On the Road to Emmaus

Looking for the key to an understanding of the Scriptures

Luke 24:13-35

1. Opening prayer

Lord Jesus, send Your Spirit to help us to read the Scriptures with the same mind that You read them to the disciples on the way to Emmaus. In the light of the Word, written in the Bible, You helped them to discover the presence of God in the disturbing events of Your sentence and death. Thus, the cross that seemed to be the end of all hope became for them the source of life and of resurrection.

Create silence in us so that we may listen to Your voice in Creation and in the Scriptures, in events and in people, above all in the poor and suffering. May Your word guide us so that we too, like the two disciples on the way to Emmaus, may experience the force of Your resurrection and witness to others that You are alive in our midst as source of fraternity, justice and peace. We ask this of You, Jesus, son of Mary, who revealed the Father to us and sent us Your Spirit. Amen.

2. Reading

a) A key to guide the reading:

Let us read the text where Luke presents Jesus as interpreting the Scriptures. As we read, let us seek to discover the various steps taken by Jesus in the process of this interpretation, from the moment He meets the two disciples on the way to Emmaus, to the time the disciples meet with the community in Jerusalem.

b) A division of the text to assist a careful reading:

Lk 24:13-24: Jesus tries to find out what it is that is making the two disciples distressed.

Lk 24:25-27: Jesus sheds the light of Scripture on the situation of the two disciples.

Lk 24:28-32: Jesus shares the bread and celebrates with the disciples.

Lk 24:33-35: The two disciples go to Jerusalem and share their experience of the resurrection with the community.

c) The text:

13-24: Now that very same day, two of them were on their way to a village called Emmaus, seven miles from Jerusalem, and they were talking together about all that had happened. And it happened that as they were talking together and discussing it, Jesus Himself came up and walked by their side; but their eyes were prevented from recognizing Him. He said to them, 'What are all these things that you are discussing as you walk along?' They stopped, their faces downcast. Then one of them, called Cleopas, answered Him, 'You must be the only person staying in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have been happening there these last few days.' He asked, 'What things?' They answered, 'All about Jesus of Nazareth, who showed Himself a prophet powerful in action and speech before God and the whole people; and how our chief priests and our leaders handed Him over to be sentenced to death, and had Him crucified. Our own hope had been that He would be the one to set Israel free. And this is not all: two whole days have now gone by since it all happened; and some women from our group have astounded us: they went to the tomb in the early morning, and when they could not find the body, they came back to tell us they had seen a vision of angels who declared He was alive. Some of our friends went to the tomb and found everything exactly as the women had reported, but of Him they saw nothing.'

25-27: Then He said to them, 'You foolish men! So slow to believe all that the prophets have said! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer before entering into His glory?' Then, starting with Moses and going through all the prophets, He explained to them the passages throughout the scriptures that were about Himself.

28-32: When they drew near to the village to which they were going, He made as if to go on; but they pressed Him to stay with them saying, 'It is nearly evening, and the day is almost over.' So He went in to stay with them. Now while He was with them at table, He took the bread and said the blessing; then He broke it and handed it to them. And their eyes were opened and they recognized Him; but He had vanished from their sight. Then they said to each other, 'Did not our hearts burn within us as He talked to us on the road and explained the scriptures to us?'

33-35: They set out that instant and returned to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven assembled together with their companions, 34 who said to them, 'The Lord has indeed risen and has appeared to Simon.' 35 Then they told their story of what had happened on the way and how they had recognized Him at the breaking of bread.

3. A moment of prayerful silence

so that the Word of God may enter into us and enlighten our life.

4. Some questions

to help us in our personal reflection.

a) What part did you like best in this text? Why?

b) What steps did Jesus take in interpreting the Scriptures from the time He met the two friends on the road up to the time the disciples went to the community in Jerusalem?

c) In what type of situation does Jesus meet the two disciples?

d) What are the similarities and the differences between our present situation and that of the two disciples? What factors create a crisis of faith in our day and are the cause of sadness?

e) What was the effect of Jesus’ reading of the Bible on the life of the two disciples?

f) Which points in the interpretation made by Jesus are a critique of our way of reading the Bible, and which are a confirmation?

