Third Sunday of Easter

Two disciples are walking away from Jerusalem, away from the community, away from the place where everything fell apart. They are discouraged. They had hoped Jesus was the one to redeem Israel, and he was crucified, and now it is the third day and they are leaving. A stranger joins them on the road and asks what they are talking about. They tell him the whole story. He walks with them, opens the Scriptures, and their hearts burn within them - but they do not recognize him. It is only when he sits at their table, takes bread, blesses it, and breaks it that their eyes are opened. They recognize him in the breaking of the bread.

Your family table is the Emmaus table. The place where Christ is recognized is not a classroom or an auditorium. It is a table where bread is broken and blessed and shared. The Eucharist is the breaking of bread at Mass, but the echo of Emmaus is in every family meal where grace is said, where the Scriptures are remembered, where the presence of Christ is invoked even when no one in the room fully recognizes him yet. The disciples did not recognize Jesus while he was explaining the Scriptures. They recognized him when he broke the bread. Your children may not recognize Christ in the catechism lesson. They will recognize him at the table where the bread is broken with love.

• For our family, that our table would be an Emmaus table - the place where Christ is recognized in the breaking of bread, in the blessing spoken, and in the presence we share, we pray to the Lord.
• For those who are walking away from the faith the way the Emmaus disciples walked away from Jerusalem - discouraged, disappointed, convinced that it did not work - that a stranger would join them on the road and make their hearts burn, we pray to the Lord.
• For families who have lost hope in something they were counting on - a marriage, a child's future, a dream that died - that the third day would bring a recognition they did not expect, we pray to the Lord.
• For all who gather at the Eucharistic table today, that their eyes would be opened in the breaking of the bread and they would recognize the Lord who has been walking with them the whole time, we pray to the Lord.

At dinner tonight, tell the Emmaus story in your own words. Then break the bread at the table - literally, take a loaf and break it - and bless it. Ask your children: where have you felt Jesus walking with you this week, even if you did not recognize him at the time? The Emmaus disciples did not know it was Jesus until the bread was broken. Sometimes we only recognize his presence looking backward. Help your children learn to see him in the rearview mirror.

The disciples said: were not our hearts burning within us? The burning happened before the recognition. Your children may have moments of warmth, wonder, or unexplained joy that are the Spirit moving in them before they have the language to name it. Do not dismiss those moments. Name them for your children: that burning you felt? That was him. He was on the road with you the whole time.