The Hopelessness of our Earthly JourneyOn the Road to Emmaus, we meet two disciples. One of them was named Cleopas, the other not named. Ancient sources suggest that it was in fact Luke himself, but we simply do not know.The risen Christ drew near to them and yet they were kept from recognising him. We are told that they were downcast and looked sad. From their words, we understand that they had lost hope. And this was because Jesus of Nazareth, a man mighty in word and deed before God, had been delivered over and crucified. And so their hope was gone.In a sense these disciples stand for all of us insofar as we do not have a vision of Christ. Many people simply do not know Christ and have never known him. For those who follow Christ also, we frequently lose sight of him. In fact, might I be so bold as to say that to maintain a vision of Christ in the tumult and difficulties of everyday life in this world is so hard.We may say, of course, that we know Christ and we may call ourselves Christians. But to truly see him, to truly know him, to be aware of his presence and to acknowledge him in all things and in every place and at all times, this is the great challenge of the spiritual life. And we should not underestimate it. It seems that our natural state, even as followers of Christ, is to lose sight of him all the time – to have our attention taken away by a million other things.From about the fourth century of the Church onwards, the Roman Empire began to be Christianised. For many followers of Christ, this presented a challenge as the Christian faith took on a more worldly form. These radical followers of Christ decided that they had to leave the world in order to hold a vision of Christ before them and so they went out into the desert, far from civilisation, to devote themselves to a life of prayer and constant watchfulness.We can still read many of the stories and sayings of the so-called Desert Fathers today. For example, a saying of Abbot Antony:Just as fish die if they remain on dry land, so monks, remaining away from their cells (that is, their individual room in which they would pray and meditate), or dwelling with men of the world, lose their determination to persevere in solitary prayer, so we must return to our cells, lest remaining outside we forget to watch over ourselves interiorly.If we do not pray as Christians, and watch over ourselves, then we are like fish out of water, dying for what truly nourishes us.The Greatest Bible StudyJesus came to these disciples out of love. He sought to change their situation from one of hopelessness and sorrow to joy and love. And he does the same for us today! The risen Christ is alive – not just in our hearts – but in heaven. For he rose from the grave and he sends his Holy Spirit upon the Church and upon the believers within the Church.We see a marvellous illustration of this in our story this morning. In fact, we see in many ways the beginning of the Christian Church and an early version of our liturgy.How does Christ bring these hopeless disciples from sorrow to joy?To begin with, he opens the Scriptures, but in a very particular way. We read from the words of the two disciples that they had misunderstood what Jesus was there to do: they thought he was a political saviour, who would overthrow the Romans. But they had failed to see that God’s plan of redemption in Christ was so much greater than this. Their expectations had to be challenged, shattered even, so that the glory of our redemption could be seen more clearly.Christ said to them: “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?”What followed was the greatest Bible study in history: ‘And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself’.So it was not just that they read the Scriptures (what we call the Old Testament) but that Christ showed them that he truly is the key to understanding what they mean.There is a famous quotation from St Augustine: ‘The New is in the Old concealed; the Old is in the New revealed’. What this means is that, in the Old Testament, Jesus was always truly present but yet unseen. The New Testament and the Gospels show us what the Old Testament was really about: Jesus Christ. And when we look at Jesus, we can understand more about him – who he truly was, what his mission was all about – if we read the Old Testament in light of his life and deeds.Now it seems that these two disciples knew about the Messiah’s glory but not his suffering. They did not understand that the cross had to come first before the resurrection, the humiliation and passion of the Christ before his exaltation and vindication.Perhaps Jesus read to them from the prophet Isaiah, chapter fifty-three, a text we considered on Good Friday: ‘…he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed’.“That was about the Christ,” he may have said. “For our sins, he was punished and wounded. And through his woundedness, we have been healed. This is what the cross was all about. Can you see it now?”Let me jump ahead in this story. Later on, once Christ had vanished from them (more on that in a moment), the disciples said to one another, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?”Friends, do we not yearn to be set on fire with love for Jesus Christ? Here, then, is one of the keys: the Scriptures, but the recognition that, within them, Jesus is truly revealed to us. Christ “opened” the Scriptures to these two disciples. The Scriptures were unlocked by the key that is Christ. He healed their vision. And they saw him. And what was the result? Their hearts burned within them.We may think again here of the great Patristic Father, St Augustine, who frequently spoke of the heart that burns with longing and love for God:‘You called and cried out loud and shattered my deafness. You were radiant and resplendent, you put to flight my blindness. You were fragrant, and I drew in my breath and now pant after you. I tasted you, and I feel but hunger and thirst for you. You have touched me, and now my hurt burns for your peace.’St Augustine, Confessions, Book XFriends, let us be satisfied with nothing less than hearts set on fire with love for God. All other loves, all other burning, pales in comparison to this.As the great Patristic Father, Origen, says to us: ‘We must not only employ the sacred literature but also pray to the Lord that (Christ), himself taking “the sealed book,” may deign to open it. For it is he who “opening the Scriptures” kindles the hearts of the disciples so that they say, “Did not our hearts burn within us whilst he opened to us the Scriptures?” (Origen, Homilies on Exodus).The Breaking of the BreadAnd there is one more main part of this story: Christ took bread, blessed it, broke it and gave it to them. And then they saw who he truly was, and he vanished from their sight.Why did he vanish? Because he was establishing the pattern that all his faithful people would follow in the age of the Church: that is, he would be bodily in Heaven but he would be present on earth every time the Eucharist is celebrated. From then on, he would be made known to the disciples in the breaking of bread. This is how he is made known to us still today.But do not buy in to the false choice between Scripture or the Eucharist – Evangelical or Catholic. A true Christianity is both. And we see this illustrated for us in this story.Remember that Christ showed through the Scriptures that the Christ should suffer and afterwards enter into glory. What then is the Holy Eucharist? It is surely the bringing into the present of all of these realities at once: the story of the Messiah written in Bread and Wine, Body and Blood. Remember the words of the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 11, ‘For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes’.In other words, we remember his passion, his death upon the cross, but we also proclaim in the Holy Eucharist that he rose again and that He will come again in glory. The Scriptures open this mystery to us, and without them, we would not understand the deep meaning of the Eucharist. Similarly, the Eucharist brings into the present the story that the Scriptures tell us. They make Christ tangibly present to us and with us in the Incarnation, in his Death, in his Resurrection.The Liturgy of the ChurchAnd to say a final word, this is why the liturgy of the Church is as it is. Christ is not made known to us in a single moment of magical consecration. Nor is he made known simply in the preaching of Scripture. He is made known to us in the entire liturgy of the Mass that we observe on days like today. Our service is in two main sections: the Liturgy of the Word, and the Liturgy of the Eucharist. We are following the pattern of the disciples on the Emmaus Road.If the preaching is any good, it will reveal Christ to the faithful and cause their hearts to burn with passion. And as the Holy Eucharist is celebrated, we take our newly-enlightened understanding with us to that holy table, that holy altar, upon which Christ is made tangibly present to us once again in the forms of bread and wine. We receive Christ through our ears as we listen to the Scriptures proclaimed; we receive Him into our very selves as we feed upon His body and drink His blood in the Sacrament of the Eucharist. This is how we recognise Him. This is how we are built up in our faith.And, from there, from here, we are sent into the world, having encountered the risen Christ. Like those two disciples on the Road to Emmaus, our vision is healed, Christ is revealed, and we make known to the world what has happened to us: we have seen the Lord. And he is rise