Today’s Gospel is the story of the two disciples on the road to Emmaus and how they came to recognize Jesus in the “Breaking of the Bread.” The phrase “Breaking of the Bread” was an early Christian way to refer to the Eucharist, the mass. Luke in his second work, the Acts of the Apostles, describes the communal life of the early Christian community in this way: “They devoted themselves to the teaching of the apostles and to the communal life, to the breaking of the bread and to the prayers.” (Acts 2:42). Luke teaches us in today’s Gospel that we come to “see” Jesus through our participation in the mass, the breaking of the bread. One of the Eucharistic Prayers used at mass refers explicitly to today’s Gospel passage:
“You are indeed Holy and to be glorified, O God, who love the human race and who always walk with us on the journey of life. Blessed indeed is your Son, present in our midst when we are gathered by his love, and when, as once for the disciples, so now for us, he opens the Scriptures and breaks the bread.” (Eucharistic Prayer For Various Needs IV).
This prayer tells us that God is with us as he “always walks with us on the journey of life.” The prayer goes on to proclaim that it is Jesus who is present with us at mass and indeed has “gathered [us] by his love.” During the mass Jesus is active as he “opens” or interprets the Scriptures for us and “breaks the bread.”
So, each time we participate in the mass we are those disciples on the road to Emmaus. Jesus opens the Scripture to help us to understand his way of humility, service, and sacrifice:
“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.” (Luke 24:26-27).
Like those first disciples let us experience that same burning Easter Joy as we celebrate the Breaking of the Bread: “Were not our hearts burning within us while Jesus spoke to us on the way and opened the Scriptures to us?” (Luke 24:32).
Image: “Christ revealed in the breaking of the bread” by bobosh_t is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.