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Tag: Road to Emmaus

  • Via Magnets

    Via Magnets

    April 23, 2023 – Third Sunday of Easter

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/042323.cfm)

    Easter Season proclaims: “The Lord has risen. Let us rejoice and be glad. Alleluia”. But how do we recognize the risen Lord in our life now?

    In a class inside the seminary, their professor asked the seminarians to discuss how do people recognize the presence of our risen Lord. One of them complained, “Yes, we believe Jesus has risen, but it is not easy to recognize Him in our midst. It is like finding a needle inside a haystack.” The professor continued: “Well, let us start with that. How can we find a piece of needle inside a haystack?” A seminarian answered: “We sort through each straw until we find the needle.” “The scientific approach”, the professor said. “People have done it but it is a futile and time-consuming exercise to examine each element of our lives until we recognize His presence”. “How about if we burn the hay so that we can find the needle?” suggested by one. “The practical approach. You may have found the needle but you lost the hay. You may recognize the Lord but destroyed lives in the process,” commented by the professor. He then continued, “The best way thus to find a needle within haystack is to use magnets. Use magnets to attract the needle from the haystack. Eventually, the magnet will recognize the needle and separate it from the haystack. Via magnets, you will find and recognize the needle, and still have the haystack. This is also how people recognize the risen Lord. The Lord uses magnets for us to sense and recognize His presence in our midst without destroying ourselves.”

    Brothers and sisters, surely, we have heard of our gospel before and are familiar with such one of the great resurrection-story ever told. After the Risen Lord has revealed Himself to women & his disciples, here two disciples have encountered Him in person on the road to Emmaus. With Jesus on the road, they eventually recognize Him through various signs, attractions, and magnets.

    Yes, our gospel today suggests us various signs that would point us to recognize or various magnets to attract us to the presence of the Risen Lord in our midst.

    First, we may recognize the Risen Lord through our ordinary normal lives. He appears on their way back home with their life-griefs, struggles & defeats. In the same way, the Lord accompanies us in our day-to-day lives – especially whenever we invite Him to be with & be part of our ordinary lives in faith. We may also recognize the Risen Lord in our midst through the Holy Scripture.

    Just like when he opened their minds to understand the Scripture concerning Himself, we can recognize the risen Lord whenever we read, reflect, and pray with the Scripture, as we understand the relevance of Jesus’ story in our own lives. We can recognize him further by welcoming a Stranger into our lives. Jesus sometimes crosses our path in a form of a stranger, especially those who are in need, asking us: “Have you anything to eat?” By reaching out and befriending with a stranger who sit with you in the tricycle or you meet along the way – especially the poor, we could have a glimpse of His presence.

    We also recognize His presence in the Holy Eucharist. Whenever we attend mass, and whenever we eat with one another and with the Lord, we witness people gathered in faith to remember and celebrate the Last Supper of the Lord, his offering of sacrifice. Like the disciple, we recognize the Risen Lord through the breaking of the bread – the Holy Eucharist.  Our gospel suggests also that we can recognize the Lord in and through the community of faith. The Risen Lord made himself known not only to them, but also within their community. We can recognize the Lord not in isolation or distancing but whenever we join and be involve in our faith-communities, whenever we participate in the activities of our parish or BECs.

    And finally, the presence of the risen Lord can be recognized through the preaching and witness of His follower. Same way as the two disciples shared their faith-experience with others, whenever we proclaim and preach our faith, we his faithful become the representative of Jesus to other, that through our words and actions, people recognize the Risen Lord in our midst.

    We may then, recognize the Risen Lord through our ordinary lives, through the Scripture, through our act of charity in welcoming a Stranger, through Eucharist, through Christian community and through our faith witnessing.

    Let us rejoice & be glad then for the Lord has indeed risen. And gracefully, He has provided us enough means & magnets to recognize Him in our midst – accompanying us in our journey of life in faith.

    May we continue to encounter & recognize Him in our Emmaus – our road to life & faith with Him who loves & saves us now & always.

    Amen.

  • New Life and New Hope

    New Life and New Hope

    April 12, 2023 – Wednesday within the Octave of Easter

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/041223.cfm)

    When we are faced with painful and traumatic experiences in life, these can bring so much confusion in us. The sudden death of a loved one, losing and failure in your job or business, broken relationships, family feud, experiences of abuse and maltreatment etc. are some experiences that can be terrifying and horrifying. And because such experiences can be overwhelming, they also make us very sad and depressed. We could blame ourselves, blame others, blame the world or blame God for making us suffer greatly.

