31 March 2027 · Latin Rite
Open in the Daily Word appAlso: Syro-Malankara Rite · Syro-Malabar Rite · മലയാളം
“When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight.” Luke 24:30–31
Peter and John go up to the Temple at three o'clock in the afternoon, the hour of prayer. They still pray as faithful Jews, in the Temple of their fathers. At the gate called Beautiful sits a man lame from birth, carried there every day to beg. He looks at them expecting a coin. Peter fixes his eyes on him: “Look at us.” Then he says the words that have become a motto for the Church's mission: “I have no silver or gold, but what I have I give you; in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, stand up and walk.” Peter takes him by the right hand and raises him up, and at once his feet and ankles are made strong. He jumps up, stands, walks, and enters the Temple with them, “walking and leaping and praising God.” Isaiah had promised that in the day of salvation “the lame shall leap like a deer.” The risen Lord is at work through his Church. Peter has no money, but he has the name of Jesus, and that is worth more than all the gold in the Temple. The Psalm sings: “Let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice.”
The Gospel is one of the most beloved pages of the New Testament: the road to Emmaus. On the evening of Easter Sunday two disciples, one named Cleopas, are walking about seven miles from Jerusalem, talking about everything that has happened. Jesus himself comes near and walks with them, “but their eyes were kept from recognizing him.” He asks what they are discussing, and they stand still, “looking sad.” Their words are heartbreaking: “we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel.” Hope in the past tense. They even report the women's news of the empty tomb and the angels, but it has not reached their hearts. Then Jesus speaks: “Oh, how foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared! Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interprets to them the things about himself in all the Scriptures. Later they will say: “Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road?”
As they near the village he walks ahead as if he were going on. They urge him: “Stay with us, because it is almost evening.” He goes in. At table “he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them.” These are the same four actions as at the Last Supper and as at every Mass. “Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight.” He is not gone; he is now present in a new way, in the bread broken and given. At once, though it is night, they get up and return to Jerusalem, where they hear: “The Lord has risen indeed, and he has appeared to Simon!” And they tell “how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread.” The road to Emmaus has the very shape of the Mass: the Lord walks with us in our sadness, explains the Scriptures in the Liturgy of the Word, makes himself known in the breaking of the bread in the Liturgy of the Eucharist, and sends us back on mission. “Breaking of the bread” was one of the first names Christians gave to the Eucharist (Acts 2:42). Every Sunday the risen Lord does for us exactly what he did at Emmaus.
Theme: “They recognized him in the breaking of the bread.”
What I have I give you, hearts burning on the road, and the Lord known at table.
“then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy.” Isaiah 35:6
“But Peter said, “I have no silver or gold, but what I have I give you; in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, stand up and walk.”” Acts 3:6
Apply: Give one person today something better than money: your time, your attention, and a prayer in Jesus' name.
“Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart; for I am called by your name, O LORD, God of hosts.” Jeremiah 15:16
“They said to each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?”” Luke 24:32
Apply: Read the Sunday Gospel before going to Mass this week, and listen for the word that sets your heart on fire.
“Seek the LORD and his strength; seek his presence continually.” Psalm 105:4
“Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread.” Luke 24:35
Apply: At your next Communion, say silently: “Stay with me, Lord,” and then go and serve someone that same day.
The risen Lord heals through his Church and walks with us in our disappointments.
He sets our hearts on fire with his word and gives himself in the breaking of the bread.
Take-home resolution: Pray each evening of this Octave: “Stay with us, Lord, because it is almost evening.”
Dear friends, Peter and John meet a man who has never walked in his life. He asks for a coin. Peter says: I have no silver or gold, but what I have I give you; in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, stand up and walk (Acts 3:6). And the man goes into the Temple walking and leaping and praising God.
The Church is not rich in silver and gold; her treasure is the name of Jesus. When we give Christ, people are healed and raised up. What do you have to give today?
In the Gospel two disciples are walking away from Jerusalem, sad. They say: we had hoped (Luke 24:21). Hope in the past tense. Perhaps some of us are walking that road too, away from the Church, away from hope.
But Jesus walks with them, though they do not recognize him. He opens the Scriptures, and their hearts begin to burn. Later they say: were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road? (Luke 24:32). That is what happens when we listen to God's word.
They invite him: stay with us, because it is almost evening. At table he takes bread, blesses it, breaks it and gives it to them, and their eyes are opened. They recognize him in the breaking of the bread. This is the Mass: the Word that sets hearts on fire, and the Bread that is the risen Lord himself.
And then they run back to Jerusalem, at night, to tell the others. That is what every Mass does to us: it sends us out. Let us ask the Lord today: stay with us, and send us to give what we have, the name of Jesus. Alleluia. Amen.
Children, two friends of Jesus were sad. Jesus walked with them, but they did not know it was him. At supper he broke the bread, and they knew: it is Jesus!
At Mass the priest breaks the bread too, and Jesus is really there. Let us say: Jesus, stay with us!
