Luke 24:28-35
So they drew near to the village to which they were going. [Jesus] acted as if he were going farther, but they urged him strongly, saying, "Stay with us, for it is toward evening and the day is now far spent." So he went in to stay with them. When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them. And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And he vanished from their sight. They said to each other, "Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?" And they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem. And they found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together, saying, "The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!" Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he was known to them in the breaking of the bread. (ESV)
Holy Doubt 2
Thursday in Pentecost 5
1 July 2010
As the new Adam Jesus undoes all that the old Adam had done. In the garden, the first Adam was enticed into believing that his eyes would be opened if he partook of the forbidden fruit. But by this unholy communion he shared in the fellowship of the serpent and became subject to Satan's once unique sacraments of death and despair. He who saw God as he talked with Him in the garden sought to see himself as a god in the primeval narcissism. When he partook of Satan's sacrament and disobeyed the fruitful Word of the Lord not to eat of that tree, his eyes were opened, but opened only unto his shame and everlasting contempt. Thus, into the world slithered the serpents' sacraments of death and despair now no longer unique but universally experienced by all the naturally born children of Adam.
The new Adam overcame Satan's blinded vision by opening all over again the eyes of those who are reborn in Him. So the despairing disciples could not see the One who was the promised Seed of the woman sent to crush the serpent's head through His suffering and death. Only when the mysterious sacrament of the breaking of the bread was celebrated and offered by Him whose body and blood it was, were their eyes opened and they recognized Him. So he who by food once blinded the children of God, now by food was overcome. Leo the Great speaks of these sacramental mysteries in this sermon.
Leo the Great
"Those days which intervened between the Lord's resurrection and ascension did not pass by in uneventful leisure, but great sacramental mysteries were ratified in them, deep truths revealed. In them the fear of awful death was removed, and the immortality not only of the soul but also of the flesh established. In them, through the Lord's breathing upon them, the Holy Spirit is poured upon all the Apostles, and to the blessed Apostle Peter beyond the rest the care of the Lord's flock is entrusted, in addition to the keys of the kingdom.
Then it was that the Lord joined the two disciples as a companion on the way, and, to the sweeping away of all the clouds of our uncertainty, upbraided them with the slowness of their fearful hearts. Their enlightened hearts catch the flame of faith, and lukewarm as they have been, are made to burn while the Lord unfolds the Scriptures. In the breaking of bread also their eyes are opened as they eat with Him. How far more blessed is the opening of their eyes (Lk 24:31), to whom the glorification of their nature is revealed than that of our first parents (Gn 3:7), on whom fell the disastrous consequences of their transgression."
Prayer
O Lord, always give to us the bread of life given for us, that in it we might see You and thus be rescued from death and despair. Amen.
For all small business owners and entrepreneurs that they might be productive in their callings so that for the good of the community they might provide jobs
For all those who are on vacation, that they would find times of refreshment with friends and family
For Margaret George, that the Lord would be with her granting her healing as she undergoes therapy for cancer
Art: PISANO, Andrea The Baptism of the Multitude 1330