    The story of the two disciples who were leaving the painful place of Jerusalem tells us of a reality in life. Like them who thought that Jerusalem was just a place of horror and death, of failure and pain, we too might want to escape from those painful memories of the past.

    Like them, we too could be in search of something just to make sense of those unexplainable and terrifying events in our life. Yet, we could not understand everything because the experience was just overwhelming.

    This was how the two disciples found themselves in that situation. The death of Jesus and the failure of their dreams now prevented them to see and recognize the presence of the Risen Jesus among them. They have not recognized immediately that Jesus was actually walking with them, and conversing with them. Their hearts were only filled with sadness and pain. Yet, the Lord continued to journey with them in their difficult moments despite the hardness of their hearts to believe and see the Lord among them.

    However, it was when they invited Jesus whom they thought was merely a stranger and started breaking and sharing with them the bread, that their eyes were opened. At last they have recognized that the Lord was with them all the time. At their lowest moment in life, when things seemed to be so dark and meaningless, the Lord was with them. Despite their many questions, the Lord was with them.

    This was how the two also found themselves and found the meaning of everything and of their life. This was how they immediately left Emmaus and went back to Jerusalem. The place of death and failure has become a place of new life and new hope.

    Thus, those moments of failures in us, those experiences of pain and death, those traumatic and terrifying events in our life can also become places of new life and new hope in us. The Lord indeed works marvels and moves in mysterious ways. God has made Jerusalem, now a life-giving and hope-inspiring place.

    This tells us too, that, as we allow the Lord to accompany us, the Lord shall also make wonders in us and shall make our failures and painful past to be a source of new life and new hope in us. These are the invitations for us now.

    First. Allow others to journey and accompany you in your difficulties. Allow your friends and family members to know the struggles within you. The journey towards healing and freedom can only be possible when we are with others. This was how the two disciples also allowed the stranger to be with them.

    Second. Never be afraid to ask questions because the Lord understands us. Jesus was very patient with the two disciples by listening to them. Moreover, allow also the Lord to teach us that we may be able to see another perspective in life. Allow other people to fill your mind and hearts with their wisdom. Allow the Holy Bible to speak to you and reveal God’s invitations.

    Third. Never be afraid of your Jerusalem, of those that you consider as your place of failure and pain, of sadness and trauma, sin and guilt. God also will bring wonders in our Jerusalem. As God has raised up His Son from death, God can also bring new hope and new life in our own Jerusalem. Kabay pa.

  • BEWARE

    BEWARE

    April 12, 2023 – Wednesday in the Octave of Easter

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/041223.cfm)

    Easter proclaims that the Lord has risen. Let us be glad & rejoice. We, Christians proclaims our faith that our Lord Jesus Christ has risen from the death & now with us offering new life in Him. However, we may ask ourselves: “Has the Lord really risen now? Who & where now is the risen Lord?  How do we recognize the risen Lord in the midst of our daily lives now?”

    Surely our disciples in our gospel today must have asked the same questions. After they have witnessed the death on the cross of their Lord Jesus, they decided to just go “nalang” back home with a heavy heart & question: “Has the Lord truly risen?” Some of them have already seen & testified that the Lord has risen indeed. But these two disciples have some doubts & could not believe what they heard about it.

    On the road back home, to their ordinary lives, lo & behold, the risen Lord appeared to them, went with them on the journey, be with them in their grief, sorrow & hopelessness, explained to them the meaning of what they have experienced & experiencing, and stayed with them for dinner.

    From their experience along the road back to Emmaus with the risen Lord, we could have a glimpse as to how we could experience now the risen Lord in our day to day lives. First, the Lord joined & walked with them in their journey. Meaning, the risen Lord IS & will be in our normal ordinary day to day life, & not so much on big & special events. Second, as He joins us in life, we might not recognize at first the risen Lord with us. He usually comes then to us as a stranger to us. Meaning, we should be open ourselves to the unfamiliar/strange, unusual events in our ordinary life.

    So, whenever we sense something ordinary yet particularly moving, (like, feeling the cold breeze, hearing moving music, loosening up as we see and hear playing children, reminded of some memories, finding yourself talking to a stranger), perhaps the risen Lord is making Himself known to you. And above all, the risen Lord appears to people who believe in Him. However strong or weak our faith in God may be, the risen Lord can be recognized in & with the eyes of our faith in Him.

    So as we celebrate Easter season, let us be more sensitive & beware of the presence of our risen Lord in our midst, as we live our ordinary normal day to day lives, open to something new & unfamiliar things to happen & see these with the eyes of faith.

    Again, Easter invites us to brace ourselves for with the risen Lord, there are more things to come & happen in our lives ahead for the better. In other words, “Abangan ang susunod na kabanata.”

