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 bread.
“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.”
I once worked with someone that when I said,
“goodbye, see you tomorrow”, to them at
the end of the work day they would respond “Si Dios quiere”; which translates
“If God wants it”, in other words to say, “if it be God’s will that I am still
alive tomorrow you will see me”. Now
normally this would be a very good understanding of giving complete control of
our lives to God and that His will should be done in heaven and on earth. But in this situation this person would not
say it with confidence and trust in God, but with sadness and gloom in their
voice. It is as if this person were
saying with downcast eyes “Woe is me, my life is such a struggle”. My sisters and brothers in Christ, in today’s
Gospel the two disciples are saddened to the point that their eyes are not
fixed on the glory of Heaven but instead “downcast” and looking only at the
ground beneath their feet. When life is
not what you expect, when there is tragedy and suffering do you look “downcast”
or do you fix your gaze on our Risen Lord and His promise of eternal life? Sisters and brothers we are called to place
our Hope and Faith in our Lord who has conquered sin and death once and for
all! To walk with our feet on this earth
but to fix our eyes on Heaven, our HOPE!
Have Faith; trust in our Lord, trust in His Word, trust in His
Mercy! Stop waiting to die and live each
day as a gift from God! Let our Risen
Lord be the source of your Joy and your Peace, see His awesome power and love
in the breaking of the bread; may God’s will be done on earth as it is in
Heaven! See you soon, Si Dios
Quiere!! Blessings. Fr. Steven
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