5 April 2027 · Syro-Malabar Rite
Open in the Daily Word appAlso: Latin Rite · Syro-Malankara Rite · മലയാളം
“Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight.” Luke 24:31
The Easter octave is over, and the Church goes back to ordinary Mondays: to work, to school, to the market and the bus stand. The readings of this second week of the Resurrection are chosen for exactly that return. They ask what Easter looks like in a parish with quarrels, in a family with tensions, on a road walked by two tired disciples. Paul begins with a parish that had split into fan clubs. News has reached him through Chloe's household: “there are quarrels among you, my brothers and sisters. What I mean is that each of you says, ‘I belong to Paul,’ or ‘I belong to Apollos,’ or ‘I belong to Cephas,’ or ‘I belong to Christ.’” Each group had chosen its favourite preacher, and even the people who said ‘I belong to Christ’ had turned the Lord into a party badge. Paul answers with three short questions that cut through everything: “Has Christ been divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?” There is only one Lord who died for us and only one name into which we were baptised. Paul even thanks God that he baptised very few of them, so that no one could claim to belong to him. His task was something else: “For Christ did not send me to baptize but to proclaim the gospel, and not with eloquent wisdom, so that the cross of Christ might not be emptied of its power.” A Church that argues about its preachers has forgotten its Crucified and Risen Lord. Unity is not a matter of everyone liking the same priest or the same style; it is the fruit of looking together at the Cross and the empty tomb.
The Gospel takes us back to the evening of Easter Sunday, on the road to Emmaus. Two disciples have walked seven miles with a stranger who explained the Scriptures to them. Now they reach their village, and “he walked ahead as if he were going on.” The Risen Lord never forces his company on anyone. He waits to be invited. “But they urged him strongly, saying, ‘Stay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over.’ So he went in to stay with them.” That prayer, Stay with us, has been on Christian lips ever since; it is the prayer of every evening and of every life that feels the light going. Then comes the moment the whole story was moving towards: “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.” The four verbs are the verbs of the Last Supper, and of every Holy Qurbana: he took, blessed, broke and gave. They knew him not by his face but by what he did with bread. And as soon as they knew him, he was no longer visible in the old way, because from now on he would be present to them in the breaking of the bread.
What happens next is the shape of the Christian life. “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?’ That same hour they got up and returned to Jerusalem.” It was night, and it was seven miles, but the burning heart cannot wait till morning. They find the community gathered, and before they can tell their news they are told: “The Lord has risen indeed, and he has appeared to Simon!” Then they share their own story: “how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread.” Notice the movement: away from Jerusalem in sadness, back to Jerusalem in joy; from two scattered disciples to the gathered Church around Peter. The Risen Lord heals divisions not by argument but by gathering his people at one table. Paul's quarrelling Corinthians and the two lonely disciples need the same cure. In the Syro-Malabar Holy Qurbana, after the anaphora, the priest breaks the Holy Bread and signs the Precious Blood with it, uniting them again: the Body broken and the Blood poured out are joined, because the One who died is alive. Every parish that gathers at that altar is being made one, quarrels and all.
Theme: “Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight.”
A divided parish, a Lord who waits to be invited, the breaking of the bread, and burning hearts that run back to the community.
“How very good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity!” Psalm 133:1
“Has Christ been divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?” 1 Corinthians 1:13
Apply: Pray by name this week for someone in your parish with whom you disagree.
“Thus says the LORD: Do not let the wise boast in their wisdom, do not let the mighty boast in their might, do not let the wealthy boast in their wealth;” Jeremiah 9:23
“For Christ did not send me to baptize but to proclaim the gospel, and not with eloquent wisdom, so that the cross of Christ might not be emptied of its power.” 1 Corinthians 1:17
Apply: Next time you praise or criticise a preacher, ask instead what the Lord said to you through him.
“My lord, if I find favor with you, do not pass by your servant.” Genesis 18:3
“But they urged him strongly, saying, “Stay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over.” So he went in to stay with them.” Luke 24:29
Apply: Make ‘Lord, stay with us’ your night prayer this week.
“O taste and see that the LORD is good; happy are those who take refuge in him.” Psalm 34:8
“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: Come to one weekday Holy Qurbana this week and receive him with a burning heart.
The Risen Lord heals our divisions by gathering us at one table.
He waits to be invited; let us say every evening: Stay with us.
Take-home resolution: This week, pray ‘Lord, stay with us’ each night, attend one weekday Holy Qurbana, and take one step to mend a division.
Dear friends, the Easter octave is over and we are back to ordinary Mondays. Today's readings show what Easter looks like in ordinary life: in a parish with quarrels, and on a road walked by two tired disciples.
Paul hears that the Corinthians are divided: I belong to Paul, I belong to Apollos, I belong to Cephas. He asks: Has Christ been divided? Was Paul crucified for you? There is only one Lord who died for us, and only one name in which we were baptised.
We have our own versions of this: my priest, my group, my side of the family. Paul says: look at the Cross. When we look together at the Crucified and Risen Lord, our little parties lose their power.
In the Gospel two disciples walk to Emmaus with a stranger. At the village he seems to go on, and they beg him: Stay with us, because it is almost evening. The Lord waits to be invited.
At table he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them, and their eyes were opened. They knew him in the breaking of the bread, as we know him at every Holy Qurbana. And that same hour they ran back to Jerusalem to the gathered community.
This week, let us invite him every evening: Lord, stay with us. And let us bring one quarrel to his table, so that he may make us one. Alleluia! Amen.
Children, two friends of Jesus did not recognise him on the road. But when he broke the bread at supper, they knew him! At Holy Qurbana, when the priest breaks the Holy Bread, Jesus is there for us too.
Tonight, before you sleep, say a little prayer: ‘Jesus, stay with us!’
Lord Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, you walked with your disciples on the road and made yourself known to them in the breaking of the bread. Stay with us, for it is almost evening. Open the Scriptures to us, set our hearts on fire, and heal the divisions in our parishes and families, so that we may be one in you, who were crucified for us and live for ever with the Father and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Alleluia!