Important things are explained many times and in many ways. What always helps the most is the example, the actions themselves, but we must recognize that a good story can make a teaching unforgettable.
Let's start with the story. It happened on the very day of Jesus' resurrection with two of the Master's followers who, disillusioned, returned home cursing the day they had set their hearts on Jesus. St. Luke tells the story in chapter 24 of his Gospel.
Let's get started.
Let us acknowledge our sins
At Mass, as in life, Jesus always walks with us, but whether we are able to recognize him is another matter. The disillusioned disciples of Emmaus saw nothing, they were not even able to distinguish Jesus when he came to their side.
In our case, we have so many things on our hands that, at the beginning of the Eucharist, the priest wishes us that "... we will be able to do the same...".the Lord be with you"and it certainly is. Another thing is that, like Cleopas and his friend, we realize it. Jesus, who is already walking beside them, asks them: "What conversation is that you're carrying on the road??". "Out of what the heart is full the mouth speaks." Jesus had said at the beginning of his ministry. So the question was not a simple curiosity. The Master who has come to "heal broken hearts". (Is 61:1) needs us to open our hearts to get down to work. In the Mass the moment parallel to this is the one where we are encouraged to "let us acknowledge our sins" with the silence that follows. There we open our hearts to Christ, who will come later to mend the wounds.
Listening to the Word of God
The two heartbroken walkers poured out all their frustration with the mysterious Companion who took an interest in them: all that has gone wrong, the unanswered prayers, the dashed hopes, the useless work..... Along with this, their own cowardice in running away and leaving the Master alone in the face of his enemies and the way he was killed, in part, because of them. To his words we, in the Eucharist, add: "Lord, have mercy, Christ, have mercy."
Open the heart, we can begin to change it through hearing. Faith begins with the ear - "fides ex auditu". (Rm 10:17), and they are now going to listen to the best lesson of Sacred Scripture that has ever been pronounced in the history of mankind: "And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he explained to them what was referred to him in all the Scriptures." (Lk 24) At Sunday Mass we do this by reading two readings, the psalm, the Gospel and, finally, with the preaching of the homily. It is an intense but very necessary block, because there, as on that day, Jesus really speaks to us.
And boy, did he talk! He began by calling them "hard of understanding". That journey opened their ears, their eyes, their hearts and filled them with fire, and they, as they walked on, did not even realize it. Such is prayer, such is the reading of the Word of God.
Requests
"When they came near the village where they were going, Jesus made a gesture to go on. But they urged him, 'Stay with us.
Believe it or not, at this point they still didn't know who it was that was with them, although the strength of his words was so great and he had captivated their hearts in such a way that they were afraid to be alone again, to go back to "the old ways" and they looked for that excuse to beg him to stay. And he did.
We too, after listening to his Word, formulate our supplications, "we pray to the Lord" May he stay and illuminate with his presence so many places that, if he were not there, would frighten us: sickness, wars, hunger, injustice, death....
Offertory
At last, now calmer, seated at the table, they will move from words to deeds. Jesus was always more about works than words, although, on this occasion, words were very necessary. Now they are going to share food, which is as much as sharing life. Sitting at someone's table was, for the Jewish people, a way of manifesting intimacy with that person, the union of friendship, the desire to be one. An unattainable desire in the case of God and man. Until He came.
At Mass We see how the priest begins to prepare the altar-table. It is a delicate ritual full of simple but significant gestures: unfolding the corporal where the Body of Christ will be placed; preparing the chalice with the wine, sign of the divinity of Jesus with a few drops of water, sign of our poor humanity; offering it to the Father and praying, bowed down, so that this sacrifice may be a sign of our poor humanity; and then, as he bows down, praying for the sacrifice of the Body of Christ to be offered to the Father. "be pleasant in your presence". At the end of these signs the priest washes his hands to prepare his body and soul for what is going to happen next. We already know, Cleophas and his friend had no idea.
Consecration
"He went in and stayed with them. And being at table, he took bread and said the blessing; then he broke it and gave it to them. Then the eyes of the disciples were opened and they recognized him." (Lk 6).
The words he chose were the same, the way he pronounced them, the gesture as he took the bread and then broke it. They had already seen it elsewhere. They recognized that it was the same one he had said to them for the first time at the Last Supper: "Take and eat, this is my body."
Exegetes say that the account of the Last Supper is the first thing that was put in writing and that small papyri with copies of Jesus' words and gestures on the evening of the Last Supper are the first to be written down. Maundy Thursday circulated among the first Christian communities. Well, those same gestures and those same words were repeated by Himself after His resurrection at Emmaus and are repeated by Himself through His priests every day on the altar of all the churches of the world. The disciples recognized it at that moment. May we never get used to the mystery -that is what it is called- of transubstantiation!
Communion
Amazed, the walkers did not stop looking at the Consecrated Bread, recognizing the presence of Jesus in their midst. This Presence will be, from now on, what sets the rhythm of our spiritual life, the "source and summit of our Christian life". (LG 11).
The teaching was already sown in their hearts for them and for the whole Church until the end of time. Jesus' promise was fulfilled: "I am with you all the days until the end of the world."(Mt 28:20). That is why Jesus already "had disappeared from his sight" (Lk 6), but is still truly, substantially present in the Eucharist.
To receive Communion is to receive this Consecrated Bread, which is truly Jesus. He himself had said it in the discourse of the Bread of Life: "The bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world." (Jn 6:51), "he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day." (Jn 6:54).
The disciples of Emmaus stared at the Consecrated Bread and with what emotion they would put it in their mouths! Jesus is now "flesh of his flesh", truly becomes one with us to heal our broken hearts, to give us eternal life, to "divinize" us.
Thanksgiving
Both of them - and all of us - now become aware of the immense love of Christ manifested in the Eucharist. The presence of Jesus draws them inward and there they recognize the fire of his love. When they finish praying, they comment: "Were not our hearts burning within us, as he spoke to us on the way and explained the Scriptures to us?". They finally understand the work the Lord is doing with them.
For us, those minutes of quiet after communion are golden. They are moments to enter into the depths of our heart where He is and to enter into a dialogue of love with the one we know loves us. A dialogue that could well run with this template: "I love you, I thank you, I ask for your forgiveness, I ask for your help".
Return home
The word "Mass"comes from the Latin text of the Eucharist. At the end of the celebration the priest would say: "Ite, missa est". That is to say: "Now you are sent". So much joy cannot be only for a few. The discovery of God's love leads us to proclaim it to others, beginning with those closest to us. Cleopas and his friend - you and I - "And at that very moment they set out on their journey and returned to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and the others gathered together [...] they told what had happened to them on the road and how they had recognized him in the breaking of the bread." (Lk 6).
In the same way, as we leave this encounter with the Master, we too can give witness to all of the love that He has for us and how He has remained - hidden - forever in the Eucharist.
Parish Priest in San Sebastián de los Reyes (Madrid)
