Cognosce Donum Domino

3rd Sunday of Easter

04 May, 2014

RECOGNISE THE GIFT OF THE LORD in the Eucharist. When the darkness of doubt, fear, grief and defeat approaches, journey to that familiar place in your soul, which is the abode of Christ, and fortify it with His presence against the assault of the world.

It speaks for their authenticity, that the accounts of the days following the Resurrection in Holy Scripture include moments of doubt and confusion. Last week, we heard the story of Thomas’ doubt and the Lord’s revelation of His resurrected body to him and the apostles. In today’s Gospel we meet two other disciples whose state of weariness and dejection we might all have experienced at some time.

They were journeying away from the sad confusion of Jerusalem, where their master had just been killed and cruel rumours were circulating that he might have escaped the crucifixion and live. They had had high hopes. Everything had seemed right: the preaching, the miracles, the growing number of followers, the symbolic fulfilment of ancient prophecy … They had been sure that he was the one sent to free Israel from Roman occupation, and their disappointment showed.

They journeyed west, into darkness. The symbolism here is rich; the children of Israel had always sojourned east, towards the rising sun. West was always held as the source of darkness and as they walked towards Emmaus, darkness gripped their souls.

Today we can see most clearly that Christ’s Gospel is nothing if not the good news for Everyman. These are two ordinary men, not one of the Eleven – the inner circle of Jesus’ closest companions. No, Cleopas and his companion that day were you and I. And that’s the beauty of their encounter with the Risen Lord – it could have happened to anyone – and the fact that the Lord chose these two characters for such a remarkable revelation means that he chooses you and I, today, for the same intimate experience of his presence.

Darkness comes in many forms. The darkness of sin that separates us from God’s grace and causes us to lose our way. The darkness of doubt that is the pall of faith, shrouding and suffocating the light of hope. Then there is the darkness of despair – a place we go when we have lost the hope that genuine faith gives, and choose to rely on ourselves only to discover our own frailty and mortality.

Where is your darkness? Even the Saints encountered it. Even the Saviour was not spared. So often this account of the disciples on the road to Emmaus is presented in such a positive light that we fail to see the profoundly human side of it. "Have you found your Emmaus?” many will ask. Don’t worry, Emmaus will find you – darkness always does.

But when darkness descends – this is what this narrative is about – wherever there is darkness, there too is Christ our light. Remember that fire we lit two weeks ago? Thanks be to God for the Light of Christ! For the resurrection of Christ is the dawn of a new creation when God pronounces again “Let there be light” – the first and most powerful expression of the creative act, which dispels darkness and brings all of creation to the knowledge of God.

And how shall you or I, the most unremarkable among the ordinary followers of Christ, feel His presence in our dark moments of sin, doubt and despair? You do not need to call out. You do not need to search for Him. He will be there. He will come to you. The Lord, who knows the secrets of our heart, in His compassion, will always be there, walking with us, though our path be the dusk of our soul coming on night.

And we shall know His presence through His gift of Himself to us; His abiding companionship on our long sojourn through life; His promise that where two or three are gathered in His name, He will be there; in the gift of bread and wine that becomes for us no mere sign or symbol of a historical man but a living presence that is the bread of life and the cup of eternal salvation – for all men, be they apostle or saint or just a nameless follower walking through the days and nights of our life on Earth.