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The
two disciples recounted what had taken place on the way, and how
Jesus was made known to them in the breaking of the bread. (Luke
24:35)
How many of us have heard that statement from Luke’s gospel so many
times over the years that we pass over it without even questioning
what Luke may be trying to teach us two thousand years after writing
that particular passage?
After all, the question Luke is raising happens to be one that many
of us may have asked:
“How
is Jesus made known to us in the breaking of the bread?”
That question comes to mind each year when I proclaim this passage
from scripture (as well as similar passages where the Jesus is made
known to his disciples in the breaking of the bread) during the
Easter season. For example, are you aware that Luke’s use of the
term “the way” is a clue he’s
using
to
alert readers that he’s going describe people—like you and me—who
are trying to follow Jesus’ way—“the way,” as in “the way, the
truth, and the life”?
Jesus “was made known,” “along the way,” “in the
breaking of the bread.”
Luke isn’t writing about these events as if they are the static
stuff of history books that took place a very long time ago and
which have nothing to do with our lives today. No, Luke is writing
about people who are trying to live their lives according to “the
way” and how they experience the Jesus making himself known to
them. Not yesterday. Not in the last century. Not during the
first millennium. And, not in the weeks and months following the
first Easter Sunday. For Luke, it’s all about today…as in April 22,
2012.
Luke is writing to those of us today who are on “the way” and is
describing how Jesus makes himself known to us in “the breaking of
the bread.” More importantly, Luke is describing how it’s not
at all unusual for those who are on the way—like those two disciples
some two thousand years ago, presumably John and Peter—to fail to
see Jesus making himself known in the breaking of the bread.
Realizing this, Luke reminds us, it’s not unusual for those who are
on the way to experience regret, having missed seeing what these
disciples should have seen.
It
seems that the presence of the Jesus in the breaking of the
bread—what we miss seeing but we should see—is always known in
retrospect, much like people experience when someone they love dies
and they never once expressed thanks to that person for what that
individual meant to them. They live full of regret at what might
have been and perhaps should have been, had they only responded to
that voice within, just as when Jesus asked his disciples, “Why are
you troubled?”
How many of us who profess ourselves to be “on the way” not only
fail to see Jesus when he appears to us in the breaking of the bread
but, then, also fail to express our thanks to Jesus for what his
death and resurrection have accomplished on our behalf?
This is an especially challenging question for many of our young
people. Luke is asking you today: Did you come here today to meet
the Jesus in the breaking of the bread?
For many young people, the answer from my side of the church is a
pretty clear “No.” This answer evidences itself in the attitude of
these young people. They don’t participate in the breaking of the
bread even in the most minimal way. Their sullen attitudes, their
“Oh, God, am I bored” looks, as well as their obvious attempts at
taking cat naps—except that they’re forced by the liturgy to move up
and down, which disturbs their brief moments of sleep—isn’t anything
new. I’ve seen this for generations. In fact, my maternal
grandmother gave me Hell for it when I was a teenager.
One thing is different today and that’s texting during Mass. This
is a new phenomenon. There are more than a few young people who
text during Mass. Doing so—not just texting, but communicating a
lack of interest in meeting Jesus in the breaking of the bread—sends
a clear statement of priorities. Simply put:
It reveals a lack
of religious sensibility.
“But Mass is so boring,” is the standard complaint.
Well, guess what? An awful lot of life is boring. Do you
think changing diapers is exciting? What about having to get
out of bed every weekday to work so that you can provide food,
shelter, and clothing for those who are depending upon you?
Then, too, what about having to be interested in what interests
others when you’d
rather be doing what interests you? Do you really think all of
that is exciting? Like a lot of things in life,
Mass
is boring…especially for those who come here having little or no
interest in meeting Jesus in the breaking of the bread.
It’s sort of like complaining about having to go to your
grandparents’ house for dinner. Even before arriving there, how
many young people demand of their parents, “How soon after dinner
will we be leaving?” Given that attitude, I’m sure your
grandparents are overjoyed to see the sheer delight and ecstasy you
exhibit while having to endure being a guest in their house. I also
imagine that a lot of texting goes on there, too. Talk about
expressing interest in and being grateful for all that your
grandparents have done which has made it possible for you to be
alive and living pretty comfortably compared to many others
throughout the world.