5. A key to the reading

for those who wish to go deeper into the text.

a) The context in which Luke is writing:

* Luke is writing in about the year 85 for the Greek community of Asia Minor, who were living in difficult circumstances, due to factors both external and internal. Internally, there were divergent tendencies that made life together difficult: ex-Pharisees who wanted to impose the law of Moses (Acts 15:1); those who followed John the Baptist more and who had not even heard of the Holy Spirit (Acts 19:1-6); Jews who used the name of Jesus to drive out demons (Acts 19:13); and those who said they were followers of Peter, others of Paul, others of Apollo, and others of Christ (1Cor 1:12). Externally, persecution by the Roma Empire was growing (Rev 1:9-10; 2:3, 10, 13; 6:9-10; 12:16) plus the insidious infiltration of the dominant ideology of the Empire and of the official religion, much the same way communism today infiltrates all aspects of our life (Rev 2:14, 20; 13:14-16).

* Luke is writing to these communities that he may give them a sure direction in the midst of their difficulties and so that they may find the strength and light in living out their faith in Jesus. Luke writes a two volume work: the Gospel and Acts, and he has the same general aim, "to learn how well founded the teaching is that you have received" (Lk 1:4). One of his specific aims is to show, through the beautiful story of the two disciples on the way to Emmaus, how the community ought to read and interpret the Bible. In reality, those walking the streets of Emmaus were the communities (and all of us). Each of us is and all of us together are companions of Cleophas (Lk 24:18). With him we walk the streets of life, seeking a word of support and of guidance in the Word of God.

* The way Luke narrates the meeting of Jesus with the disciples on the way to Emmaus, tells us how the communities of his time used the Bible and practiced what we today call  Lectio Divina or Prayerful Reading of the Bible. They used three  steps in interpreting the Bible:

b) The steps or aspects used in the process of interpreting the Scriptures:

First step: Start from facts (Lk 24:13-24):

Jesus meets the two friends who are experiencing feelings of fear and dispersion, of lack of trust and dismay. They were fleeing. The force of death, the cross, had killed in them all hope. Jesus approaches them and walks with them. He listens to their conversation and says: "What matters are you discussing as you walk along?" The prevailing ideology prevents them from understanding and having a critical conscience. "Our own hope had been that he would be the one to set Israel free, but…" (Lk 24:21). What do those who suffer talk about today? What matters today put our faith in a state of crisis?

The first step is this: to approach people, listen to reality, problems; be capable of asking questions that help to look at reality more critically.

Second step: Make use of the Bible (Lk 24:25-27)

Jesus uses the Bible, not in order to give lessons on the Bible, but to shed light on the problem worrying the two friends, and thus shed light on the situation they were experiencing. With the help of the Bible, Jesus leads the two disciples into God’s plan and shows them that God has not allowed history to go astray. Jesus does not use the Bible as an expert who knows everything, but as a companion who wishes to help his friends to remember things they had forgotten, namely, Moses and the Prophets. Jesus does not give his friends the feeling of being ignorant, but seeks to create an ambient within which they can remember and thus arouse their memory.

The second step is this: with the help of the Bible, to shed light on the situation and transform the cross, symbol of death, into a symbol of life and of hope. In this manner, that which prevents us from seeing, becomes light and strength along our way.

Third step: Celebrating and sharing in community (Lk 24,28-32)

The Bible alone does not open their eyes but makes their hearts burn! (Lk 24:32). What opens the eyes of the friends and allows them to discover the presence of Jesus is the sharing of the bread, the communitarian gesture, the celebration. As soon as they recognize Jesus, He disappears. And they then experience the resurrection, they are reborn and walk on their own. Jesus does not take over His friends’ journey. He is not paternalistic. Now that they are risen, the disciples can walk on their own two feet.

The third step is this: we must know how to create a prayerful and fraternal atmosphere where the Spirit is free to act. It is the Spirit who allows us to discover and experience the Word of God in our lives and leads us to understand the meaning of Jesus’ words (Jn 14:26; 16:13). It is especially at this point of the celebration that the practice of basic ecclesial communities, sustained by the margins of the world, help us religious once more to come across and drink from the ancient well of Tradition.

