On the road to Emmaus, two disciples encounter our Lord and do not recognize him. Their conversation is fascinating. The Lord acts as if he does not know what has happened, and the disciples respond, “Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know of the things that have taken place there in these days?”
The disciples then proceed to tell him about all the things that have happened: they had hoped that Jesus of Nazareth was the Messiah, he had been crucified, and now some women have astounded them with news that he has risen. They do not understand these events, and that is obvious from how they tell the story. They know the facts, but they haven’t comprehended the truth behind them. Our Lord proceeds to open their eyes, explaining to them how the prophets and all the scriptures point to these things. He shows them the truth and the reality lying underneath the facts that they have not yet perceived.
We often find ourselves in the same situation. We may know what happened but be clueless as to why it happened or what it means for us. Even when it comes to the Resurrection and the life of Jesus himself. We might know that there is more historical evidence for the existence of Jesus than there is of any other person in history, including guys like Aristotle and Julius Caesar, but don’t grasp what that means for us as individuals, as people.
This is why we must encounter Jesus as a person and not as a mythical figure or as words on a page. If we encounter him as a person and allow him to open our hearts to the truth and meaning of things, then we, like the disciples who walked to Emmaus, will soon feel our hearts burning with love. How do we do this?
The answer is right there, in St. Luke’s Gospel:
[T]hey 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.
First, they invited Christ to stay with them, then, he revealed himself through the breaking of the bread. When we are at Mass, we can do exactly this. We can listen to the scriptures as they reveal God’s plan of salvation, and often its fulfillment, to us. Then, he offers himself to us in the Eucharist. Every Mass mirrors the road to Emmaus: God reveals his plan, and Christ reveals himself to us.
After the disciples recognized Christ, he vanished from their sight, but scripture never says that he left them. As they shared in the Eucharist, Christ came to be with them in an even more profound way. Christ still comes to us in the Eucharist. He desires for us to encounter him and be united with him always, and the gift he gave us that allows us to do this is the Eucharist.