Luke—whose use of the phrase “on the way” is meant to remind our
young people of their Baptism and Confirmation which sent them “on
the way”—isn’t just focused upon seeing Jesus along the way. He’s
also focused upon the attitude of being thankful for what Jesus has
accomplished on their behalf. Luke reminds our young people that
Jesus suffered and rose from the dead on the third day so that
repentance, for the forgiveness of sins, would be preached in his
name to all the nations and that our young people would be witnesses
to these things.
When our young people meet Jesus in the breaking of the bread—when
they actually hear what Scripture is teaching them and receive the
Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ—are their hearts
filled with thankfulness for what Jesus is doing for them?
Again, an attitude is difficult to discern accurately but oftentimes
is expressed clearly in behavior. Assuming that our young people do
give thanks, do they then determine to live
“the way”
by witnessing to these things beyond this place where they saw Jesus
in the breaking of the bread?
Understood in this way, it’s easy to see how—like the two disciples
who saw Jesus along the way but didn’t recognize him in the breaking
of the bread—many young people should be very careful that they also
don’t end up regretting that they didn’t see Jesus “on the way” and,
as a result, end up wasting valuable time in their lives by seeking
the way, the truth, and the life in all of the wrong places and
living to regret all of that as well. It was all there to be
experienced when they saw Jesus in the breaking of the bread.
Like the two disciples, they just didn’t
listen to their hearts.
But, it’s not just young people who profess themselves to be “on the
way” and not only fail to see Jesus when he appears in the breaking
of the bread but, then, also fail to express thanks to the Risen
Lord for what he has accomplished on behalf. There are quite a few
adults who do the same.
Luke’s image asks these adult disciples: Do you really come here to
see the Risen Lord in the breaking of the bread?
It’d be difficult to recognize that many adults do so when, week
after week, nearly forty percent of the congregation arrives between
five and fifteen minutes after Mass has begun. Even some
extraordinary ministers of the Eucharist, lectors, and cantors
arrive late week after week. Let’s
be clear:
I’m not talking about people who have a legitimate reason for coming
late on occasion. No, I’m talking about those adults who arrive
late not only week after week but also and especially on that week
in the fall when we turn the clocks back. How is it possible to
arrive late to the breaking of the bread on that one week each fall
the exact number of minutes PLUS one hour? I know that St.
Augustine had great difficulty explaining the mystery of the Trinity
to his congregation, but it’s impossible for me to explain the
mystery of the “Fall Back One Hour Catholics.”
That only describes what I call the “front end” problem, that is,
what adults come here expecting to see. As the evidence indicates
from week to week and year to year, it’s not to meet Jesus in the
breaking of the bread…the bread being the Word of Life that is
freely given to us in the weekly Scripture.
“I
go to Communion,” some adults have protested to me when I have
challenged their behavior.
That’s true. Most do go to Communion and that’s a very good thing.
But, going to Communion, I would suggest, is a very different
thing from receiving Holy Communion.
What’s the difference?
It’s evident in one’s attitude following Holy Communion.
I’d liken “going to” communion to receiving a Pez or a Neco
wafer. That is, I take it, I put it into my mouth, and I allow it
to do its thing which, simply put, is to give me pleasure and
enjoyment. It makes me feel good.
Now, concerning that “attitude” following “going to” Holy
Communion thing. How many of us have ever had a piece of Pez or a
Neco wafer and given thanks to the creator of Pez or Neco wafers for
changing our lives through the forgiveness of sins and, realizing
this, being witnesses of these things?
Most likely, the answer is a big, fat “zero.”
Why?
Because Pez and Neco wafers don’t offer the promise of changing our
lives.
But, the Bread of Life—the Body and Blood of Christ—properly
received in Holy Communion does promise to strengthen us against
evil by transforming us into the Body and Blood of Christ alive and
at work in our world. The realization of that transformative
power—that we have seen Jesus in the breaking of the bread and
received his body and blood in Holy Communion—not only should fill
us with awe because
“God is with us”
(that is, “Emmanuel”)
but
also should fill us with reverent thanksgiving.
That describes what I call the “back end” problem, that is, what
many adults come here expecting to receive. As the evidence
indicates from week to week as the same adults—about forty percent
of the congregation, I’d estimate—skedaddle from Mass immediately
after going to Holy Communion without giving reverent thanks through
the closing prayer, Luke is asking you, what exactly did you come
here expecting to receive? A piece of Pez? A Neco wafer? What are
you thinking about? Where you’re
going to get coffee and a donut after Mass or how you’re going to
beat the crowd in the parking lot?
