When we reached our destination, the experience was indescribable—far beyond what we could imagine, and impossible to capture in words or photos. There were experienced trail guides and interpretive signs, but what we saw was far beyond what the geological explanations could tell. We sat gazing in hushed awe. Words would do a disservice to the immense beauty that engulfed us.

In a similar fashion, no words are capable of expressing what happened to Jesus at Easter, or what happened to the first disciples who experienced him as resurrected. The only adequate response is contemplative awe,
Still, we continually try to say something of what this experience means for us.

In the gospel story today, two of Jesus’ disciples are talking and debating as they walk away from Jerusalem, the place of pain and confusion, toward Emmaus, trying to make meaning of it all. They are struggling to see how to make sense but cannot yet do so.

As Jesus joins them, he first elicits from them their own interpretation. They retell what they experienced of Jesus as “a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people,” and they recount the truth of his brutal murder. They speak of what their hopes were, but these now seem dashed. They tell about what some of the women experienced at the tomb and their interpretation that Jesus was alive.
Others went to see for themselves, finding the tomb empty, but they did not see him alive as the women had. Different disciples are at different stages in their journey with and toward the risen One, each seeing something different and each needing to interpret it in their own words.

It is remarkable that Jesus does not immediately interpret for Cleopas and his companion what their journey with him means. Then, as now, Jesus first asks disciples to try to say what they (or we) have experienced and how we understand what has happened.

This first step takes us only part of the way. To go the next step on the journey it is necessary to turn to the Scriptures—the official guidebook, if you will—which help to unravel the meaning. Immersing ourselves in the whole story, from Moses through all the prophets, as Jesus directs Cleopas and his companion, we understand a little more of Jesus’ prophetic life and mission.

We see too how we are asked to conform our own lives to this journey of prophetically embodying good news for the most vulnerable, being prepared to accept its cost.

Essential for this journey is the abiding presence of the risen Jesus. As did those first disciples, we too implore him to stay with us. And he does. He continues to open our eyes by opening the Scriptures to us and by making himself known in the breaking of the bread.

No words adequately express our experience of what it is like to have him risen among us. Resurrected life far exceeds all our hopes and is far more than a happy ending to a tragic story. It is not only what happened to Jesus, but is already lived by us, whose lives are “hidden with Christ in God,” as St. Paul says. It is not only the end of a life’s journey, but is tasted already now, all along the way. It is beyond all that we had hoped, and even now sets our hearts burning within us.

The kind of fear, chaos, and confusion that the first disciples experienced at the time of Jesus’ passion and resurrection is not too unlike what we face in this time in our country and our world. People have lost loved ones to gun violence, war, hostage taking, destruction of homes, deportation, and more.

Like the first disciples, our faith asks us not to give into despair, but rather to keep hope alive, through acts of kindness and compassion and through advocacy for justice for the most vulnerable in our midst. Like Mary Magdalene, who came with her women friends to the cross and empty tomb (Mark 16:1; Matt 28:1; Luke 24:10), and like Cleopas and his companion and like the disciples locked in the upper room (John 20:19), we keep hope alive by banding together in community, “all together in mind and heart (Acts 2:1; 4:32-35),” as Acts of the Apostles says. It is now more important than ever to hold on to each one, so that none will be lost, as Jesus prayed during his Last Supper (John 17:12, 21). No one can be excluded from God’s love and ours, as Jesus showed in forgiving Peter for denying he even knew Jesus (John 21:15-19), and as he assured the thief crucified next to him, “today you will be with me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43).

As we live more fully into the mystery of the Resurrection, the community at Catholic Theological Union thanks you for being part of this joyful community of disciples who continue to be Pilgrims of Hope in this Jubilee year. May the Risen Christ be our guide and companion always.

Barbara E. Reid, O.P.
President