I was at Mass the other day and the Priest started by wishing everyone a happy Easter. That seemed like a good, safe start. He then asked whether we had all been given a cactus to sit on, and a lemon to suck on? This caused some parishioners to shift in their pews, and I was one of them. I wondered if he would notice if I left, but the fact that he was looking at me answered my question. Mmm … it was awkward. I guess we must have looked like a pretty sour and dull bunch of parishioners. Next, he said “How are you being God’s mystery of love to each other?” It was a good question. It cut to the core.
If I had been one of those two travellers at Emmaus who witnessed Christ at the breaking of the bread, my life would have irreversibly changed. My heart would have been on fire too and, in the moments following that event, I would be “God’s mystery of love” to others.
Yet … something’s wrong with this scene. Don’t I already see Christ in the breaking of the bread each time I attend Mass? As Augustine said.,“See what you believe, believe what you see, become who you are, the body of Christ.” I am invited into that moment, the eternal moment. In the sacrifice of the Mass, we are present with Jesus at Calvary.
Like those on the road to Emmaus, I see Christ before my eyes, and I’m invited to change, just as the bread and the wine is changed into his body and blood at Mass. I’m invited into a future where I can co-operate with God, and others, to co-create his kingdom. That sounds exciting! In the words of St Teresa of Avila, Christ has no body now but ours; no hands, no feet, but ours.
So, I don’t have to go back in time and think of what it would have been like on the road to Emmaus. We’re all on that road now, and God is present to, with, and in us. I don’t have to imagine what it would be like to see the face of Christ. Rather, I’m called to be present, to walk with God, to be, and yet to change, to be transformed by God and to be his “mystery of love” to others. I’ll give it to that Priest; he gave a good homily.
by Eric Lahey