lost on the way

III Sunday of Easter April 26, 2020 Luke 24, 13-35

The Way to Emmaus road ... What a beautiful story! My parents had this picture in their living, two disciples walking with Jesus. What a beautiful picture! How beautiful is the revelation of Jesus in the breaking of the bread! I have always liked this story, one of my favorites in the gospels, it even gives me chills. The painting too, one of my favorites. Why is this account of the gospel so striking? Perhaps it is because it is easy for us to identify with the story. Interesting, we only know the name of one of the disciples: Cleopas. What's the name of the other one? Maybe Patrick? Mary, or Joe, I invite you to put your own name. Perhaps that is why Saint Luke has not said the name so that we could put our name. So Cleopas and Patrick are walking along.

We are like the disciples. We are puzzled. We are confused, we are not sure. Life is difficult, sometimes things do not go as we want. We wish that things were different. There are people who let us down. We know that we let other’s down. We want things to be different, but we don't know how to change them or worse we think that unfortunately it has to be this way. We are content with less.

The Story of Emmaus takes place on Resurrection Sunday, that same day. The disciples knew that Christ was cruelly crucified. Maybe they weren't there, they abandoned him, maybe they feel badly. For leaving Jesus in his time of need. It may be that they were angry with Jesus. They had hoped that he would liberate Israel, but he died leaving them alone. They felt abandoned. So I can imagine them in Jerusalem, sad and worried huddled together and then Cleopas says, "I'm going out for a walk, I need some fresh air." And the other guy, Patrick says, "I'm going with you." And the two leave, perhaps without really knowing where they are going, and then decide to go to Emmaus. And along the way they run into Jesus, but they did not recognize him. As they are walking along they begin to talk together without knowing who he was. At first they are explaining everything to him, but things change quickly and the stranger begins to explain everything to them. They listen but do not understand.

That's how I am many times. I listen but I do not understand, I pay attention, but I am confused not only in Spanish but in many things. I don't understand the pandemic, I don't understand suffering. I do not understand why many don’t have enough and why just a few have too much. There is much that I do not understand. I hear the gospel, I try to be a good Catholic, but I am still confused.

Now that key moment. The moment that still gives me goosebumps. The disciples come to town. I can imagine them in front of their friends' house, and Jesus says, "Goodbye, see you all later." And they say, "Stay with us, because it is already evening and it will soon be dark." It gives me goosebumps because,  I wonder what if Jesus had said goodbye, and they replied, "Good-bye, take care of yourself." It gives me goosebumps because I think. Maybe Jesus is walking with me. Maybe Jesus is here right now but I don't recognize him. And when he says "Goodbye!" I reply "Goodbye!" Missing the opportunity to have Jesus with me. But thank God they didn't miss the opportunity. I thank God, that they invited Jesus into their home, that they shared a meal with him, and then their eyes were opened, when? When in the breaking bread. The Eucharist, when Jesus shared the Eucharist with them their eyes were opened.

We are at that moment of our celebration. Like Cleopas and the other disciple we have listened to the readings. We know how they refer to Jesus and now we invite Jesus to stay, we are going to go to the table, but not really. We cannot stay with Jesus, watching the mass on television, or on your computer or mobile phone is not the same. It is not like sitting at the table. We can see but sadly we cannot participate.  I like to eat. I like to have the opportunity to sit down with you and share a dinner. I don't like to see food. I do not like to watch television programs on how to cook, because for me it is no fun to see something that I cannot eat. I have a cousin Mia who is a very good cook and she gets me so mad because she is always putting photos of her food on Facebook. It upsets me because I don't want to see her flat bread and grilled pork shoulder steaks in an reduction something marinade with an herb salad while I eat beans and dogs. I don’t want to see her food, I want to eat it. So it is with the Eucharist. The Eucharist is a meal meant to eaten, it is supposed to be shared not watched. So this time of safer at home is a great sacrifice for us believers. It is not the same. But we make the sacrifice. We make sacrifice for those who have to work in supermarkets and in hospitals and in nursing homes. We make the sacrifice for the sick, the elderly, people with pre existing conditions. The sacrifice is great, but we do it for the good of all. If we are puzzled. We are like Cleopas and the other disciple. We invite Jesus to stay in our houses because we cannot go to church. We invite him to stay with us because without him our lives have no meaning.