes open in such a dramatic way?
We can! In their document on the liturgy, the Fathers of Vatican II taught that it really is Jesus speaking to us in the readings. Scripture is his word, after all, and when it is proclaimed in the assembly, the Holy Spirit fills it with a special power to enter our senses and stir our hearts—just as the Emmaus disciples’ hearts burned along the way. Then, as if that isn’t enough, Jesus comes to us in an even more intimate way during communion: He allows us to take his body into our own body so that we become one with him. How can we not be changed?
St. Peter Julian Eymard once wrote: “When Jesus taught the two disciples along the way, explaining the Scriptures to them, their faith still wavered, though they felt inwardly some mysterious emotion. But participating in the breaking of the bread, immediately their eyes were opened, and their hearts were like to burst with joy… . They had to feel his heart, to be fed with the Bread of understanding!”
At every Mass, Jesus stands ready to minister to us. All he needs are open, searching hearts. He promises that everyone who seeks him will find him. And finding him, they will find their greatest joy.
“Jesus, Bread of Life, I’m hungry for you! Help me to see you, know you, and love you at Mass. Come and unite me with yourself, risen Savior!”
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