If
you came to see Jesus along the way and to receive his body and
blood, where’s the heartfelt gratitude for the divine gift you have
just received? Do you act the same way on Christmas after opening
your gifts?
These are some of the challenges St. Luke is raising for us today
when he describes how Jesus made himself known to his disciples in
the breaking of the bread. It’s very easy to criticize the two
disciples for not “getting it.” But, that’s not Luke’s interest.
He wants you and me to “get it” and, along the way, to see the truth
and to live the life that Jesus taught his disciples. Luke tells us
that’s best made known as each of us, whether we’re young people or
adults, when we come here—along the way—to see and to know Jesus in
the breaking of the bread. Our purpose isn’t to be entertained or
to receive a Pez or Neco wafer, but to allow Jesus to make himself
known to us in the breaking of the bread and as we experience our
transformation as redeemed people, then, to express our heartfelt
gratitude for this sacred mystery of our faith.
We
have it all right here—in
this church—the bread of life in Scripture and the body and blood of
Jesus Christ in the Sacrament. What Jesus makes known in the
breaking of the bread is repentance for the forgiveness of sins and
our mission to be witnesses of these things. That is, the
people around us learn about being a disciple by observing us as we
see Jesus making himself known to us in the breaking of the bread.
The Sundays following Easter are intended to teach the young adults
and adults who joined the Church at the Easter Vigil—who began their
journey along the way—the deeper mysteries of the faith. Luke
reminds us in today’s gospel that one of those mysteries is that we
see Jesus in the breaking of the bread, the Word of Life that is
Scripture and the Body and Blood of Christ that is Holy Communion.
But, Luke reminds us, we need to be careful of knowing that in
retrospect—as was evident in those two disciples—when we realize
what we have missed and end up regretting that we didn’t recognize
what we saw.
Coming here—along the way—to see Jesus in Scripture and in Sacrament
and, in seeing who it is, experiencing what he has done for us, and
being his witnesses of these things is a “complete package” not an
“either/or deal.” Luke is reminding us today not to give our new
brothers and sisters in the way an example of how seeing Jesus in
the breaking of the bread isn’t done.
How your
family might celebrate the Easter Season:
Easter is so important that it cannot be celebrated in just one,
single day. To celebrate Easter appropriately, the Church takes
fifty days (forty days leading to the Ascension and ten days leading
to Pentecost Sunday, fifty days that culminate on what used to be
called "Quinquagesimea Sunday"). These are the days that constitute
the entire "Easter Season."
Here are four
simple ways you might celebrate the entire Easter Season with your
family:
1. Place a white pillar candle in the center of your kitchen table.
Each night before dinner, assign a member of your family to light
the candle and to recall
what a person said or did that day to reveal the Risen Lord. As part
of the blessing prayer, give thanks to the Lord for the gift of that
person.
2.
Take a daily walk around the neighborhood. Identify one sign of new
life each day. After completing the walk, sit down together as a
family in the living room or family room and relate each sign to the
new life that God has given all of us in the resurrection of His
only begotten Son.
3. Invite an estranged family member, relative, or friend (or a
family member, relative, or friend who hasn't been to visit for a
while) to dinner each of the Sundays of the Easter season. Before
the prayer of blessing over the food, read a resurrection appearance
where Jesus says to his disciples, "Peace be with you." Following
the blessing of the food, offer one another the sign of peace before
partaking of the meal.
4. In preparation for the Solemnity of Pentecost, have each member
of the family on Easter Sunday write down on a piece of paper a gift
of the Holy Spirit that he or she needs in order to become a more
faithful disciple. Fold and place these pieces of paper in a bowl in
the center of the kitchen table. At dinner each evening, pray the
"Prayer of the Holy Spirit" to send for these gifts upon the members
of the family so that your family will become a light to the world.
Then, before the prayer of blessing over the dinner on Pentecost
Sunday, burn the pieces of paper to call to mind that the gifts have
already been given in the Sacrament of Confirmation. The challenge
is now to live out those gifts in the ordinary time of our daily
lives.
Easter is an event that
happens each and every day. During the fifty days of the Easter
season, in particular, you and your family can prepare to make
Easter happen each and every day of your lives by "practicing" these
simple exercises which connect Jesus' risen life to yours as well.
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HOMILY
