3rd Sunday of Easter

 The phrase that jumps out at me from the Gospel this week is: "But we had hoped that he (Jesus) was the one who would redeem Israel." (Lk 24: 21) The two disciples have been, anachronistically speaking, baptized as infants, gone to Catholic schools, received First Reconciliation and First Communion and  Confirmed as teenagers. The faith that they had been given has been static. It has met their cultural and communal needs but they have ultimately been disappointed. They have heard of the Resurrection but God has not given them what they want when they wanted it. Rather, than staying with the community and striving to contribute to it while maturing their insight and knowledge of the faith already received, as adults they leave. It is not told us whether we are dealing with two men or a woman and a man. We could imagine that this is a married couple who decide to walk out from the congregation and set out on their own spiritual and religious journey. In reality, if they had kept on walking, they would have missed out on Pentecost and all of the wonderful Springtime of the Church that came with it. The road to Emmaus is, in fact, the road to oblivion. In an uncaring and broken world they will be deprived of the support of the sacraments and a stable faith community. Cut off from the source of their original faith and culture their relationships and spirituality will degrade to the point that their children will have no knowledge or regard for Jesus or the Church as life giving realities. Rather, the Lord and the Church will be seen as either quaint out of date myths or, alternatively, as authoritarian menaces to self realization and autonomy. Rightly, Jesus pulls them up short when he says: "Oh, how foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared." (Lk 24: 25) Nevertheless, he starts again from the beginning and patiently accompanies them on their journey. Their eyes are only opened to the truth when he is revealed at the breaking of the bread. My question today is, how is the Lord revealed for me in the Mass, since as we hear in the Eucharistic Prayers for Various Needs: "Blessed indeed is your Son, present in our midst when we are gathered by his love and when, as once for the disciples, so now for us, he opens the Scriptures and breaks the bread."?