O God, who gladden us year by year with the solemnity of the Lord's Resurrection, graciously grant that, by celebrating these present festivities, we may be worthy through them to reach eternal joys. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen. Let us also pray: Stay with us, Lord, for it is almost evening. Walk with us when we are sad, open the Scriptures to us until our hearts burn, make yourself known to us in the breaking of the bread, and send us back with joy to tell our brothers and sisters that you are risen. Alleluia. Amen.
Two journeys today. Peter and John go up to the Temple for prayer, and a man who has never walked goes in with them, leaping. Two disciples walk away from Jerusalem in sorrow, and a stranger joins them on the road. In both, a person is raised up by the name or the presence of the risen Lord, and in both something is given that money could not give. Psalm 105 calls us to remember God's wonderful works. The key words are name, opened and bread.
Setting.
Luke has just described the first community, which was often in the Temple (2:46). The first Christians were still praying there, as faithful Jews. The hour of prayer at three in the afternoon was the time of the evening sacrifice. The Beautiful Gate cannot be identified with certainty today. People who could not work often asked for alms at the entrances to the Temple, because giving alms was a work of piety for those going in to pray.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“Peter looked intently at him, as did John, and said, “Look at us.”” (3:4)
Before the healing, a look. Those who gave alms might drop a coin and walk on, but the apostles stop and see him as a person.
“But Peter said, “I have no silver or gold, but what I have I give you; in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, stand up and walk.”” (3:6)
This does not mean that alms are unimportant, for the early Church cared greatly for the poor (Acts 2:45; 4:34). But it shows what the Church has above all to give. What she has is Christ.
“And he took him by the right hand and raised him up; and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong.” (3:7)
Luke, by tradition a physician (Colossians 4:14), is exact about the feet and ankles. At this moment Peter's hand and Christ's name do the work; Peter will speak later of faith in that name (3:16).
“Jumping up, he stood and began to walk, and he entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God.” (3:8)
He had been carried to the gate each day but had stayed outside it. Now he goes in with them. Three words of movement end in one word of prayer.
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism teaches that the Resurrection glorifies the name of Jesus, and that in his name the disciples perform miracles (CCC 434). The Church also teaches that she must have a preferential love for the poor (CCC 2448), and that love reaches the whole person: a coin is good, and being able to stand and enter the house of God is better. The Church is sent with this double care.
Setting.
This is one of the best-loved stories in the New Testament, and only Luke tells it. It takes place on Easter Sunday afternoon. Seven miles (sixty stadia; some manuscripts read a hundred and sixty) from Jerusalem lies Emmaus, a place that several later sites claim and that cannot be identified for certain. One traveller is named Cleopas; the other is unnamed. Many scholars note the shape of the story, which moves away from Jerusalem and back again, and which has the structure of the Mass itself: the Scriptures opened, then the bread broken.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and went with them, but their eyes were kept from recognizing him.” (24:15–16)
He comes to them while they are walking the wrong way. “Were kept” suggests that seeing the risen Lord is a gift, not a matter of good eyesight.
“But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel.” (24:21)
Perhaps the saddest line in the Gospel. They knew all the facts, including the women's report, and still they could not see. Theirs is a hope in the past tense.
“Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures.” (24:27)
The readings of the Vigil took this very road. The Church reads the Old Testament in the light of the Risen Christ, while knowing it first as the living word given to Israel (CCC 129).
“When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight.” (24:30–31)
The same four actions as at the feeding of the crowd (9:16) and at the Last Supper (22:19). The guest has become the host. He vanishes at the very moment he is known, as if to say: you now know where to find me.
“They said to each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?”” (24:32)
Only now do they understand what they felt. Often we recognize God's presence only looking back.
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism says that the Mass has the same movement as this meal: the liturgy of the word and of the Eucharist form one act of worship (CCC 1346–1347). The Second Vatican Council says that the Church receives the bread of life from the one table of God's word and Christ's body (Dei Verbum 21). St Augustine asks where the Lord chose to be recognized, and he answers: in the breaking of bread (in substance). St John Paul II took the title of his 2004 apostolic letter on the Eucharist, Mane Nobiscum Domine, from their words: Stay with us, Lord.
Why did they not recognize him?
Luke says that “their eyes were kept from recognizing him”, and he does not explain further. Elsewhere too the risen Jesus is not recognized at first (John 20:14; 21:4). His risen body is real but transformed (CCC 645), and to recognize him requires faith, which comes through the word and the bread.
Is the meal at Emmaus actually the Eucharist?
Luke does not say that in so many words. But he uses the same verbs as at the Last Supper, and he calls it “the breaking of the bread”, which is his term for the Eucharist in Acts. The Church reads it in that light (CCC 1329, 1347).
Does “I have no silver or gold” mean that the Church should not have any property or give alms?
No. The same book of Acts shows the community pooling goods to care for the poor (Acts 4:32–35). The verse teaches that the Church's first treasure is Christ. Whatever goods she has are for worship, for her mission and for the poor (CCC 2444–2448).
At an afternoon or evening Mass on Easter Sunday the Emmaus Gospel may be read, and it returns today, in the Octave. Every Mass has this same shape: we walk in with our disappointments, the Scriptures are opened, and the bread is broken, and we are sent back to the others to say that the Lord has risen. After Communion this week, try saying simply, “Stay with us, Lord.”