MODEL FOR OUR LITURGY: THE ROAD TO EMMAUS

 THIRD SUNDAY OF EASTER – A| Apr. 19, 2026 /Acts 2:14,22-33; 1 Peter 1:17-21; Luke 24:13-35

Our Scripture lessons for today have one common, encouraging theme: No matter what happens in our lives, the risen Jesus is always with us. God is always near to those who seek Him and desire to live in His presence, doing His will.

The first reading, from Acts, taken from the beginning of Peter’s first public proclamation about Jesus, tells us how God raised Jesus from death, thus fulfilling the Messianic prophecies about the promised descendant of David. In the second reading, Peter exhorts the early Christians to place their Faith and Hope in God, who has saved them through the precious Blood of His Son and Who has raised Jesus from the dead. The Emmaus incident described in today’s Gospel shows us a God who will not abandon us when we are hurt or disappointed. The message of today’s Scripture readings is that the followers of Jesus are to maintain contact with their Risen Lord through prayer, the Eucharist, and the Bible.

When we read today’s Gospel, we may be surprised to learn that these friends of Jesus could walk and converse with him at some length yet not recognize him. Again, we discover that the risen Jesus is not always easily recognized. Cleopas and the other disciple walk with a person whom they believe to be a stranger; only later do they discover that the stranger is Jesus. We learn that the first community met and recognized Jesus in the breaking of the bread, just as we meet Jesus in the Eucharist.

We can imagine the feelings of the two disciples in today’s reading. They are leaving their community in Jerusalem. Their friend Jesus has been crucified. Their hope is gone. They are trying to make sense of what has happened so that they can put the experience behind them.

Jesus himself approaches the two men, but they take him for a stranger. Jesus asks them what they are discussing. He invites them to share their experience and interpretation of the events surrounding his crucifixion and death. When the two disciples have done so, Jesus offers his own interpretation of his crucifixion and resurrection, citing Jewish Scripture. In that encounter, we find the model for our Liturgy of the Word (what we do each time we gather as a community for the Eucharist). We reflect upon our life experiences and interpret them in light of Scripture. We gather together to break open the Word of God.

In the next part of the story, we find a model for our Liturgy of the Eucharist. The disciples invite the stranger (Jesus) to stay with them. During the meal in which they share in the breaking of the bread, the disciples’ eyes are opened; they recognize the stranger as Jesus. In the Eucharist, too, we share in the breaking of the bread and discover Jesus in our midst. Just as the disciples returned to Jerusalem to recount their experience to the other disciples, we too are sent from our Eucharistic gathering. Our experience of Jesus in the Eucharist compels us to share the story with others.

Dear friends, Jesus meets us on our Emmaus Road. The risen Lord meets us on the road to our Emmaus, both in the ordinary experiences of our lives and in the places to which we retreat when life is too much for us. We, too, have hopes and dreams about better health, healing, financial security, and family relationships. These often shatter. The story promises us, however, that Jesus will come to us in unfamiliar guises to support and strengthen us when we least expect the risen Lord. Emmaus moments come to us when we meet the risen Christ on our life’s journey through rough times.

 We meet Jesus daily in our life’s journey. The Church instructs us to hear Jesus daily through prayer, through the faithful reading of, and meditation on, the Bible, through our experience of Jesus as we participate in the Eucharistic celebration in which the risen Lord gives us Himself as our spiritual Food and Drink, through our personal and family prayers, and through our family meals. When we meet Jesus in the Eucharist and, through the Word of God, we commune with him in prayer, we renew our part in our relationship of mutual loving service. These meetings enable us to encounter the risen Jesus living in all the people we meet and, in them, to offer our Lord humble, loving, selfless service.

Do our hearts burn when we listen to the risen Lord in the Bible? Christ comes to us most clearly in the Word. The Teaching of the Church (Vatican II - Dei Verbum 21) tells us that Jesus is to be equally venerated in the Eucharist and in the Bible. Therefore, we need to study the Bible, learn the Bible, pray with the Bible, meditate on the Word of God with burning zeal, and practice what the Bible teaches.

The risen Lord, brothers and sisters, desires that we walk with Him and with one another: “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you.  When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, nor shall the flame scorch you.  For I am the LORD, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior” (Is 43:2-3).    He wants to join us in our travels of life: “I am a Companion of all who fear You, and of those who keep Your precepts” (Ps 119:63).  “Where two or three are gathered in My Name, I am there among them” (Mt 18:20).

Let us ask the Risen Lord to join us in our daily journey of life, let us share with Him our troubles, our doubts, and our problems, so that He may enlighten us and bring us to the knowledge of the truth. And in return, let us walk with one another with kindness, patience, and listening ears, so that together as one body, and one community, we may all come to discover the will of the heavenly Father. Amen!