Aim: To rise and go towards Jerusalem (Lk 24:33-35)

Everything has changed in the two disciples. They themselves rise, regain courage and go back to Jerusalem, where the forces of death that killed Jesus are still at work, but where also there are the forces of life in the sharing of the experience of the resurrection. Courage in place of fear. Return in place of flight. Faith in place of its absence. Hope in place of despair. A critical conscience in place of fatalism before power. Freedom in place of oppression. In a word, life in place of death! And in place of the news of the death of Jesus, the Good News of his Resurrection!

This is the aim of reading the Bible: to experience the presence of Jesus and of His Spirit in our midst. It is the Spirit who opens our eyes to the Bible and to reality and draws us to share the experience of the Resurrection, as it is true even to this day, in community meetings.

c) The new way of Jesus: a prayerful reading of the Bible:

* Often, it is not possible to understand whether the use of the OT in the Gospels comes from Jesus or an explanation given by early Christians who sought to express their faith in Jesus in this way. However, what cannot be denied is the frequent and constant use of the Bible by Jesus. A simple reading of the Gospels shows us that Jesus found His bearings in the Scriptures in the performance of His mission and in instructing His disciples and the crowd.

* At the root of Jesus’ reading of the Bible is his experience of God as Father. His intimate relationship with the Father gives Jesus a new criterion, which places Him in direct contact with the author of the Bible. Jesus looks for meaning at the very source. He does not go from the writings to their root, but from the root to the writings. The comparison of the photo, as described in the Lectio Divina of Easter Sunday, helps us to shed light on this topic. As by a miracle, the photo of the harsh face was lit up and acquired traits of great tenderness. The words, born of the lived experience of the son, transformed everything, without changing anything (see Lectio Divina for Easter Sunday).

* Thus, looking through the photos of the Old Testament, people in the time of Jesus, formed an idea of a very distant God, harsh, difficult to contact, whose name could not even be mouthed. But Jesus’ words and actions, born of His experience as Son, without changing even one word (Mt 5:18-19), transformed the whole meaning of the Old Testament. The God who seemed to be so distant and harsh acquires the features of a Father full of tenderness, always present, ready to welcome and liberate! This Good News of God, communicated by Jesus, is the new key to a re-reading of the whole of the Old Testament. The New Testament is a re-reading of the Old Testament done in the light of the new experience of God, revealed by Jesus. This different way of shedding light on life in the light of the Word of God, creates many conflicts for Him, because it renders the small of this world critical, while it makes the great uncomfortable.

* When interpreting the Bible to the people, Jesus revealed the traits of God’s face, the experience that He experienced of God as Father. To reveal God as Father was the source and aim of the Good News of Jesus. By His attitude, Jesus manifests God’s love for His disciples. He reveals the Father and incarnates His love! Jesus was able to say, "To have seen Me is to have seen the Father" (Jn 14:9). Hence, the Father’s Spirit was also with Jesus (Lk 4:18) and went with Him everywhere, from the incarnation (Lk 1:35) to the beginning of his mission (Lk 4:14), even to the end, his death and resurrection (Acts 1:8).

* Jesus, interpreter, educator and master, was a meaningful person in the life of His disciples. He influenced their lives forever. To interpret the Bible does not mean just to teach truth for the other to live by. The content that Jesus wished to convey was not limited to words, but included actions and His way of relating to people. The content is never separate from the person who communicates it. The goodness and love that emerge from His words are part of the content. They are His nature. Good content without goodness is like spilt milk.

6. Psalm 23 (22)

God is our inheritance forever

The Lord is my Shepherd;

I shall not want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures.

He leads me beside still waters;

He restores my soul.

He leads me in paths of righteousness for His name's sake.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I fear no evil;

for Thou art with me;

Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me.

