I
love this Gospel…always have. Even as a
kid I remember how I loved to hear this beautiful, touching, and important
story of the Easter Sunday encounter on the road to Emmaus. One of the things I love most about it is how,
except for Holy Thursday, this was obviously the very first Holy Mass, and over
my lifetime I’ve come to more and more appreciate and yes, love, Holy Mass.
Just
as the two disciples, two men or maybe a man and a woman, were on their journey
to Emmaus, you and I, too are on a journey – a journey through life. We gather in His presence, as did the two,
even if they didn’t know yet that it was He who was with them. Like the two, lamenting the death of their
Lord, many of us come here broken and hurting, perhaps beaten down by “life”,
mourning and in pain. Perhaps some of us
come here thinking things are just fine, perhaps needing ourselves to be broken
and humbled a little.
And
just as He did for the two disciples, Jesus broke open the word and explained the
scriptures that spoke of Him. That was
the first Liturgy of the Word along the road to Emmaus, no different than what we
celebrate here – here we proclaim from the Hebrew scriptures, the New
Testament, and the holy Gospel. And then
the priest or deacon, as Christ did, breaks open that word – how does His Word
intersect with and guide our lives, our journeys. Hopefully, on occasion, to make our hearts
burn within us as we hear Him speaking to us. And occasionally, because we are slow of
heart, because we are in need of change, in need of being broken, maybe His
Word might give us a little heartburn!
And
then we see the Lord at supper with the two disciples, taking bread, blessing
it, breaking it and giving it. The very
same words, the very same actions, we will see in just a few moments here at
the altar in the Liturgy of the Eucharist.
And through the breaking of the bread, the disciples recognize the very
real presence of the Lord, just as we believe Him really and truly present here
in the appearance of bread and wine.
Think
of those words – think of those actions:
take, bless, break and give.
Take, bless, break and give. That’s
what happened at that supper table in Emmaus 2000 years ago, it’s what we will
soon participate in as Father Joe takes bread, blesses it, breaks it and gives
to us His Body and Blood.
And
it’s the same thing should happen to us, the believing community of disciples.
Take
– we gather here, we come together here, just as we are. He takes each of us, all of us, ordinary
people, and by what can only be described as a miracle, intends to do
extraordinary things with us and through us.
Think about it – just as astounding as the belief that Jesus Himself is
present in bread and wine is the idea that Jesus makes Himself present to the
world through you and me.
Bless
- He blesses us. We are blessed by the
gift of our faith by which we gather here, as we blessed ourselves with holy water,
reminiscent of our baptisms, as we entered here.
Break
– just as we gather, broken people that we are, just as we gather needing to be
broken of our sinful ways and sinful attitudes, so too are broken here, only to
be healed and united in communion with each other, and with Our Lord by
partaking of His sacred Body and Blood.
In a very real sense, we become what we eat – the Body of Christ.
Give
– We are to receive His Body and Blood as His gift to us. Not something to snatch or grasp but to
receive as a sacred present, sacred gift to us.
As we receive His Risen and glorified Body, we say “amen,” meaning yes,
I believe that this truly is Christ’s Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity. But it’s also our assent, our “yes”, our
belief that together we are the Body of Christ.
Receiving His Body should open
our eyes to His very real presence within us, within each other, within all of
us as His disciples.
And
give means that we together, united as His Body, are given to the world. At the end of Mass I will dismiss this
congregation with the words “Let us go forth in peace.” Go. Forth. The Lord whom we encounter here is
the same Lord we are entrusted to take out there to the world. To be His legs and feet to draw near and walk
with them on their journeys. So that the
world out there may come to see Him present still.
Take.
Bless. Break and Give. It’s what He did
at that supper table in Emmaus. The same
actions that Father Joe, standing in the person of Christ, will soon do for all
of us. And its’ what Our Blessed Lord is
doing with each of us here today and every weekend. Taking us, blessing us,
breaking us and transforming us into His Body to give to the world.
Thank you, Lord, for
inviting us to the banquet of your word, and the table of your Body and
Blood. May we now make you known to the
world.
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