That very day, the first day of the week, two of Jesus’ disciples were going to a village seven miles from Jerusalem called Emmaus.
Christ is Risen! Alleluia!
He is truly risen! Alleluia!
Grant that we may benefit from the graces merited by our Savior.
Christ is Risen! Alleluia!
He is truly risen! Alleluia!
The little verse I began with was taken from our Collect or Opening Prayer. A sort of hint for all of us about today’s theme.
When you piece together the Collect (Opening Prayer), the Secret (Offertory Prayer) and Post Communion Prayer you are taken through a tour of themes central to today’s and this week’s Holy Masses. Indeed, these prayers are important because in them we pray to gain understanding and the grace to carry out what we pray for.
Also, in case you did not know, the Propers (the official name for these prayers) used in our Church are unique to each Sunday in the cycle of readings and Gospels. They match up, again important for our understanding and the reception of the grace needed to do as Jesus asks us to do.
So today we pray so that we may benefit from the graces Jesus won for us by His obedience to the Father’s will.
We need that prayer. Think of the Apostles, disciples, and women in the weeks after the resurrection. Jesus kept showing up, and they did not recognize Him. They just did not get it.
Jesus meets Mary in the garden. she thought He was the caretaker, the gardener. Peter and John encounter the empty tomb, they do not understand. Jesus meets the disciples on the Road to Emmaus. They do not recognize Him. He appears in the Upper Room; they think He is a ghost. Thomas won’t believe his friends and requires Jesus to show up to prove Himself.
Jesus merited graces for them yet they had a hard time getting it. These, the greatest people of all time, faced Jesus’ reality with difficulty. They were stuck in troubles.
We need the graces we are praying for, to relieve our doubts and overcome our troubles. Jesus has given us the wonderful gift of true freedom to live fearlessly and eternally. Lord, help us by Your grace to benefit fully from Your victory.