Thou preparest a table before me

in the presence of my enemies;

Thou anointest my head with oil, my cup overflows.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life;

and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

7. Final Prayer

Lord Jesus, we thank You for the word that has enabled us to understand better the will of the Father. May Your Spirit enlighten our actions and grant us the strength to practice what Your Word has revealed to us. May we, like Mary, Your mother, not only listen to but also practice the Word. You who live and reign with the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit forever and ever. Amen.

Citoc Online

Millions came to Rome for the canonization of two Popes, John XXIII and John Paul II. Especially with Pope John Paul II so many people had stories of personal encounters with him. Sometimes those encounters actually took place in crowds but for the individuals it was a very personal moment between them and the Pope John Paul II.

Carmelites too have many stories of personal encounters to tell. In 26 years, Pope John Paul II visited many churches and almost daily hosted groups at his residences. Among these were some Carmelites. He penned a library of documents some of which were directed to the Carmelites themselves.

As has been well documented, this pope had a deep devotion to Mary and particularly to Our Lady of Mount Carmel. He himself had a deep devotion to the Carmelite scapular (see accompanying story). He often used examples from the lives and writings of the Carmelite saints to make a point in his speeches and writings.

The Pope also showed he was aware of the Carmelites of today and our ministry to the Church worldwide. He reached into the Order to find bishops to serve in several dioceses around the world. Some 18 monasteries of enclosed nuns were erected during his pontificate.

In a letter to the Prior General, Joseph Chalmers, on the occasion of the 2001 General Chapter, Pope John Paul recalled that 2001 was the 750th anniversary of the giving of the scapular, the 7th centenary of the birth of the Carmelite bishop and saint Andrew Corsini, as well as the beginning of the Third Millennium which the Pope felt called to lead the Church into. He wrote about Elijah and Mary as the symbols of the Order and talked about "the journey" that the Order has embarked on.

He continued "You are called to re-read your rich spiritual inheritance in the light of today’s challenges so that the ‘joys, the hopes, the sadnesses and the anguish of humanity today, of the poor, and above all of those who suffer’ are ‘the joys and the hope, the sadnesses and the anguish of Christ’s disciples’ (Gaudium et Spes, n.1) and, in a special way, of every Carmelite."

Carmelite Holy Figures

One occasionally found the pope using quotes from a Carmelite to reinforce his teaching. He himself was very familiar with the life of the 16th century Carmelite mystic John of the Cross. The Carmelite was the subject of his doctoral thesis Doctrina de fide apud Sanctum Ioannem a Cruce.

Speaking to young pilgrims at the general audience on November 6, 1985, John Paul called Titus Brandsma "the example ... to show us that love is stronger than hate and is destined, even after some moments of failure, to triumph." This was a theme the pope would repeat time after time in his own life. For newly weds, the pope again used Brandsma to teach that even those so involved in the problems of daily life can attain spiritual heights. At the Sunday Angelus on the 50th anniversary John Paul referred to Brandsma’s martyrdom as "the highest expression of service to the Gospel and solidly rooted in the spirituality of Carmel.

The Pope appreciated what La Madonna "la Bruna" means to Naples. Venerated by the Neapolitans since the 13th century, the tradition says that the icon was brought to the city by the Carmelites who fled the Holy Land. During a visit to that Italian city in 1990, the pope said that La Bruna "so loved by all the Neapolitans ... kept their faith firm and intact."

The Carmelite Scapular

Particularly around the time of the Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in July, the Pope often spoke of the Carmelite scapular, usually in the context of its value for today’s Christian. In an audience on July 16, 1988, with a group of the Alpini, a branch of the Italian military, John Paul II quoted his predecessor Pius XII to single out the scapular from among the many expressions of devotion to Mary.

Some days later at the summer residence in Castelgandolfo, the Pope called the scapular "a particular grace" of Mary. In this way, the heart grows in communion and familiarity with the Blessed Virgin Mary. He spoke of this as "a new way of living for God and of continuing here on earth the love of Jesus the Son for his Mother Mary."

