Today we are reassured by the Gospel that Jesus is alive and continues to be the center around which the disciples' community is built. The gathering of the community, the dialog with brothers and sisters who share the same faith, the reading of the Word of God, the love shared and expressed through fraternity and service, is precisely the ecclesial context in which the disciples can encounter the Resurrected.

The disciples filled with grief, couldn't even imagine that that stranger was in fact their Master, now resurrected. But they felt “an ardent yearning” in their hearts (cf. Lk 24:32), when He talked, "explaining" the Scriptures. The light of the Word softened their hearts and “their eyes were opened” (Lk 24:31).

The story of the disciples of Emmaus is useful as a guide to us in the long journey through a path of doubts, afflictions and sometimes even bitter disillusionments; the Divine traveler continues to be our companion who introduces us, by explaining the Scriptures, to the comprehension of God's mysteries. Upon the fulfillment of this encounter the light of the Word is followed by the light that emerges from the “Bread of Life”, through which Christ fulfills perfectly His promise that He would be with us “always, until the end of the age” (Mt 28:20).

The Holy Father Benedict XVI explains that “The proclamation of the Lord's Resurrection lightens up the dark regions of the world in which we live.”

Today “This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice in it and be glad.” (Ps 118:24). This is how we are invited to say the liturgy of these days of the Octave of Easter. Let us rejoice in knowing that today and forever the risen Jesus stands among us. He walks with us on the journey. But we must let Him open our eyes of faith for us to realize He is present in our lives. He wants us to enjoy His company complying with what He said to us: “And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.” (Mt 28:20).

Let us walk in the hope we have, in the knowledge that the Lord will help us to find a meaning in everything. Particularly, when —as with the disciples at Emmaus— we have to endure difficulties, setbacks, dejection... In front of the different events we should know how to listen to His Word, that will bring us to interpret them in the light of God's project of salvation. Even though, at times, wrongly, we may think He is not listening to us, He never forgets us; He always talks to us. We may, however, be lacking the good disposition necessary to listen, meditate and contemplate what He wants to say.

In the varied environment where we may live, we often find people living, in the ignorance of God, a meaningless life. Thus, it is convenient that we understand our responsibility to become useful tools for our Lord to be able, through us, to come close and walk along with those around us. Let us seek how to make them well aware of their condition of sons of God and of the fact that Jesus loves us so much that He not only died and rose for us, but also He decided to stay with us for ever in the Holy Eucharist. It was when He broke the bread that those disciples at Emmaus realized it was Jesus who was sitting beside them.