First Reading
Acts 2:14, 22-33
1. Can you see how different Peter’s attitude is in this reading than it was during Jesus’ passion and death? To what do you attribute the change? Could such a change take place in you?
2. There was a change in the disciples, a courageous aim to take the risen Christ into the world after his death and resurrection. Could something like that courageous thrust happen again in a new way after the corona virus?
Second Reading
1 Peter 1:17-21
1. Is your faith and hope in God locked in stone after God raised Jesus from the dead? According to Peter, is this why this mystery of Christ has been revealed to us (ransoming and transforming us with Christ’s life, death and resurrection, known by God from the foundation of the world)?
2. This Second Reading has been called a sermon on hope. Can you say why that might be? Do you find hopeful Christ’s ransoming and transforming us with his life, death and resurrection?
Gospel
Luke 24:13-35
1. Can you relate to any of these in the Gospel story?
- Confusion of the disciples
- Inability to recognize Jesus
- Desire to spend more time with a good friend
- Sudden realization that the Lord is present?
2. In section 3 of his address to the Bishops of Brazil Pope Francis suggests an ecclesiology rooted in the Gospel story of Emmaus. The disciples ended up with hearts burning. What makes your heart burn within you?
We need a church unafraid of going forth into their night. We need a church capable of meeting them on their way. We need a church capable of entering into their conversation. We need a church able to dialogue with those disciples who, having left Jerusalem behind, are wandering aimlessly, alone, with their own disappointment, disillusioned by a Christianity now considered barren, fruitless soil, incapable of generating meaning.
But we need to know how to interpret, with courage, the larger picture. Jesus warmed the hearts of the disciples of Emmaus.
Address of Pope Francis
Archbishop’s House, Rio de Janeiro
Saturday, 28 July 2013