    So Be it. Amen.

  • Towards New Life and New Hope

    Towards New Life and New Hope

    April 7, 2021 – Wednesday within the Octave of Easter

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/040721.cfm)

    Painful and traumatic experiences in life bring so much confusion to us. The sudden death of a loved one, losing and failure in your job or business, broken relationships, family feud, etc. are some experiences that can be terrifying and horrifying. Because such experiences are too overwhelming, they make us too sad and depressed. We could blame ourselves, blame others, blame the world or blame God for making us suffer greatly.

    The story of the two disciples who were leaving the painful place of Jerusalem tells us of a reality in our life. Like them who thought that Jerusalem was just a place of horror and death, of failure and pain, we too might want to escape from those painful memories of the past. Like them, we too could be in search of something just to make sense of those unexplainable and terrifying events in our life. Yet, we could not understand everything because the experience was just overwhelming.

    This was how the two disciples found themselves in that situation. The death of Jesus and the failure of their dreams now prevented them to see and recognize the presence of the Risen Jesus among them. They have not recognized immediately that Jesus was actually walking with them, and conversing with them. Their hearts were only filled with sadness and pain. Yet, the Lord continued to accompany them in their difficult moments despite the hardness of their hearts to believe and see the Lord among them.

    However, it was when they invited Jesus whom they thought was merely a stranger and started breaking and sharing to them the bread, that their eyes were opened. At last they have recognized that the Lord was with them all the time. At their lowest moment in life, when things seemed to be so dark and meaningless, the Lord was with them. Despite their many questions, the Lord was with them.

    This was how the two also found themselves and found the meaning of everything and of their life. This was how they immediately left Emmaus and went back to Jerusalem. The place of death and failure has become a place of new life and new hope.

    Thus, those moments of failures in us, those experiences of pain and death, those traumatic and terrifying events in our life can also become place of new life and new hope in us. The Lord indeed works marvels and moves in mysterious ways. God has made Jerusalem, now a life-giving and hope-inspiring place.

    This tells us too, that, as we allow the Lord to accompany us, the Lord shall also make wonders in us and shall make our painful past to be a source of new life and new hope in us.

    These are the invitations for us now.

    First. Allow others to journey and accompany you in your difficulties. Allow your friends and family members to know the struggles within you. The journey towards healing and freedom can only be possible when we are with others. This was how the two disciples also allowed the stranger to be with them.

    Second. Never be afraid to ask questions because the Lord understands us. Jesus was very patient with the two disciples by listening to them. Moreover, allow also the Lord to teach us that we may be able to see another perspective in life. Allow other people to fill your minds and hearts with their wisdom. Allow the Holy Bible to speak to you and reveal God’s invitations.

    Third. Never be afraid of your Jerusalem, of those that you consider as your place of failure and pain, of sadness and trauma. God also will bring wonders in our Jerusalem. As God has raised up His Son from death, God can also bring new hope and new life in our own Jerusalem. Hinaut pa.

  • RECOGNIZING JESUS IN THE MANY BREAKING OF THE BREAD TODAY

    RECOGNIZING JESUS IN THE MANY BREAKING OF THE BREAD TODAY

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    April 26, 2020 – Third Sunday of April

    Shared by Rev. Deacon Jose Lemuel Nadorra, CSsR

    Click here for the readings (http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/042620.cfm)

    One of the great Italian painters of the Baroque period is Michaelangelo Mirisi Caravaggio. He is one of the masters of realism and foreshortening technique, and the painting style called chiaroscuro, that uses the contrast of light and darkness to create and bring out the emotion and drama of the whole painting. What you see here is one of his famous painting, Supper at Emmaus. This is the second version of the same theme that Caravaggio painted about the Emmaus story. 

    SUPPER AT EMMAUS

    Most paintings of the Emmaus story, which we heard in the gospel of Luke today, portray Jesus and the two disciples in deep conversation while walking together on a road in a beautiful scenery. But Caravaggio’s take on the Emmaus story focused on the crucial moment of the story. It focused on the very moment when Jesus broke the bread and the eyes of the two disciples were opened in amazed recognition that it is the Lord. Notice the contrast of expressions on the faces of the figures in the composition. The innkeeper and the servant at the back look confused and are oblivious of what is happening, while the two disciples on the foreground were shocked in utter recognition of the Lord’s presence. Caravaggio somehow froze that split-second moment just before Jesus vanished from their sight. Yet the center of interest of the painting is the hand of Jesus and the broken bread. What Caravaggio was trying to tell us was that it was the very act of the breaking of the bread that allowed the disciples to recognize the risen Jesus. Jesus, the bread of life, broken and shared for humanity’s redemption.

