Today, the Gospel still places us in Easter Sunday, when the two disciples from Emmaus return to Jerusalem and, there, while everyone recounts that the Lord has appeared to them, the same Risen One presents Himself to them. But His presence is disconcerting. On the one hand, it causes fear, to the point that they "thought that they were seeing a ghost" (Lk 24:37) and, on the other hand, his body pierced by the nails and the lance is an eloquent testimony that it is Jesus Himself, the crucified one: “Look at my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me and see, because a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you can see I have" (Lk 24:39).

“LORD, let your face shine on us” sings the psalm of today's liturgy. Indeed, Jesus "opened their minds to understand the Scriptures" (Lk 24:45). It is absolutely urgent. It is necessary that the disciples have a precise and deep understanding of the Scriptures, since, in the words of Saint Jerome, "to ignore the Scriptures is to ignore Christ."

But this understanding of the word of God is not a fact that one can manage privately, or with his congregation of friends and acquaintances. The Lord revealed the meaning of the Scriptures to the Church in that Easter community, presided over by Peter and the other Apostles, who were commissioned by the Master that it "would be preached in his name to all the nations" (Lk 24:47).

To be witnesses, therefore, of the authentic Christ, it is urgent that the disciples learn—first of all—to recognize his Body marked by the passion. Precisely, an ancient author makes the following recommendation: "He who knows that the Paschal lamb has been sacrificed for him must understand that his life begins when Christ has died to save us." Furthermore, the apostle must intelligently understand the Scriptures, read in the light of the Spirit of truth poured out on the Church.