THIRD SUNDAY OF EASTER (A)

April 23, 2023

THIRD SUNDAY OF EASTER 

1. On the Road to Emmaus
2. Journeying With the Lord

Greeting (See Second Reading)

We have been set free
in the precious blood of the Lamb, Jesus Christ.
God raised him from the dead
and through him we have faith and hope.
May Jesus the Lord be always with you. R/ And also with you.

Introduction by the Celebrant

1. On the Road to Emmaus

Too often we think we are all alone on the rocky road of life, with our struggles and discouragement but also our joys and happiness to share. Does the Lord know? Is he there? Our Christian faith and sensitivity, as known already from the earliest times of the Church, assure us that he is present and that he walks with us the sometimes rocky road of life. He speaks to us his word of life in the Scriptures proclaimed to us every Sunday. He is indeed our companion in life, that is, literally, he who breaks his bread for us, as he did for his disciples at the Last Supper and on the pilgrim road of Emmaus.

2. Journeying with the Lord

When we are sad as we travel, or bored or discouraged or all alone, the journey seems to last much longer. But let someone join us on the road, a friend or even a stranger who gives us courage and joy again, the journey becomes lighter and interesting and our hearts are lifted up. The road of life is like this. At times it is hard and tiring, but it becomes easy and joyful when we know that the Lord journeys with us and warms our hearts. Today and every day Jesus wants to be our companion on the road of life.

Penitential Act

We are often too full of ourselves and our cares
to recognize the Lord among us.
Let us ask the Lord to forgive us.
                  (pause)
Lord Jesus, you are one of us;
you walk with us on the road of life:
Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.

Jesus Christ, you speak to us
your Good News that clarifies
our joys and our pains and our life:
Christ, have mercy. R/ Christ, have mercy.

Lord Jesus, you break for us
your tasty, life-giving bread:
Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.

Have mercy on us, Lord,
and forgive us all our sins.
Make us aware how much you are with us
and be our companion to everlasting life. R/ Amen.

Opening Prayer

Let us pray
that Jesus may be our companion
on the road of life
                  (pause)
God our Father,
our road in life is often tiresome
for it is the road of pilgrims.
Give us Jesus your Son
as our companion who journeys with us
and who warms our hearts with love and joy.
Let him keep breaking for us
the bread of himself that gives us courage.
Open our eyes to recognize him
in our downhearted and suffering brothers and sisters,
that they may see in us
something of our faith that our Lord is risen
and that he lives for ever and ever. R/ Amen.

First Reading (Acts 2:14,22-33): The Lord Is Risen and Alive!

Note that in the revised Lectionary the first reading has been lengthened.

Filled with the Holy Spirit, Peter proclaims on Pentecost the core of the Christian message: Christ was put to death, but he is alive as our Risen Lord. This is the foundation of our faith. This is why he can be with us now.

Second Reading (1 Pt 1:17-21): The Risen Lord Is the Foundation of Our Hope

Peter encourages the faithful: God is our Father; he sent his Son to save us by his death and resurrection. This is the meaning of our lives; this is the foundation of our faith and hope. 

Gospel (Lk 24:13-35): They Recognized Him at the Breaking of Bread

Luke uses the occasion of the discouragement of two disciples and their encounter with Christ to tell us this: the Risen Lord lives on among his faithful by the words he speaks to us and in the Eucharist.

That very day, the first day of the week,
two of Jesus' disciples were going
to a village seven miles from Jerusalem called Emmaus,
and they were conversing about all the things that had occurred.
And it happened that while they were conversing and debating,
Jesus himself drew near and walked with them,
but their eyes were prevented from recognizing him.
He asked them,
"What are you discussing as you walk along?"
They stopped, looking downcast.
One of them, named Cleopas, said to him in reply,
"Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem
who does not know of the things
that have taken place there in these days?"
And he replied to them, "What sort of things?"
They said to him,
"The things that happened to Jesus the Nazarene,
who was a prophet mighty in deed and word
before God and all the people,
how our chief priests and rulers both handed him over
to a sentence of death and crucified him.
But we were hoping that he would be the one to redeem Israel;
and besides all this,
it is now the third day since this took place.
Some women from our group, however, have astounded us:
they were at the tomb early in the morning
and did not find his body;
they came back and reported
that they had indeed seen a vision of angels
who announced that he was alive.
Then some of those with us went to the tomb
and found things just as the women had described,
but him they did not see."
And he said to them, "Oh, how foolish you are!
How slow of heart to believe all that the prophets spoke!
Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things
and enter into his glory?"
Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets,
he interpreted to them what referred to him
in all the Scriptures.
As they approached the village to which they were going,
he gave the impression that he was going on farther.
But they urged him, "Stay with us,
for it is nearly evening and the day is almost over."
So he went in to stay with them.
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,
but he vanished from their sight.
Then they said to each other,
"Were not our hearts burning within us
while he spoke to us on the way and opened the Scriptures to us?"
So they set out at once and returned to Jerusalem
where they found gathered together
the eleven and those with them who were saying,
"The Lord has truly been raised and has appeared to Simon!"
Then the two recounted
what had taken place on the way
and how he was made known to them in the breaking of bread.

