The Emmaus Problem

Posted On March 26, 2008

Wednesday in the Octave of Easter
Readings: Acts 3:1-10; Lk 24:13-35

Their eyes were opened and they recognized him. Lk 24:31

Today’s readings pose an important question: “How do you look?” Not your appearance, but your way of viewing. Do you simply observe things, or do you gaze intently, looking beyond the obvious? Do you merely see with your eyes or do you probe with your mind?
Check out this scene from the first reading: “Peter fixed his gaze on the man; so did John. ‘Look at us!’ Peter said. The cripple gave them his whole attention” (Acts 3:4-5). Peter then healed the cripple and, when the people “saw him,” they “recognized him.” (Acts 3:9-10).
In the Gospel, when Jesus joined the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, they didn’t know who He was until the breaking of the bread. Then “their eyes were opened and they recognized him” (Lk 24:16, 31).
This “Emmaus Problem” is still with us. When the priest elevates the Host, many people still see only bread. Even those of us who believe that Christ is truly present need to grow in our ability to recognize who Christ is for us in the Eucharist and thus enter into fuller, more personal communion with Him.
What’s the answer? To get in the habit of “gazing upon the Lord,” pondering as Our Lady did, with your mind, heart, and soul. “To contemplate the face of Christ,” wrote Pope John Paul II, “and to contemplate it with Mary is the ‘programme’ I have set before the Church at the dawn of the third millennium. … [It] involves being able to recognize him … above all in the living sacrament of his body and blood” (Ecclesia de Eucharistia, # 6).
“Although You have hidden Yourself,” St. Faustina writes, “my eye, enlightened by faith, reaches You, … my soul recognizes its Creator, … and my heart is completely immersed in prayer of adoration” (Diary, 1692).

Lord, help me to keep my gaze fixed on You and to schedule times of adoration so I can grow in my personal relationship with You.