”With that their eyes were opened and they recognized him”

Today at Holy Mass we hear in the Gospel of St Luke the story of the men walking on the road of Emmaus…During their walk they encounter a man they did not recognize who turned out to be the Resurrected Christ…..At the end of the day, these two men had supper with Jesus and it was when he “broke the bread” that their eyes were opened…What was it about the “bread” in the hands of Christ that made them “see”? - What is it about the bread consecrated in the hands of a Catholic priest?……This is the “key” to our Catholic faith!!!…..It’s not enough to intellectually understand that the Eucharist is the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Christ - We must believe it as a tangible reality! - When this is the case - Our world view changes and so does our life…..I find something else also very interesting in this Gospel passage from St Luke today…As these two men walked with Jesus on the road to Emmaus, even when they did not recognize Christ physical, they “felt something” when they were in his presence…….“Were not our hearts burning within us while he spoke to us on the way and opened the Scriptures to us?”…..Let’s explore this idea…..There was “something” about this man - Now let’s be honest, when we talk to people, on any given day, usually our “hearts do not burn” - Right?…So clearly, Jesus made an impression on these two men on the road….And he will do the same thing today!!……This is why Eucharistic Adoration needs to be utilized in every Catholic Church….It does not matter if you even believe in God - Whether you are a practicing Catholic or not - When you sit in silence in front of the Blessed Sacrament - “Your hearts will burn!!!” - This should tell us all something very important….For one, God is real……Secondly, He loves everyone! - Not just the “perfect people” - But everyone!!….And lastly, if we make the time each week to sit in front of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, in silence, God will “speak” to us in a language “we only understand”……As Catholics we do not know what is in the hearts of other people - Their hurts - Their deep disappointments - Their weaknesses - But God does!!!…..We can not “convince” people with mere words that the Catholic faith contains the fullness of Truth - But God can!…This is why Eucharistic Adoration is so important!….Again, a person does not have to be Catholic to simply sit in front of the Consecrated Host in silence - And if a person does, as we read in the Gospel today from St Luke - “Their hearts will burn”…..In many Catholic diocese across America, as well as in many parishes, there are all kinds of “programs” - Programs to get people into the pews…..The only “program” that is needed is Jesus! - Establish Eucharistic Adoration at your parish - If you can, do it perpetually - And watch what happens! 

“When all the people saw him walking and praising God, they recognized him as the one who used to sit begging at the Beautiful Gate of the temple, and they were filled with amazement and astonishment at what had happened to him”

Before I was married I was the Saturday driver for Mother Teresa’s sisters in Manhattan for seven years…During that time, I learned a lot!….The convent I served at was a hospice for men who acquired the AIDS virus…When the men came to live in the hospice, there were a few rules….One of the rules was they attend morning Mass…Most of the men where not Catholic and if they were Catholic, the large majority of them were not in the state of grace - So while they could attend Mass, they could not receive the Blessed Sacrament - Did you “catch” that?…..Is this perennial teaching of the Church proclaimed from the pulpits in our parishes across the world? - But I am digressing - Back to the my story……Another requirement for living in the hospice was the men had to sit in silence with the sisters for a Holy Hour each day……I have watched this process repeat itself for seven years!…I have seen “harden men” - Men who were in jail - Men who live horrible lives!!!…I watched them change right before me eyes….Some of them even would request to be baptized…..Why did this happen? - For one, these men experienced love - The sisters cared for them in ways many of these guys never experienced in their enter life - As Catholics, do we love “our neighbor” in this way? - Clearly we can not “change the mind” of our neighbor - But we can love him / her in tangible ways - Do we do this?…Again I am digressing - Back to the story….What else made these men living in the AIDS hospice change? - By sitting in silence each day for one hour in front of the Blessed Sacrament, God “spoke” to their hearts, in ways no one could!!!….This is the “secret” to evangelization - Let Jesus do it!….Our job as Catholics is to love people and when “our neighbor” learns to trust us as a result of the love we show them, we can then encourage our neighbor, Catholic or not, to sit in silence in front of the Blessed Sacrament….God will do the rest!

“And it happened that, while he was with them at table, he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them……With that their eyes were opened and they recognized him”

Today in the Gospel from Mass, we hear the story of two men on the Road to Emmaus who “did not get it”….Jesus was walking right beside them and they could not recognize him…What made these men “see”?….St Luke tells us that it was not until Jesus “broke the bread” and they consumed it that they were able to “see”….Interesting!?! - Why should we “think” anything has changed today?…..As Catholics, if we are in the state of grace and consume the Blessed Sacrament, we too will “see”…Also, even if a Catholic is not in the state of grace, their hearts will still “burn” if they sit in front of the Blessed Sacrament in silence - The passage from St Luke’s Gospel tells us this very clearly………..Today, in Catholic circles, the word “accompaniment” gets “throw around” a lot…We hear its “pastoral” to “accompany” others - Well, that is true - But indirectly encouraging our brethren who are not in state of grace to consume the Eucharist or worse - To ignore when our brethren are living in objective mortal sin and “turning a blind eye” when they consume the Blessed Sacrament at Mass - This is not “accompaniment!!!!!”….Authentic Catholic accompaniment is what Mother Teresa’s sisters did for the men who lived in their AIDS Hospice…The sisters loved them and sat with them in front of the Blessed Sacrament…And in time, God’s time - God “spoke” to those men - A language only they could understand…And in turn, many of those men were transformed…That is the definition of “accompaniment” from a Catholic prospective - And it works!…….”With that their eyes were opened and they recognized him”…..JMJ