In a talk with the youth of the Carmelite parish of St. Mary in Transpontina in 1989, the pope said he owed much in his youth to the Carmelite scapular. Then he compared Mary’s clothing us in the scapular to a mother who sees that her children are properly clothed. "Our Lady of Mount Carmel dresses us in a spiritual sense. She dresses us with the grace of God and helps us always …"

Mary - Our Lady of Mt Carmel

The deep devotion of Pope John Paul II to Our Lady under her various titles was well documented during his 26 year pontificate. He began his pontificate by saying to the crowd gathered in St. Peter’s for his first Urbi et Orbi blessing that he accepted the election "in the spirit of obedience to Our Lord and with total trust in his Mother, the Most Holy Madonna." He attributed his survival of the attempted assassination on May 13, 1981 to Our Lady of Fatima whose feast was celebrated the day of the attempt.

His devotion to Mary as Our Lady of Mount Carmel was also manifest during his years as pope. In a general audience on July 13, 1988 the Pope challenged the young people to examine their own devotion to Mary and then suggested they think about devotion to Our Lady of Mount Carmel.

At the same audience, he told the sick that "Our Lady of Mount Carmel sheds light on the beauty of the mystery of suffering." He asked the newly weds in the piazza to "put your love under the protection of Our Lady of Mount Carmel" reminding them that "It is her prayer and intercession that will protect your love from danger and will cause your love to always be faithful and rich."

During the Angelus celebrated at Castelgandolfo on July 24, 1988, the Pope recalled that Carmelite mystics experienced God in their lives as "the way of perfection" and "ascending Mount Carmel" – always in the presence of Mary as Mother, Patroness, and Sister. He said that for those in Carmel and in every soul which is deeply Carmelite, a life of intense communion and closeness to the Virgin Mary grows.

At the Carmelite parish of Traspontina in January 1989, the Pope admitted to the young people who came to meet him that Our Lady of Mount Carmel had been of great help to him as a youngster. "I can not say exactly to what extent but I think she helped me greatly. She assisted me in finding the grace of my vocation."

During the Sunday Angelus on July 16, 2000, while on vacation in Aosta, the Pope spoke again of the Carmelites as the mountains around him made him think of Mount Carmel in Palestine. Recalling that Carmel is a symbol of total adhesion to the divine will and of our eternal salvation, he said "We are called to climb this spiritual mountain courageously and without pausing. Walking together with the Virgin, model of total fidelity to the Lord, we will not fear obstacles or difficulties. Sustained by her maternal intercession, like Elijah, we will be able to fulfill our vocation to be authentic "prophets" of the Gospel in our time.

He prayed that "the Blessed Virgin of Mount Carmel help us to rise tirelessly toward the top of the mountain of sanctity, and to hold nothing more dear than Christ, who reveals the mystery of divine love and humanity’s true dignity to the world."

May his prayer become a reality in our lives.

Easter Time

1) Opening prayer

Lord our God, Father of all,

you sent your Son Jesus Christ among us

to reveal to us that you care about people

and that your love extends to all,

without any distinction of race or culture.

Give us a great respect for all people,

whatever way they come,

and let your Church embrace all cultures,

that Jesus may truly be

the Lord and Shepherd of all,

now and for ever.

2) Gospel Reading - John 10:11-18

I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep. The hired man, since he is not the shepherd and the sheep do not belong to him, abandons the sheep as soon as he sees a wolf coming, and runs away, and then the wolf attacks and scatters the sheep; he runs away because he is only a hired man and has no concern for the sheep.

I am the good shepherd; I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for my sheep. And there are other sheep I have that are not of this fold, and I must lead these too. They too will listen to my voice, and there will be only one flock, one shepherd.

The Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from me; I lay it down of my own free will, and as I have power to lay it down, so I have power to take it up again; and this is the command I have received from my Father.