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    The Emmaus story we have heard in the gospel today is one of the apparition stories of Jesus, eyewitness accounts of the disciples, aside from the empty tomb, that cemented the faith of early Christians that indeed Jesus is risen and alive. We are told that these two disciples of Jesus were on the road going to the village of Emmaus, walking away from Jerusalem. They were sad, grief-stricken, and frustrated, of the events that transpired a few days ago in Jerusalem. Jesus, their hoped-for Messiah, was crucified and now dead.

    Then, this “stranger” suddenly appears and joins them in their walk. They did not recognize that it was Jesus perhaps because, like Mary Magdalene, sadness and grief blinded them. Yet Jesus walked along with them, and engaged them in deep conversation about the Messiah in the Scriptures. Out of hospitality, they asked the “stranger” to join and stay with them for it was almost night time. And it was while he was at table with them, that the very act of Jesus in taking, blessing, and breaking the bread, that they recognized Him. It was the risen Lord! And then he vanished from their sight.

    Brothers and sisters, the Emmaus story reminds us that in our life journey, in whatever circumstance we are in, Jesus walks along with us. In this time of the COVID-19 pandemic, despite our sadness, fears, frustrations and anxieties, that may blind and numb us, Jesus is there journeying with us. He meets and encounters us where we are. And like the two disciples who acted with hospitality in inviting Jesus with them, despite them not recognizing him, we, too are called to be hospitable to His presence, to invite Him to walk along with us, even though at times we may not recognize Him at the moment.

    When the two disciples finally recognized the presence of Jesus through the breaking of the bread, and despite him vanishing from their sight, this brought them such great joy and remembered how their hearts burned when Jesus walked along with them. They left with such haste and returned to Jerusalem to announce that yes, Jesus is risen! It is also the same invitation to all of us my brothers and sisters. That as we celebrate this and every Eucharist, as we witness the taking, blessing, and breaking of the bread, we may also recognize with such great joy the presence of the risen Lord in our lives. Through this act, may our hearts also burn as we remember and look back at the many blessings, moments of grace, glimpses of God’s loving and mysterious presence in our life journey. Yes, all along he was there, walking with us. Encountering us. Journeying with us. But wait, there’s more!

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    The Emmaus story also invites us not only to look and recognize Jesus at the breaking of the bread in the Eucharist, but more so to look and recognize him at the many “breakings of the bread” that is happening all around us. Especially at this moment of the COVID pandemic, we see the examples of our front-liners who are risking their lives in order to help stem the spread of this virus. Or the many acts of generosity of people, individuals, local and church groups, who reached out to people in need despite the lockdown and community quarantine, etc. etc. Acts of generosity. Acts of love. Acts that bring hope. Yes, despite Jesus’ physical absence, the very act itself makes Him present. The act of the breaking of the bread in the Emmaus story strengthened the faith and brought hope to the two disciples. We are likewise invited to find strength and hope, as we recognize Jesus in the many “breakings of the bread” happening around us.

    It is good to note that archaeologists and Biblical scholars would attest that the location of the village of Emmaus is still disputed and unknown, this somehow tells us, as Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI had said, that the Emmaus story is also our Emmaus story.

    Caravaggio’s genius in foreshortening technique found in his paintings, creates an illusion that parts of the figures are coming out of the canvas. This allows and invites the viewer to become part of the whole drama of the painting. As we become part of it, we are also invited to look at our own Emmaus stories. To look back at how Jesus journeyed with us, guided us, and manifested His presence in various and different ways in our lives.

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    Like the two disciples who, at the beginning journeyed blinded by grief and fear, went back and announced with great joy their encounter with the risen Lord. We, too are asked to allow the risen Lord to encounter us, in the breaking or the breakings of the bread happening around us, we will become like Peter in our first reading, who boldly proclaimed the Good News of Jesus.

    In Caravaggio’s Supper at Emmaus painting, we see that subtle light coming in bringing light to the figure of Jesus and the broken bread. It symbolizes the new light, that transforming light, brought by Jesus upon His disciples. Jesus, the risen Lord, is the light of hope. As our psalms today exhorts, “Keep me safe O God, you are my hope!” And so are we, if we are truly believers of the risen Christ, must also bring the light of hope to others through our actions and deeds. Indeed, it is through our actions that the risen Christ is made present.

    And so I leave you my brothers and sisters with this parting question for all of us to reflect upon: In what ways are we encountering Christ today? As Christians, is the risen Christ made present in our actions and deeds especially in these trying times? 

    May Jesus, the Risen Lord, bless us all. Alleluia!

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