Vangeli per le Famiglie - III Domenica di Pasqua - "La Presenza Eucaristica del Risorto" - 19/04/26

www.chiesadomestica.org From the Gospel according to Luke Luke 24:13-35 Now behold, that very day [the first of the week], two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and talking with each other about all these things that had happened. While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself drew near and went with them; but their eyes were kept from recognizing him. He said to them, "What is this discussion that you are holding with each other as you walk?" They stopped, looking sad. One of them, named Cleopas, answered him, "Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?" He asked them, "What things?" They answered him, "The things concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, how the chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be condemned to death and crucified him. But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. And besides all this, it is now the third day since these things took place. But some women of our group astonished us. They were at the tomb early in the morning, and when they did not find his body, they came back saying that they had indeed seen a vision of angels, who said that he was alive. Some of those with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see.” He said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! 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 in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself. As they approached the village to which they were going, he acted as though he were going farther. But they urged him strongly, "Stay with us, for it is nearly evening and the day is now far spent." So he went in to stay with them. While he was at table with them, he took bread, blessed it, broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. But he vanished from their sight. And they said to one another, "Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?" They rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem, where they found the Eleven gathered together and those who were with them, who were saying, "The Lord has risen indeed and has appeared to Simon!" And they told what had happened on the road, and how he was recognized by them in the breaking of the bread. The Word of the Lord. _______________________ Dearly beloved, Today's Gospel reminds us of the episode of the Disciples of Emmaus, which occurred on the afternoon of Easter Sunday. It is the second apparition of the Risen Lord, after the one to the women and Mary Magdalene in the morning, before appearing on Easter evening to the Eleven gathered in the Upper Room. This apparition is, after all, the first Mass celebrated by Jesus after his Resurrection, which reminds us that the Risen One has always been present for two thousand years, walking alongside us, every time we celebrate the Eucharist. This apparition, in fact, anticipates the two fundamental moments of every Eucharist. The Liturgy of the Word, first and foremost. Indeed, Christ, before the two disciples had yet to recognize him, interprets in the light of Scripture the events concerning him that had plunged the two disciples into despair and despair. The fateful words: "We hoped that he was the Redeemer..." Here, reading the Word of God as a criterion for interpreting the events of our lives, offers us to rekindle in us the hope without which it is impossible to move forward... And then the other fundamental moment, the Eucharistic Liturgy, when Jesus breaks the Eucharistic bread as he did at the Last Supper, so that the two disciples recognize him as the Risen One. He becomes our companion on the journey of life to nourish us with his love, as he himself prophesied, calling himself the true Bread of Heaven. Certainly, the Risen One is present with his Spirit every time we celebrate a Sacrament: in Baptism, Confirmation, Matrimony, Priestly Ordination... But these are Sacraments that are generally celebrated only once in a lifetime. Not the Eucharist. We can also receive it every day, certainly every Sunday. It is the sacrament that accompanies us along the journey of life through which the Risen Jesus makes himself present in each of us, nourishing, like a true Bread from Heaven, the hunger for love in our hearts, restoring peace, joy, hope, love, and light: the gifts of Easter. The weekly Easter of our Sunday Mass, a continuation through the centuries and millennia of the first Mass celebrated by the Risen One on Easter Sunday with the disciples of Emmaus! Hugs Gf