3) Reflection

• The Gospel today presents the parable of the Good Shepherd. It is the continuation of the Gospel which we read yesterday (Sunday). It is difficult to understand the first part without the second. This is why we prefer to comment briefly on both (Jn 10: 1-18). The discourse on the Good Shepherd presents three comparisons linked among themselves:

1^st comparison: Jesus speaks of the shepherd and of the thieves (Jn 10:1-5)

2^nd comparison: Jesus is the door of the sheep (Jn 10: 6-10)

3^rd comparison: Jesus is the Good Shepherd (Jn 10:11-18)

• John 10: 1-5: 1^st comparison: to enter by the door and not by somewhere else. Jesus begins the discourse with the comparison of the door: “Anyone who does not enter the sheepfold through the gate is a thief and a bandit! He who enters through the gate is the shepherd of the flock!” At that time, the shepherds took care of the flock the whole day. When night arrived they lead the sheep to a great community sheepfold, which was well protected against thieves and wolves. All the shepherds of the same region took their flocks there. A gatekeeper took care of them the whole night. The following day, early in the morning, the shepherd would go there, knocked with his hands on the gate and the gatekeeper would open. The shepherd would go in and call the sheep by name. The sheep recognized the voice of their shepherd would get up and go out following him to go to the pasture. The sheep of the other shepherds heard the voice, but would not move, because for them it was an unknown voice. From time to time, there was the danger of being attacked. The bandits would enter by a side path or jumped over the wall of the sheepfold, made of one rock on top of the other, in order to rob the sheep. They did not enter by the gate because the gatekeeper was there.

• John 10: 6-10: 2^nd comparison: Jesus is the door. The audience, the Pharisees (Jn 9: 40-41), did not understand what it meant “to go in through the door”. Jesus then explained: “I am the gate of the sheepfold. All who have come before me are thieves and bandits”. Of whom is Jesus speaking in this phrase which is so hard? Probably, he was referring to the religious leaders who drew the people behind them but they did not respond to their expectations. They were not interested in the good of the people, but only in their own interest and in filling their pockets. They deceived the people and abandoned them to a worse situation. To enter through the gate is to act as Jesus acted. The fundamental criterion to discern who is shepherd and who is a thief is the defence of the life of the sheep. Jesus asks the people not to follow the persons who present themselves as shepherds, but who have no interest for the life of the people. “I have come in order that they have life and life in abundance!” This is the criterion!

• John 10: 11-15: 3^rd comparison: Jesus is the Good Shepherd. Jesus changes the comparison. First he was the door of the flock. Now he is the Shepherd of the sheep. Everyone knew what a shepherd was and how he lived and worked. But Jesus is not just any shepherd but, he is the Good Shepherd! The image of the Good Shepherd comes from the Old Testament. Saying that he is the Good Shepherd, Jesus presents himself as the one who comes to fulfil the promises of the prophets and the expectations of the people; for example the beautiful prophecy of Ezekiel (Ex 34: 11-16). There are two points on which Jesus insists: (a) in the defence of the life of the sheep: the Good Shepherd gives his life for the life of the sheep. (b) In the mutual knowledge between the shepherd and the sheep: The shepherd knows his sheep and the sheep know the shepherd. Jesus says that the people have a particular perception and know who the Good Shepherd is. This was what the Pharisees did not accept. They despised or rejected the sheep and said they were damned and ignorant (Jn 7: 49; 9, 34). They thought they had the right and apt view to discern the things of God. In reality they were blind. The discourse on the Good Shepherd teaches two rules to cure this type of blindness, which is quite frequent: (i) to pay special attention to the reaction of the sheep, because they know the voice of the shepherd. (ii) To be very attentive to the attitude of the one who calls himself the shepherd to see if his interest is the life of the sheep, or not, and if he is capable to give his life for the life of the sheep.

• John 10: 16-18: The goal which Jesus wants to attain: one only flock and one only Shepherd. Jesus opens the horizon and says that he has other sheep that do not belong to this flock. They have not as yet heard the voice of Jesus, but when they will hear it, they will become aware that he is the shepherd and will follow him. This is the Ecumenical universal dimension.

4) Personal questions

• Shepherd – Pastoral. Does the Pastoral ministry in my Parish imitate the mission of Jesus as shepherd? And in my pastoral ministry which is my attitude? Am I a shepherd as Jesus?

• Have you had the experience of having been deceived by a false shepherd? How did you succeed in overcoming this?

5) Concluding Prayer

As a deer yearns for running streams,

so I yearn for you, my God.

I thirst for God, the living God;

when shall I go to see the face of God? (Ps 42:1-2)