Easter and the Eucharist

Within the Gospel accounts of the Transfiguration of Jesus, there is a telling, but sometimes overlooked, instruction. As they were coming down from the mountain, with their minds still dazzled by what they had witnessed, Jesus commanded Peter, James and John not to tell anyone of the experience “until the Son of Man is raised from the dead.”

Scripture recounts that the disciples wondered among themselves what being raised from the dead could possibly mean.

The Resurrection of Jesus is the single most stunning and unexpected event of human history. As a result, there were precious few reference points by which Jesus’ disciples, or the early Church, could make sense of the empty tomb.

Some Jews believed in a resurrection of the just on the last day, but this was a remote hope, mostly disconnected from the reality of our brief lives on this earth. Rather than resurrection, the first witnesses of the empty tomb assumed that the Lord’s body simply had been moved. Hostile unbelievers spread the story that the Lord’s body had been stolen by his disciples. Death, it was assumed by most, always has the last word. 

The shocking appearance of the Risen Lord to his disciples at Easter reveals the victory of life over death and deliverance from our bondage to sin. 

Breaking upon humanity like the sunrise, faith – born of the Easter event – gives us a new light by which we can see, judge and understand everything. Because of Jesus’ dying and rising, our lives need not end in the gloom of death. We were created and redeemed for unending glory. 

Just as the disheartened and weary disciples needed an encounter with the risen Christ to confirm and bolster their faith, we too need a glimpse of his glory, lest we lose heart. The Church today, buffeted by the headwinds of a culture increasingly hostile to faith, needs those moments in which we can encounter the risen Lord.

But, how is it possible to live and remain rooted in such a firm faith, an Easter faith? We find the answer in sacred scripture.

Luke recounts that two days after Jesus’ death, two of his disheartened disciples met a stranger as they walked downcast and grief-stricken away from Jerusalem. The stranger walked with them and asked about the reason for their grief and discouragement. 

As he listened to them along the way, he broke open the scriptures for them while explaining the meaning of the shocking events they had experienced in Jerusalem. As they approached the village of Emmaus, they invited the stranger to remain with them that evening. As they sat at table, he blessed and broke bread for them. At that moment, their eyes were opened, and they recognized the Lord.

The encounter with the Risen Lord in the breaking of bread – the Eucharist – transformed them, confirming them in faith.

The Eucharist is the sacred doorway through which we slip away from the usual confinement of time and enter the undying, glorious mystery of the Resurrection. The Mass is a foretaste of eternity wrapped in ritual. It is the real sacramental presence of the eternal High Priest, Jesus Christ, veiled beneath the humble appearances of bread and wine. 

As we continue our observance of this grace-filled time of Eucharistic revival during this Easter season, may the glory of Easter cause our hearts to burn within us as did the hearts of those disciples who encountered the Risen Lord on the road to Emmaus.

Above all, may we find him, through faith, in the source and summit of this Christian life: the Holy Eucharist.