[Hey, Church fans! Until Microsoft fixes their stupid video editing program, there will be no embedded more videos. You can catch the vid of the homily off the Livestream at https://www.facebook.com/stpatsak/. The text is below.]
Sometimes, we don’t pick up on the subtle cues and can miss what is going on right in front of us. Here’s a good example:
I did a lot of downhill skiing as a kid. Every Saturday morning, Dad would load all of us eight kids in the in rig and we would head up to Arctic Valley. Mom would always stand on the porch and wave to us as we drove away for a day of fun on the slopes. I always thought it was sad that she never got to come along with us. It wasn’t until I was in my twenties that I finally figured out what was really going on. Dad was giving her a break by getting us all out of the house! Who’d have thought?
I get the impression that a similar thing was going on with the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. I’m not saying that they were not bright, just that they were preoccupied. So much so that they didn’t really pick up on what was really going on for some time.
We can forgive them for this. Their entire world had just been rocked. All their hopes and dreams had died on the Cross with Jesus. They just wanted to get away. Emmaus was about a two and a half hour walk from Jerusalem. Can you imagine their conversation along the way? Then this strange guy shows up and walks with them.
I’ve written before on an old blog post about how this whole experience between Jesus and the two disciples on is a really good description of the Mass. You can see that at: https://frleowalsh.com/recognizing-jesus-emmaus-the-eucharist-and-covid-19/
Think about it. What happens at Mass?
We gather.
We share our stories.
We break the bread.
And we are sent.
In liturgy speak, these are called the Gathering/Introductory Rites.
The Liturgy of the Word
The Liturgy of the Eucharist, and
The Dismissal or Sending Forth.
Let’s take a look at each of these:
Step I: We gather. The Introductory Rites
Those who have been to one of my slow Masses can readily answer the question: When does Mass begin? The answer is simple: When the second person shows up! Why? Because Jesus said: “where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am in their midst.”
The Second Vatican Council in the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy (Par. 7) is very clear. “When the people gather” Christ is present.
Here, on the Road to Emmaus, the two disciples are gathered. Of course, Jesus would be there with them.
Step II: We share our stories. The Liturgy of the Word.
I can’t help but think that the conversation with Jesus on the road had to be one of the most intense Liturgies of the Word in the history of Salvation.
Here you have the Incarnate Word of God, explaining the word of God in the Sacred Scriptures.
Yeah, our hearts would be burning too.
And I hope yours is today.
Again, the Council is very clear. “In the proclamation of the Word” Jesus is present.
Step III: We break the bread – The Liturgy of the Eucharist
Luke tells us, “He took bread, said the blessing,
broke it, and gave it to them.”
Does this sound slightly familiar? It should. It is right out of the Third Eucharistic Prayer. (Actually, it is the source of these words in the Third Eucharistic Prayer.)
The reference to the Eucharist at the table in Emmaus is unmistakable. This becomes even more evident when one learns that the early Church used the words “fractio panis” or the “breaking of the bread” as a codeword for the Eucharist.
Again, the Council is unequivocal in their language, “(Christ) is present in the sacrifice of the Mass, not only in the person of His minister… but especially under the Eucharistic species” of bread and wine.
As we know, the Eucharist is the source and summit of all what the Church is and does. Everything that we are and do leads to the Eucharist and everything that we are and do flows from the Eucharist.
No wonder they recognized him “in the breaking of the bread.”
Which makes me wonder…do we?
More importantly, what about others who wander in our church? What is going on in their hearts and minds?
Can they recognize him in our midst as we gather? In the way we treat each other?
In the way we treat them?
Are they welcomed? Do they feel like they may have a place here?
Are our hearts burning within us as the scriptures are proclaimed and explained?
If not, then how can we expect their hearts to be burning within them?
Finally, is he recognizable in the breaking of bread?
And can they recognize him, the Risen Christ, as we do so?
I pray that it is so.
At one time or another at Mass and in life, I think we are all like those two disciples on the road to Emmaus. Sometimes we get so wrapped up with our own situation that we miss what’s really going on.
I pray that we are a parish family whose hearts are so on fire with the love of God that those encounter us
Whether within these walls
Or in our schools or in our neighborhoods
Or in our places work, or in the public square
or in our homes…
I pray that they would recognize him
The two disciples show us that what we experience here cannot, must not be contained within these walls.
The dismissal is one of the most essential parts of the Mass,
That’s why it is so short:
“The Lord be with you.
And with your spirit.
May almighty God bless you…NOW GO!
Grab a donut and go into that part of the world where God needs you most right now!
Proclaim the Good News of the resurrection of Christ and the forgiveness of sins.
May your every word and action echo those of those two disciples, saying in ways small or profound,
‘WE HAVE SEEN THE LORD!!!
And how he was made known to you
In the breaking of the bread.