Let us pray to Jesus, our brother, that we may be more aware how much he walks with us on the road of life, and let us say: R/ Lord Jesus, journey with us.

–   Lord Jesus, journey with your Church on the roads of peace and love
that leads us to one another and to our destiny of lasting joy, we pray: R/ Lord Jesus, journey with us.

–   Lord Jesus, journey with the Churches that claim you as their Lord;
Lead them to one another that you may be their one Lord and shepherd, we pray: R/ Lord Jesus, journey with us.

–   Lord Jesus, journey with our country. Inspire our leaders with your Spirit
that they may be people of integrity who care about their people and their needs, we pray: R/ Lord Jesus, journey with us.

–   Lord Jesus, journey with all who suffer. Lighten their burdens and pains,
for you experienced how heavy a cross can be, and help us to lift up people from their miseries, we pray: R/ Lord Jesus, journey with us.

–   Lord Jesus, journey with our communities, that we may accept and love one another so that it becomes evident to all that you live among us, we pray: R/ Lord Jesus, journey with us.

Thank you, Lord, for staying with us. Warm the hearts of all of us with your kind words and your lasting friendship, for you are our Lord for ever. R/ Amen.

Prayer over the Gifts

Lord our God, loving Father,
here are bread and wine,
simple signs in which your Son walks with us
on the dusty road of life.
Let him set our hearts afire
when he shares himself with us
and speaks to us words
that make life worth living.
Let him be our food on the road to you
and on the road to people,
for we believe that he is our Risen Lord
who stays with us now and for ever. R/ Amen.

Introduction to the Eucharistic Prayer

The deepest way in which we can now encounter Jesus our Lord is in the signs of bread and wine of the Eucharistic celebration. There he is our food for the road. With joy we give thanks to the Father.

Introduction to the Lord’s Prayer

With Jesus, we pray to God our Father
to give us not only our daily food
but the bread of the Eucharist. R/ Our Father...

Deliver Us

Deliver us Lord, from every evil
and give us always the peace and joy
of your presence among us.
Keep us free from doubt and discouragement
and let your Son walk by our side
that together with him,
we may build up among us
his new world of friendship and hope,
and so prepare the coming in glory
of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. R/ For the kingdom...

Prayer after Communion

Our living God,
Your Son Jesus has spoken to us
warm words of encouragement and hope.
At his table he has nourished us
with the fresh bread of himself
to sustain us on our pilgrim way
to you and to one another.
Let the food of his word and body
keep us united in one faith,
one love, one common concern
for all that is right and good.
We ask this through Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.

Blessing

We have encountered our Risen Lord:
he spoke to us his word of life
and broke his bread for us.
May we speak to one another
his word that sets hearts afire with hope.
May we be his bread that nourishes
everyone around us.
Take with you the blessings of almighty God:
the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. R/ Amen.

Go in peace
to love and serve the Lord in one another.

R/ Thanks be to God.

Reflection:

23 April 2023 III Sunday of Easter

Luke 24: 13-35

On the road to Emmaus

It is the month of April in the year 30 A.D. Two disciples of Jesus who lost all their hope with the killing of Jesus their teacher and prophet, are on their way back to Emmaus, a village twenty miles away from Jerusalem. Luke’s Gospel says Emmaus was just seven miles from Jerusalem, which is a mistake. This episode also raises in us a number of questions: Why couldn’t the disciples recognize Jesus during their whole day’s journey and conversation? The text says that their eyes were kept from recognizing him – a kind of blindness!

It indicates that the Risen Christ had something different in his appearance, that Mary Magdalene, Peter and other apostles could not recognise him when they first met him after the resurrection. Because, resurrection from death does not mean going back to one’s previous life, but entering the World of God.

We must also pay attention to the sentence describing Jesus at table with the disciples: “When he was at table with them, he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them” – Luke explicitly recreates the celebration of the Eucharist. While they were still on the road, Jesus presided over the liturgy of the Word: “beginning with Moses and all the prophets he explained to them in all the Scriptures” what was written about the Messiah [v. 27]. And later at the Breaking of the Bread, they recognise the Lord.

Luke wrote the Gospel around the years 80-90 A.D. Almost all the witnesses to the Risen Lord are by now dead. The rabbis taught that the Messiah would live a thousand years. They expected a glorious Messiah, a mighty and triumphant king. But, Jesus instead was defeated and killed. Their dreams are collapsed, and their plans have failed.

It is the story of the Christian communities of Luke. They are persecuted, victims of abuse. They see the victory of the evil; the wicked are better off than the pure in heart. They find themselves in the same state of mind as the disciples traveling to Emmaus. Many Christians behaved that way in the face of difficulties and persecution: some abandoned their communities; others refused the answers that came from faith.

It is our own story. We, too, are like the two disciples to Emmaus. We know well what Jesus did and taught. But this knowledge is incomplete. Without faith in the resurrection, our defeats are defeats; and life ends with death, a senseless tragedy.

An important element of this passage: the disciples on the road to Emmaus, as soon as they recognize the Lord, they rush to announce their discovery to their brothers and sisters and with them proclaim their faith: ‘The Lord is truly risen ....’ 

On the Road to Emmaus - Youtube