(Given at the 4:30 pm Saturday anticipated Mass and the 5:30 pm Sunday youth Mass at OLP)
Generally, when the Bible says someone’s journeying away from Jerusalem, it’s not a good thing. And the two disciples from our gospel passage are doing just that. They are heading to Emmaus, seven miles away from Jerusalem. Numbers have deeper meaning in the Bible. Seven was the number of perfection or completion. Hence, these two disciples are journeying away from Jerusalem completely. In the midst of confusion, uncertainty, despair, they are moving completely away from God. And this is understandable. The man they put their trust in has just been brutally murdered and rejected. His disciples have scattered. There is no hope whatsoever. Every man to himself, as the saying goes. But, alas, what they don’t know is that man, Jesus, is alive and risen. And what does he do? He shows up. He shows up amidst their misery and walks with them. They don’t recognize Jesus at first; I mean, how often do we recognize the Lord when experiencing great difficulty? Even though they don’t know it’s him, Jesus stays with them. He asks them questions. He challengers their misunderstanding. He meets them where they are at. He breaks open the Scriptures for them. The two disciples begin to feel their hearts on fire. Jesus doesn’t abandon them. He stays with them. He finally reveals himself in the breaking of the bread. That ancient term for the Eucharist. They recognize him, and he vanishes from their sight, but is still present to them in the Sacrament itself. The two have come to their senses and decide to go back to Jerusalem. They come back to God. How often do we find ourselves journeying away from Jerusalem, from God? How often do we find ourselves in confusion, uncertainty, despair? How often do we fail to recognize that the Lord is right in front of us? That just as he was present to the two disciples 2,000 years ago, so, too, is he available to us in every Catholic Church 24/7. In the same breaking of the bread. Maybe next time we find ourselves in dire straits, we need to break open the Scriptures, asking for guidance. Or journey to the nearest tabernacle, where Jesus is silent, ready, waiting, to listen.