I have been praying for our “new Catholics.” Not only those here in Los Angeles, but across the country, as dioceses reported record numbers of men and women entering the Church this Easter.
Our task in the Church now is to accompany our new brothers and sisters on their walk with Jesus, to help them live their faith with joy and confidence, and grow deeper in their friendship with him.
Reflecting on this challenge, I have been reading the story of the disciples on the road to Emmaus, a story that takes place late in the afternoon on that first Easter Sunday.
During Easter, we hear this story in our liturgy because it recalls the first Eucharist, celebrated by the risen Jesus himself.
The story follows the rhythms and structure of the Mass, and it teaches us that our lives as disciples are meant to be “Eucharistic.”
As baptized Christians, we live now from the Mass and for the Mass.
We live now from the encounter with Jesus, who opens our eyes to see his living presence in the world, who feeds and strengthens us for our journey. We live now for the mission that Jesus entrusts to every disciple — to be a witness to his resurrection.
We see all this in the Emmaus story.
The disciples are leaving Jerusalem. They are sad, their hopes in Jesus were shattered by his crucifixion. In their despair, Jesus comes to walk with them. But they can’t recognize him.
In every Eucharist, we too have a living encounter with Jesus. In every Mass, we enter into his presence, from the first words: “The Lord be with you!”
Like those disciples on the Emmaus road, we bring to this encounter all our wounds and disappointments, our joys and hopes. We call to mind our sins and failings.
In the Emmaus story, the disciples make a sort of confession to the “stranger” they meet. They tell him that although some women had discovered the empty tomb, they did not believe Jesus was alive, because “him they did not see.”
Jesus will help them to see, and he invites them to understand their lives in light of his life — in light of the love that he has shown by dying on the cross and rising from the dead.
This is the purpose of the Liturgy of the Word in the Mass — to help us to see the world and our lives in light of God’s plan. We read from both the Old and New Testaments because Jesus speaks to us in every page of the Scriptures.
At Emmaus, “beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them what referred to him in all the Scriptures.” Jesus does the same for us in every Mass.
When the disciples heard his Word, their hearts “burned within” them. Then they made a kind of profession of faith, saying to Jesus: “Stay with us!”
This is one of the meanings, also, of our profession of faith in the Mass.
Like those disciples, we profess that we believe in the Word we have heard and that we want to follow that Word.
And Jesus does remain, just as he stayed with those disciples on that first Easter night.
He leads us to the altar, just as he led those disciples to his table, where “he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them.”
We remember these words and actions from the Last Supper. The priest repeats these words and actions in every Mass. And in every Mass Jesus comes again to open our eyes and feed us with his body and blood.
“In the breaking of the bread,” the disciples’ eyes are opened; in that instant, they saw Jesus, then he disappeared.
But Jesus is not gone. Although we do not see him, he goes with us — alive in our hearts, nearer than the air we breathe. He will be with us always and never leave, until the end of the age.
After their encounter, the two disciples set out in joy to tell the others how their hearts burned from his Word, and how they had known him in the breaking of the bread.
At the end of Mass, the priest sends us out too, to proclaim the Gospel with our lives.
Like those first disciples, Jesus sends us out to be a witness to his resurrection, to serve the people in our lives, and bring others to their own encounter with Jesus and his saving power and love.
Pray for me and I will pray for you.
Let’s keep praying for our new Catholics. Let’s welcome them and let’s encourage them by our own love for Jesus and by the way we live our Catholic faith.
Holy Mary, Mother of the Church, pray for us!
