Word to the Wise
Wednesday, April 20, 2022 - Octave of Easter - Wed
[Acts 3:1-10 and Luke 24:13-35]"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, but he vanished from their sight. Then they said to each other, "Were not our hearts burning within us while he spoke to us on the way and opened the Scriptures to us?" So they set out at once and returned to Jerusalem where they found together the Eleven and those with them who were saying, "The Lord has truly been raised and has appeared to Simon!" Then the two recounted what had taken place on the way and how he was made known to them in the breaking of the bread. [Luke]
The evangelist Luke wrote in the years following the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 A.D.. By then, the preaching of the gospel had spread beyond Jerusalem to communities that were not primarily Jewish. The story of the two disciples on the road to Emmaus is both a preparation for Luke's further account of the spread of Christianity in the Acts of the Apostles and an account of the faith journey of many who have come to faith. I have in mind the faith journeys of those in RCIA programs who participated in the Easter Vigil! Each of them has invited the Lord to "stay with them." They learned through the instruction in the program about the scriptures and the Church's sacramental tradition which we celebrate with every Eucharist. Now it is their turn to evangelize and proclaim the Risen Lord in word and deed.
I am acquainted with at least two students who received the Sacrament of Confirmation and made First Communion at the Easter Vigil this year. Their excitement was truly refreshing. I hope it is contagious to their fellow students and others. It matches the story in today's gospel. The two disciples returned to Jerusalem and learn what happened there about Jesus' resurrection,, but they too have had their own experience and now share it with those who were in Jerusalem! From Jerusalem they will all go forth to proclaim the message, as Luke will recount in the Acts of the Apostles. We are part of that story now. AMEN