Happy Easter, Christ the King!
There is a special form of the Eucharistic Prayer for use in Masses for Various Needs that you might not hear as frequently. This Sunday’s Gospel account of what the two men experienced on the Road to Emmaus is the direct inspiration for the beginning lines of that Eucharistic prayer and it inspired me to have that printed as the quote on my ordination card because I think it encapsulates so perfectly what the experience of our Sacramental life is all about:
“You are indeed Holy and to be glorified, O God,
who love the human race
and who always walks 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.”
As extraordinary-seeming as the events were for those two men journeying towards Emmaus, the really astounding truth I find is that we all live and experience the Emmaus moment every time we gather to celebrate the Mass! We, too, are on our journey of life and faith, and perhaps at times we are just as downcast and confused as these men were, and Jesus might seem quite hidden and feel more like a stranger. And yet, Christ is alive and present in our midst and he gathers us in his love, both in opening the Scriptures for us in the Liturgy of the Word and in the “breaking of the bread” in our celebration and reception of the Holy Eucharist. That experience can set our hearts on fire and, like those two men, we can look back on our journey so far and truly come to understand in our souls that Jesus has been there beside us all along! Any encounter with any stranger, then, is pregnant with the possibility of being an encounter with none other than the Risen Lord, and that transforms the way we look at the mystery of our lives into an adventure of grace. In the light revealed by the Resurrection, God shows us that nothing is too ordinary for His extraordinary offer of grace.
That journey is shared physically with our brothers and sisters in Christ whom we see on a regular basis, but it is also shared spiritually in Communion with all Catholics around the world, including our brothers and sisters in Christ at our sister parish in Jalchatra, Bangladesh. It is an incredible honor and joy to welcome Fr. Subash Costa, CSC, the pastor of our sister parish who will be visiting us in-person for our 12:15pm Mass this weekend! Though it is our first time meeting in-person, he is certainly far from being a stranger to us, because the Living Lord has graced our shared journey of faith from different sides of the globe in ways that we can only completely know when He comes again in glory. “God raised this Jesus; of this we are all witnesses,” no matter what part of the world we come from. Welcome to Christ the King, Fr. Subash, and thanks be to God who has brought us together in communion on this shared journey of faith!
In Christ, Our Risen King,
Fr. David
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