Meeting also possible today.

Who has come back from the cemetery and has not fully and completely believed the words of Christ: I am the resurrection and the life – was sad, if not completely hopeless. Why? Because death was the end of something beautiful and great. But those who left the cemetery with faith in Jesus Christ took away the hope of an eternal reunion with those who have gone before us into eternity.

When two of Jesus’ disciples left Jerusalem for the settlement called Emmaus, they were sad, full of questions, disappointed in their hearts… And yet, this encounter between Christ and the two disciples, described by Luke and captured artistically, answers whether it is possible to encounter Jesus today. Luke answers yes and speaks of an event when such an encounter can occur.

What has changed in two thousand years? Even today, many a Christian, after failures or having misconceived his faith, is like the two Emausite disciples. A believer must never imagine Christ in the wrong attitude or light because he will be disappointed. However, one in such a state of disillusionment as the two disciples begin to think again about all that has caused the sadness or disappointment may feel a glimmer of light. In the case of the disciples, this light was brought into their thinking by the stranger along the way, pointing to the correct idea of the Redeemer. At his words, they begin to remember the terms of the Lord Jesus, for he had spoken on this subject while he was among them. They are words that neither time nor age has taken away from their actuality and timeliness: ‘Ye unintelligent and hard-hearted believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was not the Messiah to suffer all this and enter into his glory?” (Luke 24:25-26).
After the interpretation is given, the light comes. The disciples begin to suspect that Jesus is alive, that He must live! The words they heard this morning from the women who returned from the tomb, that the tomb is empty, cannot be a lie. The disciples begin to feel the words of this “guide” of theirs kindle a strange light within them. The hunch that Jesus must be alive becomes a certainty. The discernment of the true light in all its power comes at supper when this “guide” of theirs takes the bread in his hands, blesses it, breaks it, and hands it to them. “Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. But he disappeared from them” (Lk 24:31).

In the life of a believer, similar events happen. Moments come into our lives when all hope and certainty are lost, and suddenly, a vacuum, an emptiness, is created around us. One looks for something to hold on to, something to lean on. And when he cannot find anything, he often goes away like the disciples of Emmaus.
But we must remember that God will not give up on any of us. We see this in the disciples. Jesus doesn’t go after them but with them. Jesus goes after each one of us. He does not want to lose anyone whom the Heavenly Father has entrusted to Him.
Yes, he has a hard time with us. We are often not standing. Still, we quickly change our attitude, even toward God. Often we drift away from God, and because of this, our strength leaves us even more, and emptiness fills us. And yet, the Gospel speaks so clearly to us of the means that revive our love, which helps heal a sick soul or a broken heart. We must realize that if we want our hearts to burn with love for God, for our neighbor, to have love within us, we must often approach the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar and participate in the Holy Mass because we will experience true communion. There we will feel the closeness of the Lord Jesus. There, our hearts will speak, and we will be so well again.

It is not only the disciples but also we, at Mass, who are convinced of the great strength of our faith. That is why we see that already the first Christians understood the importance of the Eucharistic celebration of the Holy Mass, which allowed them to meet God face to face until the time of the apparitions was over. Then, after the Ascension, regularly on Sundays, they commemorated this encounter with the glorified Christ.
And here we see that even at the end of the 20th century, it is possible to meet Christ, and our hearts are warmed, we feel his nearness, and we can feel so good. This is because Christ gives himself to us, while at Mass as our food, to strengthen us on the journey to seek the truth, the meaning of life, and our beautiful goal.
Jesus is also here with us today, as with the two Emausian disciples, to remove our doubts and our small-mindedness by his grace. Whoever wishes to encounter the risen Christ truly, let him open himself to his words and come to his table where he can genuinely receive his Body and Blood under bread and wine.