Homily: Wednesday in the Octave of Easter

Readings: Acts3:1-10; Ps 105; Lk 24:13-35

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The Road to Emmaus began, as conversion often does, in despair or shattered faith or both – two people caught up in themselves and in their humanity.

Despite all they had heard, all they saw Him do, despite His promises, and their hope that He was the Messiah…despite it all, when they came face to face with Jesus’ death, their faith all but evaporated.

“They were downcast…Jesus, who was a prophet...we were hoping He would be the one to redeem Israel…” [Lk 24:17,19, 21]

We were hoping…

...a prophet...a redeemer...we hoped...

But now, unwilling to believe in the Resurrection, unwilling to accept the truth about Jesus, they had abandoned their hopes.

And so, headed away from Jerusalem, away from the Apostles, the Church, they were returning to the lives they led before they met Jesus.

It’s there, in sorrow and despair, as they try to leave Jesus behind, that their conversion begins. It's there they meet Him once again, along the Way.

It begins with Jesus Himself. He knows their sorrow, sees into their hearts, and communicates the life that fills His being: the life of grace, a gift that has an immediate effect.

Unknowingly moved by God’s grace, they turn to Jesus and listen.

Yes, it always begins with Jesus, the Eternal Word of God, so it shouldn’t surprise us that Jesus turns to the Revealed Word of God. He turns to Scripture.

All of Sacred Scripture – both the Old and New Testaments -- has only one ultimate purpose: to lead us to Jesus Christ.

Of course, at this point in salvation history, there was no New Testament. As Luke wrote:

“Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, He interpreted to them what referred to Him in all the Scriptures” [Lk 24:27].

And the result?

“Were not our hearts burning within us while He spoke to us on the way and opened the Scriptures to us?” [Lk 24:32]

That’s when conversion begins, brothers and sisters. It begins when you encounter Jesus on the Way and hear your story in Scripture.

But far too many Christians stop right there and fail to take the next logical step on their journey of faith.

It’s one thing to believe in Jesus, but it’s far more drastic to invite Him into your life, into your heart, to invite Him to stay with you, to let Him lead you on that journey.

Late on that first Easter Sunday, Jesus responds to the disciples’ invitation by celebrating the 2^nd Mass. And it’s in the Eucharist, "in the breaking of the bread", that they recognize Him.

Their faith, deepened by Scripture, is cemented by the Eucharist.

Such is the power of the Eucharist, this gift Jesus Christ has given His Church, a power beyond all comprehension, a power that brings Jesus into our hearts, into our inner selves, a power that confirms our faith so we can carry Him to others.

And now, filled with the joy that only such faith can bring, they go to the Church, to its very heart; to the Apostles and report all that they had witnessed.

“Then the two recounted what had taken place on the way and how He was made known to them in the breaking of the bread” [Lk 24:35].

They accept their call to make Christ present among men. But they do so first within the Church, the Church established by Jesus Himself.

What a marvelous story this is.

The Lord comes to us, but never forces Himself on us. He wants us to turn to Him freely, when we begin to grasp the depth of His love, a love He has placed deep within us. It's a very part of our creation, as image and likeness of God's love.

Like the disciples, we want to hold onto Him. We beg Him: “Stay with us, Lord. Our souls are shrouded in darkness and You alone are the light.  Only You satisfy this longing that consumes us.”

And He stays. He stays because He loves each of us so passionately that He will chase after us relentlessly…until the very last moments of our lives.

Conversion, then, begins when we meet Jesus on the Way. It’s deepened when we encounter Him in God’s Holy Word, and continues in the Church, where we repeatedly encounter Jesus in the sacraments.

Yes, conversion, like every good thing, begins and ends with Jesus, the Alpha and the Omega, He who loves beyond all comprehension.

That’s what true conversion is: a continual turning to God that turns despair into joy.

That’s why we need the Church; the Church is the font of grace that allows us to continue our lifelong conversion along the Way, the way of reconciliation.

The Resurrection of Jesus brings us hope, and, trusting in His promise, may we be reconciled with God and experience the touch of His mercy and goodness and forgiveness.

May we let God love us.